Godrej Properties adds 7 projects with expected sale value of Rs 9,500 cr

Realty firm Godrej Properties Ltd has added seven housing projects since April 2021, for future development with sales potential of over Rs 9,500 crore and aims to expand its portfolio in a big way this fiscal.

In an interview with PTI, Godrej Properties Executive Chairman Pirojsha Godrej said the company will add more projects during this fiscal year to achieve higher growth.

Mumbai-based Godrej Properties purchases land outright as well as forms partnerships with land owners for future development.

"We added six residential projects to our portfolio during the last fiscal year and we have added one in April," he said.

On the outlook of this fiscal for new business development, Godrej said the company would add more projects compared to the previous financial year.

"The pipeline of new deals is very strong. We see a very strong year for new business development. Our cash flow is healthy and net debt is around Rs 400 crore only," he said.

Godrej Properties had earlier announced its plans to invest around Rs 7,500 crore over the next 12-18 months on acquisition and development of new real estate projects.

"We have deployed some amount in a few projects that we added last year. But most of the fund is still available," he added.

According to an investors presentation, Godrej Properties added six residential projects in the last fiscal, comprising 9.33 million square feet of saleable area with sales bookings potential of Rs 8,950 crore. These six projects are in the four major cities where the company focuses -- Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Delhi-NCR, Pune and Bengaluru.

In April, it added one project in Nagpur having a saleable area of 1.52 million square feet worth Rs 575 crore.

On the operational front, Godrej Properties expects its sales bookings to increase at least 27 per cent in the current fiscal year to cross the Rs 10,000 crore mark.

'We definitely should see good growth over last year's level. Our goal will be to try and cross Rs 10,000 crore,'' he said.

In the last fiscal, Godrej Properties' sales bookings increased 17 per cent to Rs 7,861 crore, out of which Rs 7,781 crore came from the residential properties.

It sold 9,121 homes with a total area of 10.8 million square feet in FY22.

''Overall, I think the good news is now the sector seems to have decisively turned into an uptrend and I think the next few years should be very good ones for the sector. We have of course been adding a lot of projects to our portfolio. So that also gives us good confidence,'' he said.

Pirojsha Godrej said the company delivered around 6.5 million square feet during the last fiscal and is targeting to reach 10 million square feet.

He noted that the company plans to launch over 20 million square feet area in new projects or new phases in existing projects during this fiscal year.

Recently, Godrej Properties reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 260.47 crore for the quarter ended in March. The company had posted a net loss of Rs 191.57 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income increased to Rs 1,522.57 crore during the January-March quarter of the last fiscal from Rs 576.08 crore in the year-ago period.

Godrej Properties posted a net profit of Rs 352.37 crore during 2021-22. It had a net loss of Rs 189.30 crore in the previous year.

Total income increased to Rs 2,585.69 crore last fiscal, from Rs 1,333.09 crore in 2020-21.

Godrej Properties, the real estate arm of the business conglomerate Godrej Group, has a significant presence in the property markets of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Delhi-NCR, Pune, and Bengaluru.

The company has delivered around 24 million square feet of real estate in the past five years. It currently has 192 million square feet of saleable area across India.