Debt-ridden realty player DLF said today it will sell more land and wind power business this fiscal to raise Rs 1,900 crore and lowered the sales figure for flats.
With a total debt of over Rs 14,000 crore to start the year 2009-10, DLF had been doing everything conceivable, including sale of promoters' equity in the company as also different projects.
Within twenty days of claiming that it had sold 4,000 flats during three months ending June, DLF's Group Executive Director Rajiv Talwar told reporters the actual sales figure was just 2,500. "I must have given wrong figures at that time," he said when reminded about the figures given by him on June 26.
Rival Unitech on the other hand has been able to bring down its debt to below Rs 5,000 crore and today it is believed to have some cash surplus.
Both DLF and Unitech shares appreciated by 11.44 per cent and 8.62 per cent to close the day at Rs 330.10 and Rs 70.60 a share respectively.
As part of its management of debt, DLF sold Rs 1,000 crore worth of land during April-June period and is planning to garner Rs 900 crore to part-repay the debt by exiting its wind power business."We have already raised Rs 1,000 crore from sales of land... We will raise another Rs 1,000 crore in this fiscal from selling more land," Talwar said on the sidelines of a CII event here.
The company's plan is to raise Rs 5,500 crore in 2009-10 from sales of non-core assets and land plots, he added.
Talwar said the company would also sell its wind power business to raise Rs 900 crore in the next few months.
Asked about its hospitality venture, Talwar said the company has over 40 hotel plots and it is currently developing 19 hotels.
"We will sell the rest (hotel plots)," he added.
Talwar said the company's plan is to reduce its debt by half in FY'10.
"We are paying Rs 600-Rs 1,000 crore every month to reduce our debt by half," he added.
Asked about the demand for DLF's projects, Talwar said: "We have sold 2,500 flats across the country in the first three months of this fiscal. The large quantity of sales occurred in Delhi, Gurgaon, Indore and some other cities."
The rates of the housing units are down by 20-25 per cent than what prevailed in the country in 2007, he added.
