Chairman, Sobha Limited · 2018-11-28 · 024 March-April 2015 > Construction & Architecture Update...
Transcript of Chairman, Sobha Limited · 2018-11-28 · 024 March-April 2015 > Construction & Architecture Update...
024 March-April 2015 > Construction & Architecture Update > www.constructionarchitectureupdate.com
Chairman, Sobha LimitedRavi Menon
Ravi Menon, Sobha Limited
What makes South India an ideal destination for business and real estate investment in particular?
Southern cities such as Bangalore,
Chennai, Coimbatore, Kochi and Mysore
have emerged as key investment
destinations. A large number of young
working population hailing from southern
states are working abroad and aspire to
own a property back home. More and more
multinational organisations are expanding
their footprints in prime southern states
and offering lucrative jobs. This is evident
by the increase in the transaction of luxury
products such as cars, electronic goods
and residential properties in these areas.
Commercial development has gained
pace with the increase in the employment
opportunities. Infrastructure development
and the budding start-ups have also
contributed a great deal to the real estate
development in South India.
‘Sobha Home Truths’ is a unique initiative that we have introduced to educate the various construction
processes and quality aspects pioneered by SOBHA in our international quality products.
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How has Sobha Limited’s communication evolved over the years?
When my father Mr. P.N.C. Menon
founded SOBHA in 1995, he did
so with a vision to change the way
people perceive quality. At SOBHA,
we work incessantly towards building
international quality products with
precision and delivering it as per
promised timelines. All our processes
are streamlined and focused towards
customer satisfaction and building
trust amongst our stakeholders. Our
communication is simple and customer
centric with the aim of building trust and
credibility for the brand. A significant
number of our customers are repeat
customers who appreciate the benefits
of our unique backward integration
model, using which we deliver best-
in-class products. Our customers are
our greatest brand advocates, having
experienced the Sobha way of living. A
high percentage of customer referrals
come through word-of-mouth.
‘Sobha Home Truths’ is a unique
initiative that we have introduced
to educate the various construction
processes and quality aspects pioneered
by SOBHA in our international quality
products. This has been received well
by all our customers and we hope
to continue developing effective
communication strategies to deliver
key industry messages to all our
stakeholders.
Infrastructure development and the budding start-ups have also
contributed a great deal to the real estate development in South India.
Ravi MenonSobha Limited
Sobha Indraprastha
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Ravi Menon, Sobha Limited
026 March-April 2015 > Construction & Architecture Update > www.constructionarchitectureupdate.com
How challenging has formalising these CSR activities been for you to do, and what is your advice for other companies who are gearing up to meet this requirement?
SOBHA has been committed to the cause
of social empowerment and community
development since its inception. We
believe that for the overall well-being
of the society, a comprehensive and
sustainable development of rural
India is a must. It is in this context that
we initiated Graamasobha, a unique
social developmental programme in
2006. Our CSR activities are carried
out under the aegis of ‘Sri Kurumba
Educational and Charitable Trust’.
Under this unique social development
initiative, we adopted two grama
panchayats in Palakkad - Vadakkenchery
and Kizhakkenchery. Unlike the
quintessential CSR programmes followed
by corporates that focus on a single
aspect of development, Graamasobha
encompasses activities in the areas
of education, health, livelihood, and
women empowerment – a more holistic
approach to improve the quality of life
of the rural masses and to enable the
beneficiaries to become self-sufficient.
There has been a lot of talk about the need to hike income-tax benefit on home loan interest payments. Do you think a higher figure will help the sector?
Enhanced income-tax benefits
on home loan interest payments
will certainly drive the demand for
residential properties. Despite the
measures being taken to control inflation
and the gradual reduction in the repo
rates, the home loan rates are yet to
accrue benefits for the home buyers.
Incentives such as interest waivers for
first time home buyers and increased
income-tax benefits will augur well for
the real estate sector.
How do you increase the supply of affordable housing in the country? What are the other measures that you strongly recommend; and your message to the industry?
Affordable housing is gaining
prominence and is being encouraged
by the Government. The ‘Housing for
all by 2022’ is a step in this direction.
In order for affordable housing to gain
momentum, it is important that land
is made available at reasonable cost.
We believe that for the overall well-
being of the society, a comprehensive and sustainable
development of rural India is a must.
Ravi MenonSobha Limited
Infosys Global Education Centre II, Mysore built by Sobha Limited
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Land cost, which constitutes a majority
of the overall cost, still remains very
high. The lengthy approval processes
mean we are not able to put the land to
use and begin construction. Therefore,
in order for affordable housing to take
off, besides addressing the land cost,
we should focus on making a single-
clearance window available as also the
availability of working capital loans
that will enable the purchase of land at
reasonable rates.
Will the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill help the sector?
The real estate sector in India has been
largely unorganised and unregulated.
The Real Estate (Regulation and
Development) bill is the need of the
hour. It will provide standardisation
and transparency and will encourage
corporate governance practices
within the industry. The proposed bill
shall bring in regulations that ensure
crucial information is shared
proactively by developers. This would
include land titles, amenities and
features included in the project, carpet
area of the property and the approvals
received for the project. This apart,
the bill ensures that the project is
delivered on time and aims to promote
affordable housing.
It will help the real estate sector
in more ways than one. It will instil
confidence in the minds of buyers,
enabling them to make informed
choices with the information provided.
It will further help the sector
attract greater foreign investments,
both FDIs and FIIs and boost the
market sentiments.
In the next two years, what are the two trends that will define the future of the industry?
Smart technologies integrated with
green building concepts will define
the future of the real estate industry.
Over the last few years, pre-cast
technology has become increasingly
popular and is one major step in
the sustainable initiatives of the
developers. Smart home solutions
are evolving by the hour and have
addressed the security concerns of the
home buyers.
Can you shed some light on Sobha Limited’s digital strategy?
Sobha has a very clear and focused
digital strategy. Over 60% of our
business gets generated online. Our
informative and vibrant website drives
majority sales online. We are one of
the most engaged real estate entities
on social media with an overall social
audience of over 216,000 (organic)
spanning Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Google+ & YouTube.
027www.constructionarchitectureupdate.com < Construction & Architecture Update < March-April 2015
Smart technologies integrated with green building
concepts will define the future of the
real estate industry. Over the last few years, pre-cast technology has
become increasingly popular and is
one major step in the sustainable initiatives of the
developers.
Sobha Corporate Office - Bangalore
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Ravi Menon, Sobha Limited
How do you take Green Building concept in India; overall your comments?
Today, builders are becoming
increasingly conscious of the changing
environmental conditions and are doing
everything in their capacity to reduce
the carbon footprint at every stage
of construction. Green initiatives are
given utmost precedence at SOBHA.
By default, all our projects qualify for
the Gold rating by IGBC. We employ
environment-friendly initiatives such as
rain-water harvesting systems, sewage
treatment plants and organic waste
converters in all our projects. While
Sobha Turquoise, Coimbatore has
recently been certified with IGBC Green
Homes Platinum rating, Sobha
Forest View, Bangalore has a Pre-
certified Gold rating by IGBC. Sobha
Lifestyle in Bangalore has the largest
rain-water harvesting facility (15 million
litre unit) in a gated community. We
have planted over 13,000 trees in Sobha
Lifestyle that welcomes its residents to
this heavenly abode.
Share us about your recent completed projects, ongoing projects and upcoming projects?
Since inception, we have completed 98
real estate projects and 258 contractual
projects covering about 67.97 million
square feet of area. The Company
currently has 49 ongoing residential
projects aggregating to 31.24 million
square feet of developable area and
22.45 million square feet of saleable
area, and 28 ongoing contractual
projects aggregating to 8.62 million
square feet under various stages of
construction.
In this financial year, we have
completed and handed over 6 projects
in real estate having total developable
area of 2.85 million square feet. Some of
the recently completed projects include
Sobha City – Aristos and Paradiso in
Bangalore and Sobha City – Sapphire in
Thrissur. Sobha Halcyon, Sobha Lifestyle
Legacy and Sobha Arena in Bangalore;
Sobha International City, Gurgaon;
Sobha Elanza and Orion in Pune; Sobha
Serene and Meritta in Chennai are few
of our ongoing projects.
We have about 15 million square
feet of new project launches planned
in the next few quarters in our existing
real estate geographies. Our upcoming
project, Sobha Aspirational Homes
in Balagere, Bangalore will be our
maiden project in its segment that will
cater to the residential aspirations of
quality conscious and value discerning
customers. It is a 10.26 million
square feet development that will be
executed with state-of-the-art precast
machinery being imported from
Germany and Italy.
We have planted over 13,000 trees in Sobha Lifestyle that welcomes its residents to this heavenly abode.
Ravi MenonSobha Limited
Sobha Lifestyle - Phase I, Bangalore
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