PASSION. RISK. AMBITION
THE MAKING OF THE REALTY TYCOON “I WAS BORN TO WIN” IS WHAT PARAS PANDIT, CHAIRMAN MANAGING DIRECTOR SHEETAL INFRASTRUCTURE BELIEVES IN AND CONSIDERS TAKING RISK AS HIS PASSION TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS. AS ONE OF THE MAJOR REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS IN THE VIBRANT STATE OF GUJARAT, HE IS CREATING LANDMARK PROJECTS THAT REDEFINE LUXURY LIVING. HOW DID YOUR INITIAL JOURNEY IN THE BUSINESS OF REAL ESTATE STARTED? I launched Sheetal Infrastructure in year 2004 with luxurious bungalows project - Sheetal Vedika Exotica, followed by three more projects in Gandhinagar. All of them were received very well by the homebuyers. Thereafter, there was no looking back and we commenced a premium housing project at S G Highway, which became the benchmark in Ahmedabad for its customer-centric features and top class amenities. Since then we have developed over 3.5 million sq. ft of residential space and have now started commercial space development with Sheetal West Park Imperia in Vastrapur. With pride I must state that few more projects are in the pipeline. HOW HAS THE CURRENT PANDEMIC CHANGED HOMEBUYER’S REQUIREMENTS? The lockdown and Covid-19 have definitely impacted customer’s behaviour. People are looking for better living spaces with lifestyle and state of the art amenities and facilities in the premises that they would be spending their next decade or more with family. Homebuyer’s have grasped the importance of bigger living spaces, like larger living room, bedroom, balcony and even extra open space in villas with greenery. They are now more aware of need of open spaces, whether it is an apartment, villa or plotted development project. HAVE THE GOVERNMENT INCENTIVES GIVEN A BOOST TO HOMEBUYER’S SENTIMENTS? Yes, absolutely. CLSS (credit link subsidy scheme) under PMAY has been extended for MIG-1/2 and EWS/LIG till 31.03.2022 which will boost demand. Also RBI’s move to decrease repo rate 0.35 basis and now home loans available at lowest rate in last 13 years are going to work as catalyst in home sales. Even in 2019 government came up with 5% GST on housing that boosted consumer sentiment. Now, national real estate body CREDAI and regional body GIHED have requested state government to slash stamp duty like Maharashtra. This will boost home sales for sure if implemented. HOW SOON WILL THE COMMERCIAL REALTY GET BACK TO NORMAL? The retail and commercial office space market has been hard hit due to sudden disruption caused by pandemic and work from home. As economy is opening and vaccine seems to be few months away, businesses of other sectors & industries will get back to pre-covid stage and commercial and retail space demand will start seeing an upward trend. The Grade-A office space absorption which is currently 530 Million sq.ft is expected to reach 700 million sq. ft by 2022. I believe, temporary slowdown in commercial market won’t hurt the corporates sentiment to buy bigger and better work environment for them and retail and office space market will see surge demand in next few months. “SINCE MY STUDENT DAYS, I WAS SURE THAT I WANTED TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR AS I HAD KNACK OF BUSINESS. WHAT INTERESTED ME IN REAL ESTATE WAS THE OPPORTUNITY THAT THIS SECTOR GIVES OF NOT ONLY CREATING LIVING SPACES FOR PEOPLE, BUT ALSO GENERATING EMPLOYMENT, AND THIS GIVES ME UTMOST SATISFACTION.” SHEETAL INFRA HAS ALWAYS FOCUSED ON QUALITY AND CLIENT DELIGHT, WHICH HAS BEEN THE FULCRUM OF OUR INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF PAST 15 YEARS. FOR ME, ALL MY PROJECTS ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT AND I GIVE SAME ATTENTION AND CARE TO EACH ONE. SOME OF OUR DISTINGUISHED PROJECTS ARE SHEETAL VEDIKA EXOTICA IN GANDHINAGAR, ENIGMA AT SG HIGHWAY AND SHEETAL AQUA ON THE BANKS OF SABARMATI RIVER. OUR SOON TO BE COMPLETED PROJECT SHEETAL WEST PARK RESIDENCY, SHEETAL WEST PARK IMPERIA AND THE UPCOMING PROJECT THE INDUS AT SINDHU BHAVAN ROAD STAND APART WITH ASTOUNDING FEATURES AND QUALITY STANDARDS. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE SHEETAL INFRASTRUCTURE’S SALES STRATEGIES? Our company has various products for our customers to choose from, like mid-size shops to bigger retail space on larger scale and in residential segment from luxury to ultra-luxury apartments in different categories. Apart from that we have loyal customer base of 2500+ families who are our brand ambassadors and we get referral sales from them from project to project. Also, we have strong sales coming from our channel partners. We believe that in current scenario channel partners can bring in more sales as they are the bridge between us and our clients. We also have a very strong presence on social media and digital platforms, which gets us connected with our potential clients. We have a well-planned marketing strategy supported by dedicated team in place. THE NEAR FUTURE GROWTH PLANS FOR THE COMPANY At Sheetal Infra our belief is that to succeed in business you must not dwell upon the past glory but look forward, and for that one must have a well-laid out growth plan. We are coming up with Ahmedabad’s finest 7500 sq ft to 13000 sq. ft ultra-premium apartment’s project on Iscon -Ambli road that will have 20 storey towers. Till date Sheetal has done luxury and super-luxury projects, now looking at current trend of affordable housing, we are also foraying in this segment with post-covid designing, keeping in sync with customer’s needs. There are various other schemes which are still on drawing board and will become a reality in keeping with the changing times and needs.
Tags : Interviews Infrastructure Sales growth covid19 Commercial Realty Paras Pandit Sheetal Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.