The annual East India focused event was a day of deliberations and an evening of felicitations. Welcoming the audience Dr. Annurag Batra, Editor-in-Chief & Chairman, exchange4media & BusinessWorld Media Group commended the realty industry that showed resilience and quick recovery against all odds. He believes that real estate will be at the forefront of economic resurgence of India.
In a special address to the realty fraternity, well-known legal expert Shourya Mandal, Partner Fox Mandal gave examples of some of the distressed projects that are undergoing legal processes for amicable settlements for all stakeholders. He shared how IBC and NCLT are helping protect the interests of home buyers, investors and developers. He was of the view that these initiatives are making the process of doing real estate business less cumbersome for all.
THE KNOWLEDGE CONCLAVE
The first session of the day - Buoyant Indian Realty: Rising Global PE Investments was moderated by Ramesh Nair | CEO, India & Managing Director, Market Development, Asia | Colliers. The panellists were Ambar Maheshwari, CEO, Indiabulls Asset Management, Gaurav Karnik, Real Estate National Leader and Tax Partner, EY India, Harsh Vardhan Patodia, CMD, Unimark Group & National President CREDAI, Rajat Garg, Director – Investments, ESR India and Sushil Mohta, Chairman, Merlin Group, President, Credai, West Bengal. The panel members agreed that Indian real state is undercapitalized due to halt of debts from NBFCs creating an opportunity for offshore investors.
The discussion on Promising Growth: Kolkata Realty Market Opportunities conducted by Parvez Khalid, Associate Executive Director, Advisory & Transaction, CBRE had experts Ashok Saraf- Chairman, Sugam Homes, Basant Kumar Parakh, Managing Director, Orbit Group, Pradip Kumar Chopra, Chairman & Managing Director, PS Group and Raj Vardhan Patodia Chairman & Managing Director, Signum Group talking about how Kolkata real estate is in the dire need of land policy reforms and government interventions to boost business in other real estate asset classes .
The panel discussion on the sales and marketing trends - Getting Creative: Unravelling Sales & Marketing Strategies was led by Rahul Phondge, Chief Business Officer - Residential Service, ANAROCK Property Consultants and the expert speakers were, Anup Dalmia, Founder, Bobby Associates, Manab Paul, Founder Sree Balaji, Mahesh Somani, Managing Director of Liyaans Properties, Mayank Singh, Co-founder, Kaarryam Realty and Pratik Garg, Director, Tulsa Group. They believed that while digital marketing is the future, right combination of offline and online strategies give the best sales results.
The conclave conclude with a conversation on the topic - A New Direction: Moving towards Smart Designs & Products conducted by Deben Moza, Executive Director - Head of Project Management Services, Knight Frank India. The eminent panel members included JP Agrawal, Director, Agrawal & Agrawal Architects, Namrata Mehra, Head of Design, & Customer Centricity, Vikhroli, Lead – Sustainability, Godrej Properties, Shakuntala Ghosh, Principal Architect and Partner at Ghosh Bose and Associates & Chairperson, IGBC Kolkata Chapter, Dr. Shireesh Pankaj, General Manager - Research & Innovation, Ashirvad and Vincent Pinto, Sr. Vice President, Schindler India. The experts concurred that smart and sustainable are two sides of the same coin and to prevent future natural disasters, it is time we start using planning smart right from conceptualization to the building’s lifecycle to make it sustainable and environment friendly.
AWARDS & APPRECIATION
The dazzling evening of The Realty+ Excellence Awards 2022 East showcased the exemplary work done in real estate of East India while appreciating industry experts across various categories for their performance and their contributions made towards the sector.
