“To delight customers by providing quality life spaces"

QnA with Mr. Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO, Tata Housing Development Company Please describe your journey over the past 5 years in the industry? Tata Housing pioneered the concept of property development by corporates in India. Since our revival in late 2006, Tata Housing has evolved into one of the fastest growing real estate development companies in India. Moreover, it enjoys the unique position of having large in-city real estate properties in major metros and mini metros. The company also enjoys the virtue of having huge land banks in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Chennai, and Kolkata and is presently acquiring large land parcels across the country. As a comprehensive real estate developer of choice, Tata Housing now straddles across all consumer segments from value housing to luxury and Ultra-luxury segment. By offering products ranging from Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 14 crore, we have a diversified portfolio of more than 70 million sq.ft. under various stages of development. Besides projects under execution, there is a steady pipeline of projects of over 19 million sq. ft. The company has also ventured into foreign markets such as Maldives and is actively considering markets like Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries. What is the USP of your projects? The company’s mission as a real estate development company is “To delight customers by providing quality life spaces through continuous innovations”. The core objective for Tata Housing is to create a real estate development business that offers world-class property development. The company develops every property only after concentrated and focused market research to determine consumer needs and then the project is designed and implemented according to consumer preferences. Tata Housing today has partnered with internationally acclaimed architects and design consultants, where quality construction has now become synonymous with the company. In line with the group ethos, we at Tata Housing encourage a culture of disruptive innovation visible in our products and services. For instance, Myst in Kasauli is India’s first residential development designed using biophilic architecture: an approach which creates luxury spaces that bring residents closer to nature. We pioneered the concept of low-cost housing under the banner of Tata Value Homes’. Riva Residences is India’s first integrated township for the senior living segment. Our major achievements in the recent past, Tata Housing pioneered online home buying not just spurring a trend in public consumption of real estate but also a new avenue for sales for the sector, selling over 1500 units online. What is your biggest strength as an industry leader? A career span of 14 years across some of the key Tata group companies has enabled me in acquiring an in-depth understanding not just of group business practices and core values but also the Indian consumer businesses across sectors. Tata Housing developed into one of the fastest growing real estate companies in India and strives to delight its customers by providing quality life spaces through continuous innovation. We have taken up the cause of environment by committing to develop certified green buildings, thus, saving energy for the country. We introduced the concept of selling real estate through online medium. Today, Tata Housing enjoys the unique position of having large in-city real estate properties in major metros and mini metros as we also write the affordable housing story of India. The industry has seen many ups and downs over the years. You and your organisation have managed to retain its position irrespective of the trends in the market. What is your strategy to ensure that you stay on top? We at Tata Housing have constantly yearned to stay ahead of the curve and adopt a culture of innovation into the way we do business. In our quest to become a customer centric organization, our efforts have been centred around identifying newer avenues for conducting business, reaching out to the customer through multiple channels thus ensuring we remain a name to reckon with in the Industry. Being a real estate developer, we have to keep innovating to avoid fatigue amongst our consumers who are constantly bombarded with similar products. In a way to break the clutter and reach out to consumers irrespective of geography, we decided to pioneer the online sale of real estate first with GOSF 2013 and soon followed it up with the National Home Buying Day 2014, allowing our consumers to buy a home of their choice from the comfort of their homes. This was followed by the National Home Buying Week where consumers got a choice to book an apartment across 25 projects in 8 cities including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Bhubaneswar starting from Rs12 lakh up to Rs12 crore. Then we launched “world’s first e-commerce platform for home buying” – www.Tatavaluehomes.com and also partnered with Housing.com and Snapdeal to sell our properties. Recently, we introduced integrated payment gateway thus helping our customers to complete the entire transaction online. Did you face any hurdles and overcame the same to ensure your reputation as a leader remained intact? Tata Housing Development Company, earlier known as THDC in 2006 was less renowned with a negative net worth of Rs 10 crore, which means its liabilities exceeded its assets by Rs 10 crore. The Company has had a drastic renewal since then with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of close to 100 percent. Since its revival in 2006, the company has grown exponentially establishing itself as the fastest growing real estate developers in India, with 70 million sq.ft under various stages of planning and execution and an additional 19 million sq. in the pipeline. Today, Tata Housing is developing large townships and differentiated theme based projects in major and mini metros. As a comprehensive real estate developer of choice, Tata Housing straddles across all consumer segments from value to luxury housing, by offering products ranging from Rs. 12 lakhs to Rs. 14 crores. All projects developed by Tata Housing are certified sustainable green developments, designed by top internationally renowned architects. How would you describe customer satisfaction for a completed project? The company’s mission as a real estate development company is “To delight customers by providing quality life spaces through continuous innovations”. At Tata Housing, we have always thought it is important to build confidence in buyers by educating them and demonstrating a commitment to working in the best interest of the customer. We have always kept consumers at the centre of our endeavours and strive to deliver projects on time and up to standards In our quest to become a customer centric organization, our efforts have been centred around identifying newer avenues for conducting business, reaching the customer through multiple channels thus ensuring we remain a name to reckon with in the Industry. Name one project that has helped consumers retain their faith in your company? It would be difficult to name any one project as all our projects have received an overwhelming response from the consumers. For Instance, we had to conduct a lottery for our luxury project in Gurgaon as it was oversubscribed by 11 times during the launch. The project reaffirmed the faith customers had reposed on us and we continue to work on projects that helps to maintain the trust. Another illustration is Tata Housing’s affordable project in Boisar that is completely sold out today, has witnessed a three time price appreciation and spurred the launch of a second project in that region.