Mona Townships forays into student housing

Punjab-based realty firm Mona Townships on Friday said it has forayed into student housing segment by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government. The project will entail an investment of Rs 100 crore which will provide direct and indirect employment to more than 500 people. Mona Townships private limited (MTPL) Chairman Tejinder Pal Setia signed the MoU with D P S Kharbanda, Commissioner- cum-Director Industries & Commerce, Punjab, in Amritsar on Friday at the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) being organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Introduced for the first time in the state, the student housing initiative will cater to the substantially unmet demand in a highly unorganised market which continues to rely on cramped campus housing, private hostels and paying guest accommodations, the company statement said. Envisaged as a thriving asset class on the lines of established markets like the USA and the UK, student housing in India is a highly attractive investment proposition in view of the rapid increase in the number of students and universities, which will be accompanied by a corresponding rise in migration of students, it said. "It can potentially offer returns much higher than those for commercial and residential assets. We are expecting this asset class to generate returns in the range of 15-18 per cent as compared to 8-10 per cent for commercial projects. We plan to scale up our capacity by 100 per cent every year over the next five years," Setia said. The MTPL chairman said the company would provide a homelike atmosphere to students to cater to all their needs ranging from food, laundry and housekeeping to wi-fi, security and transport. "Being developed on professional lines, our student housing will have exclusive spaces where students can study, interact and unwind," he said.