Mohit Malhotra, Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Godrej Properties, talks about recovery and demand, the future outlook business, expectation from the festive season, the expectations from the announcement made by the government and projects among others during an interview with Swati Khandelwal, Zee Business. Edited Excerpts: 

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Q: Do big companies of the real estate sector are seeing the trends that suggest recovery and demand as well as green shoots in the segment? What is your outlook in terms of demand recovery and what kind of bookings is visible to you?

A: It is very tough and the COVID situation in India isn’t improving much. Even on the ground things are tough and we do expect it to continue till the time things stabilize in the country. Over the short term, we will have to be ready to bear these disruptions but in a slightly longer horizon we have a very optimistic view, so, just keeping ourselves ready for the upside whenever it starts happening.

Q: Festive season is around the corner and it feels that a full recovery can be seen here. So, what initial trends are visible and what kind of activities are visible in the festive season in terms of demand?

A: A lot of change will not be seen in the festive season because things will improve only once the COVID situation improves. So, the real trigger would be vaccine coming in and cases coming significantly down in India. I think, in the festive season we all will have to accept that it will be a little bit down compared to any other festive seasons that we have seen in the past.

Q: The government has had an important focus on this sector and many announcements related to this sector have been made in the past few months like affordable housing and improvement in liquidity situation. How much the sector will be benefitted from these announcements? Also, tell about the areas where you feel that the government should focus upon?

A: First of all, I would like to appreciate that the government has done a lot of work for the industry. I would say that it has to be a win-win situation for the government and the industry. If there is anything that the government can do to improve the demand then it will have a positive implication on the rest of the economy. A lot of revenue will also flow to the government, which is the biggest beneficiary in real estate. So, I think, anything which can help our customers, help the demand getting revived, there have been some talks about stamp duty reduction, which could be a very positive step. Any tax break for the customers by the real estate could be a very interesting thing. But everyone has their constraints, so whatever best we can get on the demand side would be of great help.

Q: Godrej Properties has reported weak numbers on a year-on-year basis. So, what is your outlook for the company on a medium to long-term basis in terms of topline, bottom line, and margins?

A: We have been extremely happy with our results as sales have shot up on a quarter-on-quarter basis and we closed at around Rs 1,500 crore of sales in a quarter, which is exceptionally well. And, we should remember that it has been in a time when the entire country was in lockdown. So, all of these sales are digital sales and this is a very unique thing that has happened in the country. Just want to share something with you we have got recent reports which are coming out that are showing that we are the number 1 developer both in terms of value and volume based on the Q1 performance.

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Q: What is the pipeline of the new launches and what are the projects on which Godrej is working at present? Also, update us about the kind response that you are getting on the recently launched projects? 

A: The response is very good. One project has been launched in Bangalore and we are seeing fantastic sales there. These frequent lockdowns, which happen don’t help at all, but despite all these challenges, we are seeing a very positive response. So, we are quite optimistic and bullish on the sale front.