Parsvnath aims to reduce its debt by a quarter

Real estate developer Parsvnath Developers is planning to cut its debt by a quarter by the end of this fiscal, even as it has stalled 11 of its special economic zone (SEZ) projects.

The New Delhi-based developer, which restructured Rs 800 crore of debt last year, plans to repay Rs 400 crore debt to banks and financial institutions.

“Our mindset at this point in time is not to increase debt. We do not owe any money to mutual funds and most of the debt is project-specific.We have no commercial papers outstanding and we have discharged most of the non-convertible debentures”, said Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers.

The company planned to repay the debt through internal accruals or from the large outstanding receivables in various projects, Jain said.

However, he declined to specify the details of the receivables, except for saying that “our receivables are manifold”.

Parsvnath’s current cost of debt is 12-13.5 per cent as compared with 11.5 per cent one-and-a-half years ago. The company does not have any short-term debt due for repayment this year.

Parsvnath had plans to develop 17 SEZs. While it has acquired land for six, 11 SEZs have been put on hold. Another real estate company, DLF, has also sought de-notification of four of its IT SEZs due to lack of demand.

“The entire process of acquiring land in these SEZs has been put on hold. We have suspended land buying. Our major focus is to complete existing projects,” Jain said. According to him, Parsvnath owns 200 million sq ft of land. The developer is planning to launch projects in Saharanpur shortly.