Puravankara to invest Rs 750 cr in projects

Real estate firm Puravankara Ltd will invest Rs 750 crore on construction of ongoing projects in the current fiscal and is looking for joint venture partners to expand business.
The Bengaluru-based developer also plans to launch 7-8 million sq ft area in 5 projects in 2017-18, its Managing Director Ashish R Puravankara said.
"We invested Rs 2,000 crore during last two fiscals on construction of projects. In this fiscal, our construction spend will be around Rs 750 crore as most of the projects are near completion," he told PTI.
On new launches, Puravankara said the company has a pipeline of over 22 million sq ft over the next two years in six markets -- Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai and Goa -- where it has presence.

About 11 million sq ft area each would be launched under luxury brand 'Puravankara' and affordable brand 'Provident'.
"We expect to launch 7-8 million sq ft in this fiscal," he said, adding that the projects would comply with all the provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

The company does not have any plans to expand presence in new cities and will continue to focus in these markets.
Puravankara's sales bookings rose by 29 per cent to Rs 1,168 crore last fiscal from Rs 907 crore in 2015-16.
Sales in volume terms went up by 7 per cent to 2.15 million sq ft while realisation improved by over 20 per cent.

The company did not give any sales guidance for 2017-18 due to uncertainties in the market over implementation of new real estate law and GST.
Asked about acquisition of new projects, Ashish Puravankara said: "It is a constant process. Most of the acquisition will be through joint venture (JV) or joint development agreements (JDA)".
He said the company's net debt reduced by about Rs 300 crore in the last fiscal to Rs 2,139 crore and it will further come down with the help of internal accruals.
On realty law, Puravankara said it would be positive for the real estate markets and organised players would benefit from this legislation that seeks to eliminate fly-by-night operators.

Last week, Puravankara reported an over three-fold jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 62 crore for the quarter ended March as against Rs 18 crore in the year-ago period.
The revenue rose by 37 per cent to Rs 460 crore for the quarter ended March against Rs 335 crore in the corresponding period of 2015-16 fiscal.
For the entire 2016-17, the company posted 53 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 127 crore from Rs 83 crore in the previous year. However, revenues declined to Rs 1,429 crore, from Rs 1,605 crore in 2015-16.