Unitech sells 30.6 acre land for Rs 97 cr in Oct-Dec qtr

Realty firm Unitech Ltd has sold over 30 acres of land parcels in Gurgaon and Chennai for Rs 97 crore as part of its plan to divest non-core assets.
The company has sold 30.60 acres of land for Rs 96.86 crore during October-December quarter of this fiscal, according to a presentation.
Unitech has sold 19.05 acre land in Chennai for Rs 66.86 crore and another 11.55 acres land in Gurgaon for Rs 30 crore.
The Gurgaon-based developer has been selling its non-core assets, including land parcels, to overcome liquidity crunch amid slowdown in the property market.
The cash-crunch has resulted in huge delay in completion of its many projects across the country, forcing home buyers to protest on many project sites and even lodge complaints in consumer and other courts.

On operational front, Unitech's sales bookings fell marginally to Rs 806 crore during April-December period of this fiscal from Rs 832 crore in the year-ago period.

The commercial segment contributed Rs 644 crore while housing accounted for Rs 162 crore in the overall sales bookings during the first nine months of the 2016-17 fiscal.
Earlier this week, Unitech reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 17.13 crore for the quarter ended December compared to Rs 12.25 crore in the year-ago period.
Income from operations, or net sales, rose to Rs 401.59 crore from Rs 390.18 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

"While construction activity at the project sites has been steadily rising due to various measures such as escrow mechanisms put in place by the company, demand for residential product that was already sluggish got further adversely impacted by demonetisation," Unitech MD Ajay Chandra had said, while announcing the quarterly numbers.
In this uncertain business environment, the company's focus would continue to be on completing the ongoing projects and delivering the finished product to customers, he had said.
Chandra expected that the Budget sops for affordable housing coupled with the prevailing benign interest rates for home loans would help revive demand in coming months.