Unitech sells 74-acre land in 3 cities for Rs 260 cr to shore up cash

The Gurgaon-based developer has sold acres in Hyderabad, Chennai and Gurgaon

Faced with cash crunch, realty firm Unitech has sold 74-acre land in Gurgaon, Chennai and Hyderabad for Rs 260 crore to boost its cash flow and complete ongoing projects.

The Gurgaon-based developer has sold 41 acres in Hyderabad for Rs 160 crore, 19.05 acres in Chennai for Rs 67 crore and 13.55 acres in Gurgaon for Rs 33 crore.

These land parcels were sold during the second half of 2016-17, according to a presentation.

With real estate sector facing multi-year slowdown, Unitech has decided to surrender a big chunk of land parcel in Noida to the local development authority as the company has been unable to clear dues of about Rs 4,000 crore.

In 2006, the realty firm had bought 340 acres on Noida Expressway through auction for Rs 1,582 crore.

On the operational front, Unitech sold 2.75 million sq ft for Rs 851 crore last fiscal against 1.28 million sq ft for Rs 963 crore in 2015-16.

The decline in sales value despite rise in volume was because of a sharp fall in average realisation to nearly Rs 3,100 per sq ft from Rs 7,500 a sq ft during 2015-16.

Out of the total sales, the commercial segment contributed 2.24 million sq ft for Rs 673 crore while housing segment, which is affected the most, accounted for only 0.51 million sq ft for Rs 178 crore.

City-wise, the company achieved maximum sales in Gurgaon at Rs 747 crore out of the total Rs 851 crore.

Unitech delivered 5.18 million sq ft last fiscal and has to complete 33.16 million sq ft area. It is facing a major protest from buyers because of significant delays in project completion. Many buyers have approached courts seeking relief.

During the last fiscal, the company logged a net loss of Rs 402.69 crore as against a loss of Rs 884.66 crore in the previous year. Total income fell to Rs 1,730.01 crore from Rs 1,850.16 crore in 2015-16.

Unitech MD Ajay Chandra had recently said the company has been able to get some additional working capital that has helped speed up execution of the projects. It has adopted a policy that will help fulfil obligations in Noida.

"With implementation of RERA, the overall real estate market is expected to get a boost as the projects are going to get ring-fenced financially and operationally, which will in turn help developers in timely delivery of the projects," Chandra had said.

Besides Delhi-NCR, Unitech has presence in Kolkata, Bhopal, Mohali, Chennai, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Dehradun, Ambala and Rewari, among others.