Focused on becoming clear number 2 brand in NCR: Max Estates' Sahil Vachani

We have a current rental income of ₹150 crore which is expected to cross ₹700 crore on annuity basis in the coming three to five years, says Vachani

Max Estates, the real estate development arm of Max Group, is eyeing the second spot in the National Capital Region (NCR) market with 17 million square feet of residential and commercial space being built up over the next 3-4 years with a ballpark investment of ₹15,000 crore crore including land, said Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sahil Vachani. In an exclusive interaction with Gulveen Aulakh in New Delhi, the top executive said that while Max will remain in Delhi NCR, it will remain open to acquiring projects through inorganic routes. Edited excerpts:

 

What is Max Estates’ five year plan?   

  In five years, we’re looking at doing 13 projects. We have 17 million square feet of space, of which 3-4 million is built-up, 

the rest is under construction and will come up over the next five years. The total investment will cross ₹7,500 crore crore, just in construction. 

 

What’s the near-term revenue target? 

Our objective is more focused on becoming the clear Number 2 brand in NCR and among the top preferred brands in the region. And, we’re very confident that it will translate into numbers. In FY24, we did ₹1,800 crore worth of pre-sales, in FY25 we crossed ₹5,000 crore. 

We have a current rental income of ₹150 crore which is expected to cross ₹700 crore on annuity basis in the coming three to five years. Strategically, we want to do high-quality work and focus on execution. 

What will it take to become the number 2 player? 

We’re a six- to seven-year-old company but we have a north star, a vision to bring elements of wellness and well-being into the real estate space. We’ve articu­lated this through a few things. 

One, we are very focused on Delhi NCR, and we don’t intend to go out. Two, we’re very focused on two asset classes — residential and commercial. Three, we’re extremely conservative from a financial perspective. 

We’ve got New York Life as an equity partner where they have 23 per cent of Max Estates and at every project level they come in at 49 per cent. From them we have a commitment of Rs 1,500 crore and we did a QIP (qualified institutional placement) of ₹800 crore last year. So, we’ve built a strong balance sheet and we have no debt. 

With land costs seeing a sharp rise, would acquiring land pose a challenge for the company? 

So land costs are going up, but the customer sale prices have gone up higher. Also, not all our land acquisitions are outright. We also partner with landowners. So assume you own a land, we’ll give you a percentage of revenue sharing. We remain confident to acquire strategic land parcels to enable execution of our growth plans. 

Would you be open to inorganic acquisitions, maybe projects under insolvency? 

Yes, in fact, we've just acquired this whole project from NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) for which we had bid in 2018. The approvals have just come through and this will be our first mixed-use campus, with offices, residential, and retail.  

We’re seeing an influx of investment funds and you already have New York Life on board. What is the monetisation strategy? 

They (NY Life) are one of the oldest life insurance companies with $800 billion of assets under management, and we are their exclusive partners for India. We're looking to build out our commercial portfolio. We have about 6-7 million square feet over the next four to five years, with New York Life, then options can open up for us to monetise that through Reits (real estate investment trusts) or through other instruments. 

What is the project pipeline like for FY26 and beyond? 

We will have three projects, two in Noida and one in Gurugram. There'll be a senior living project, a residential project, and the same campus as Max Towers will be relaunched at Delhi One this year, and then one in Noida that we've just acquired 10 acres in Sector 105 that's through an auction that happened a few months ago.