NEW DELHI: Builders are scrambling to acquire
cheap land and technology for low-cost housing after the government and
central bank announced incentives for affordable housing, including
cheaper loans to developers and buyers.
Real estate companies including Tata Housing, ATS Infrastructure,
Bhartiya Group and Anantraj Industries are busy sewing up land deals for
projects in the Rs 5-20 lakh home segment. There is unlimited demand
for homes in this segment, say experts.
“There is a large market for such homes but a big supply constraint
as well,” said Shailesh Pathak, executive director of the Bhartiya
Group, which is planning to build 10,000 low-cost homes over the next
two-three years on a 50-acre land near Chennai. Its larger plan is to
upscale this to a million homes in the next decade across the country.
According to the ministry of housing, India faces a shortage of 18.78
million homes, of which 96% is in the economically weaker and
low-income segments. The challenge for builders is to find cheaper land
that makes it economically viable for them to build such homes. Such
lands, however, are only available away from the cities, where, in most
cases, there is a lack of transport facilities.
What is also required in this segment is a way for the builder to
keep cost of construction in check, which can be achieved by adopting
technology to speed up construction.
Tata Housing, which has decided on a long-term strategy for this
segment, has set up a pre-cast plant in Bangalore where a house is
literally manufactured and then assembled on site. “This technology
standardises our homes and because it is factory based, we save on both
time and cost,” said Rajeeb Kumar Dash, head of marketing services at
Tata Housing.
What conventional construction achieves in three to four years, this
technology does in two to three years. The one year saved translates
into cost benefits.
Pathak of the Bhartiya Group says Korea has been successful in
providing mass housing, while Mexico and South Africa have interesting
success stories. His company is looking at international and other
Indian case studies with the aim of incorporating key learnings and
eventually adopting one of the technologies.
Noida-based ATS Infrastructure has built 400 apartments priced less
than Rs 10 lakh in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh and is looking at
similar projects on the outskirts of tier-2 cities such as Muradabad,
Kanpur, Saharanpur and Bhiwadi.
Managing director Getamber Anand said ATS Infrastructure would look
at incurring capital expenditure for technology only after a certain
scale is reached. At the moment, his in-house construction team sources
materials from around project sites to keep costs low, as did noted
British-born Indian architect Laurie Baker.
“This is a volume game, with very thin margins,” Anand said. Builders
are working on different models. Anantraj Industries, for instance,
secured cheap land from the Rajasthan government in Neemrana, but on
condition that the company would not sell houses over a certain price.
It built 2,300 homes with one room, toilet and kitchen in the industrial
area and sold them at Rs 8-9 lakh each.
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