NEW DELHI: Ashiana Housing is planning to invest Rs 650-700 crore in both land and construction in the financial year 2023-24. Its target is to do area booking of Rs 1,500 crore in FY24. The company is looking to add another 7-8 million sq ft over the next three years.
Vishal Gupta, managing director of the company in conversation with ETRealty talked about his future plans. Edited excerpts:
What are your plans for the financial year 2023-24?
Last financial year (FY23) we did an area booking of Rs 1,313 crore, for this financial year (FY24) our target is Rs 1,500 crore. In the first six months of FY24 we did an area booking of about Rs 752 crore, so we are just around halfway mark and we are extremely hopeful that the way the market is responding we will be able to meet our targets.
We have two launches in Chennai, three launches in Jaipur and phase launches in Gurugram, Bhiwadi and other cities.
How many projects have you launched in H1 FY24 and what are your plans for H2 FY24?
We launched around 1.5 million sq ft in H1 FY24 and we should launch another 1.5 million sq ft in the second half of this financial year.
How many projects are you planning to complete in this financial year?
Our guidance for this financial year is to hand over about 2.4 million sq ft and about 1.2 million sq ft we have already delivered in H1 FY24. We recognised revenue of Rs 423 crore in H1 FY24.
What kind of growth you are looking in your revenue in coming years?
In the next 5-5.5 years, we have targeted to sell above Rs 12,000 crore of inventory. Most of our growth will be funded through internal accruals and customer advances.
What is your debt-equity ratio?
As on September 30, 2023, our net worth stood at Rs 729.70 crore, debt-equity ratio was 0.20, current liability ratio was 0.87, total debts to total assets was 0.07, operating margin was 11.43% and net profit margin was 7.79%.
What kind of investment you have planned for this financial year?
For this financial year, in terms of the amount of overall investments that we will be making in both land and construction, should be in the range of Rs 650-700 crore. For the next three years, we will be investing about Rs 500 crore of our own money for acquiring land.
We have secured funding of Rs 225 crore from IFC out of which they have committed Rs 112 crore which is yet to be utilised.
Ashiana Housing’s net consolidated total income stood at Rs 351.02 crore, a growth of 282.71 per cent from Rs 91.72 crore it recorded in the similar quarter last year.
How much land parcels do you own?
So, we have a sellable inventory of about 10 million sq ft and we are looking to add another 7-8 million sq ft over the next three years. We want to go deeper in the cities that we are already present in, i.e. Gurugram, Pune, Chennai, Jaipur, Jodhpur Jamshedpur and Bhiwadi.
We will however be looking to grow our presence in senior living segment in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad. In senior living segment we are already present in Jaipur, Bhiwadi, Pune, Lavasa and Chennai.
What is your average price realisation?
In the last financial year, our average price realisation was Rs 5,080 per sq ft and in this financial year, our average price realisation is around Rs 6,100 per sq ft. The growth is better than we anticipated. I think the market has played out well and we also have been able to up our product offering to command a higher price.
We launched a new project in Jamshedpur at Rs 5,100 per sq ft, in Jaipur price ranges from Rs 4,000-6,000 per sq ft and in Bhiwadi it varies from Rs 3,500-5,500 per sq ft
Which are the segments that you are present in? Which segment do you want to focus on?
We have defined our products in three segments: one we are doing premium homes, second is senior living and third is kid-centric homes. Our homes are priced in the range of Rs 40 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore across all segments.
We will focus on all three segments but the opportunity to grow in senior living segment seems to be much higher because there is less competition and it require certain expertise that we posses. We are ahead in the learning curve. The opportunity to grow this business is higher and margins are better too (additional 5-7% margin).
As of now, senior living is around 15 per cent of our overall revenue and in the next five years, we expect it to grow to approximately 33 per cent.
