No price cut expected in coming quarters: Anant Raj

New phases in existing properties will come up in the current year. There are no plans of the company to buy additional land, Sarin said.

Sales are expected to go up without any reduction in prices in near to mid term, he said.Below is the transcript of Amit Sarin's interview with Sumaira Abidi and Reema Tendulkar on CNBC-TV18.Reema: It looks like a sluggish quarter. Your revenues are down 2 percent; your margins have fallen by 210 bps year-on-year, which is having its impact on the profits as well. What was the key reason for this sluggishness, if we can call it that, in the January to March quarter and is the outlook looking better?A: We were not very aggressive in sales and we didn’t want to reduce prices. We have been pretty much stable in the prices, but sales are down and that’s what made the profit also go down. However, if you see the whole year, our profits are up almost 40 percent. We sold principal asset in September and we got good revenues from that. So we were trying to hold on to prices which we have successfully done and in coming quarters, sales will be going up and we are focusing a lot of execution as well.Sumaira: Going into FY16 – there is no scope that you are looking at cutting your prices and what are the projects that are going to come in for revenue recognition in the first half?A: We do not need to cut prices because firstly, we are focusing on our institution in which we are seeing a decent pickup in sales. Secondly, in terms of recognition our largest project which is our 63A project will not start to contribute, because we are doing it phase-wise and in two phases, we have touched 30 percent mark. We will see a lot of revenue getting recognised from this year. Reema: For FY15, your sales were largely flat. Considering the few projects, the outlook is looking better; it will come in for revenue recognition. What will be the revenue growth target that you are anticipating in any new launch targets in FY16? What will be your target on sales volume?A: You will see an increase in our sales volume because sales are happening. But because of the percentage completion method, we were not able to recognize. This year a lot of recognition will happen in various projects; 63A, Sector 91, the Neemrana project, which is almost complete. Basically sales are okay, but we have to keep in mind the revenue recognition method.Sumaira: In these three group housing projects you said Neemrana is close to completion, there is also Gurgaon and Manesar. How many units have you sold and what are the average realisations?A: We cannot talk about average realisations because in Neemrana we are selling a house for Rs 8, 20, 000 and we are selling villa for about Rs 9 crore. Average recognition doesn’t make sense here but on an average in terms of villas we are selling between 10-14 villas a month; flats, of course, the pick-up is huge compared to that. In terms of revenue recognition, you will see a lot this year.Reema: Any new launches that you have outlined for the coming year as well as any land parcels that you are looking to buy?A: It is going to be in phases. We have enough land now. We have largest land parcel in National Capital Region (NCR). We are not looking to buy anything new as of now but you will see a lot of new phases in our various projects coming up for launch. Sumaira: What about your hospitality segment. By when can we expect revenues to start kicking in from your mall in Delhi in FY16?A: Revenues are already coming in. They are already there as the mall has been up and running for almost three-four years now.Sumaira: Can you quantify what we can expect in FY16?A: I cannot give future number like this. We have to go quarter-wise.Reema: Generally NCR region is slow and you primarily operate in NCR. In one line if you had to summarise - will the outlook for NCR generally for the industry be better in FY16 compared to FY15. Has there been a pick up?A: Generally speaking it will now pick up and what will pick up is projects which are bagged by execution and that is an important point now, only projects which are bagged by execution will pick up.