Bengaluru market has moved beyond 'pilot' phase with strong pipeline, says Macrotech MD & CEO

Macrotech's MD & CEO Abhishek Lodha said that the company sees a strong pipeline in Bengaluru, while it also plans launches in Palava, near Mumbai

Real estate major Macrotech Developers Ltd Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Abhishek Lodha said in the company's investor call after its Q2FY25 results that it plans to expand in the Bengaluru market with a "strong" pipeline of projects, declaring that the "pilot" phase, of entry and consolidation, in the tech metropolis is over.

"When we entered Bengaluru in mid-2021, we had mentioned that we would be in pilot phase for two to three years during which we will focus on building a strong local operating team, understanding local operating nuances and making sure that we can showcase our delivery to consumers. We are pleased that in a period of a little over two years, we have achieved most of those objectives," Lodha said.

He added that after reporting a strong start to the sales of two projects in Bengaluru in FY24, of around Rs 1,400 crore, it has now added two more projects in the city, with a total gross development value of around Rs 3,800 crore.

Lodha said that with the company's available inventory in Bengaluru currently being at around Rs 6,000 crore, he sees "good visibility" in scaling up over the next two to three years.

For the company at large, Lodha said that while sales volumes during the July-September quarter and the first half of FY25 had been lower on a year-on-year basis, the lower number of units sold were due to ticket sizes of transactions moving higher in Mumbai's eastern suburbs, where Macrotech, under the Lodha brand, has an extensive presence. The instances he provided were Mumbai's satellite city Thane as well as the company's own Palava integrated development in the Dombivli suburb. Lodha added that the shift towards upper-mid-income and premium homes from entry-level homes may imply a period of lower volumes, despite higher realisations.

The company plans to launch two projects at Palava over the next two quarters, both in the upper-mid-income and premium categories. Lodha added that the delayed Airoli-Katai Naka road link will provide an impetus to sales in the area once complete.

The company said during the call that Palava, spread across around 4,500 acres, has the potential to grow like Gurugram did, on the back of infrastructure growth in the area.

As for the company's push towards turning Palava into a data centre hub through sales of land with ready infrastructure for such facilities, Lodha said that realisations from the residential and data centre segments may start converging in the next two to three years.

The company has laid out plans to increase annuity income to Rs 1,500 crore by FY31, and has bought out the stakes of major private equity partners, such as CDPQ and Bain Capital, in its data centre and industrial parks businesses.