Mumbai-based real estate firm The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HOABL) plans to invest over Rs 1,250 crore to acquire more land across India by the end of FY25, Abhinandan Lodha, chairman of the company told Moneycontrol.
The majority of the investment will be in states where HOABL is already operational such as Maharashtra, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh. The company is also looking to acquire new lands in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
"We will be delivering close to 6 million square feet of development by December 2024 in states where we are already operational. We expect to have about 700 acres of development by March 2025 and an additional land bank of 1,000 acres," Abhinandan Lodha said.
HOABL will invest close to Rs 1,800 crore to develop the projects by FY25.
The company is also looking to to invest in six more cities, including Amritsar, Khopoli near Mumbai, Nagpur, Varanasi, Shimla and Vrindavan over the next few years.
"This year we have already delivered the One Goa project close to Old Goa and we will be delivering two more projects in Maharashtra – The Celebration Land in Neral, Mumbai, that has a development potential of 2.7 million sq ft and Tomorrow's World in Anjarle with 2.9 million sq ft of development potential," he said.
The company said it has identified 48 locations across the country for developing new projects before March 2028.
The company also has plans to develop four hotels but did not share further details about the development.
Major interest from NRIs
Abhinandan Lodha said the company aims to grow at 30 percent CAGR per annum in the upcoming fiscals.
"After our launch of the Ayodhya project, we saw more than 27 percent of sales coming from the NRIs – not just in Ayodhya but from other places also," Abhinandan Lodha said, adding that the company expects NRI sales to surge to 30-35 percent in the future.
HOABL has invested over Rs 1200 crore in the 75-acre plotted development project launched in Ayodhya in January 2024. "We have already committed more than Rs 3,000 crore investment in Uttar Pradesh by March 2027. In the upcoming years we will have three more assets in UP, where we will significantly increase our investments," he said.
The company already has a premium plotted development project called Sol de Alibaug located in Alibaug. "We are looking forward to tripling our portfolio in Alibaug over the next five years," he added.
In Goa, the company has three projects – One Goa, close to the new Manohar International Airport, Gulf of Goa, close to the old Dabolim Airport, and Imperial Goa in the Old Goa area which is complete and handed over to the investors
Land acquisition a major challenge
HOABL, one of the few developers to operate in the premium plotted development segment, said that land acquisition is an arduous and difficult process especially when foraying into new cities.
"We have to look at several aspects like the state real estate regulations and the local laws for land acquisition. Additionally, in the absence of digitised land records, the title of the land remains a major challenge in planning a plotted development project. Historically in India, we have seen that an investment in the land has provided at least 20-25 percent compounded returns if held for more than 10 years," Abhinandan Lodha said.
New Budget changes to have a positive impact
The central government has tweaked the capital gains tax regime for all asset classes, including real estate, in the Union Budget 2024. Two key changes that would impact lakhs of homeowners across the country are the removal of indexation benefits for calculating capital gains and the reduction in the capital gains tax rate.
"The central government has tweaked the capital gains tax regime for all asset classes, including real estate. The key changes that would have a positive impact on lakhs of homeowners across the country are the change of definition of the long term from three years to two years for real estate and the reduction in the capital gains tax rate from 20 percent earlier to 12.5 percent without the benefit of indexation," he added.
The article has been updated with the spokesperson's comment on August 7 after the central government amended the LTCG real estate tax rates.
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