Lodha Developers buys 945 units in Mumbai's Mankhurd in SRA project-linked deal

Real estate major Lodha Developers (erstwhile Macrotech Developers) has purchased 945 residential units in Mumbai's Mankhurd, equivalent to around 50,000 square metres, from Arihant Construction Company for around Rs 567 crore, in a deal related to the former's commitment to the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) in Lodha's Vikhroli project. Arihant had around 83,000 square metres of free sale component at the Mankhurd project.

According to transaction documents accessed by real estate data analytics firm CRE Matrix, the deal was registered on June 3. A stamp duty of around Rs 34 crore was paid for the transaction. Observers stated that the deal will allow Lodha to maximise the sale potential at its Vikhroli project, while at the same time, Arihant too is able to liquidate a large part of its free sale inventory in one instance, bringing in significant cash flows.

Lodha will hand over the 945 units as permanent transit camp (PTC) units to SRA, which was mandated by the authority as per the SRA scheme for the Vikhroli project. According to industry observers, this has been one of the largest deals of its kind, where a developer fulfils the mandated PTC requirement for SRA by providing it on another land parcel.

The developer, on handing over the required PTC units, gets additional development rights for their projects, in the form of additional floor space index (FSI), allowing developers to build higher and supply more units. Such arrangements are permitted under Regulation 33(11) in the Development Control and Promotion Regulations, 2034, where developers are allowed to club allowable FSI between schemes, and transfer the unutilised FSI from one project to another to enable more construction, if the developers provide the required number of PTC units to the SRA.