Equating demonetisation as a move to cure “cancer” in the economy, Mumbai-based real-estate tycoon and managing director of Hiranandani Group Niranjan Hiranandani said the real-estate sector across the country has taken a “hit” after the Modi-government banned currencies of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denominations and will take at least four months to recover. “The economy has got cancer and he (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) is trying to do an operation, which he believes will cure the cancer…. So is this cancer going to be 100 percent cured? No. It is cancer. We do not know what part of the cancer you will be able to treat,” said Niranjan while talking to mediapersons in Ahmedabad, Friday.
He said that the “cash-component” in the real-estate sector will only go down once stakeholders start dealing in cheques. “In Gujarat market, the sale is more to investors that to actual buyers. So investors park cash and the actual user finds it difficult to buy,” Niranjan said adding that government’s demonetisation move might bring down the interest rates of home loans helping “real home-buyers” to crack a deal.
When asked about the effects of demonetisation on the real-estate sector, he said, “The entire country has been hit by demonetisation, then how can real-estate not be hit… Yes, the business will be down. We think that it will be down till March next year. The turnaround in the real-estate market will take place from April onwards. In the meantime, if you can do business in real-estate, you can get products 15-20 percent cheaper, but you should
have the guts to buy during this period.”
Hiranandani to invest Rs 150 cr in housing project at Sanathal Niranjan Hirandani said that he will be investing an additional Rs 150 crore to start a housing project at Sanathal in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat. “Earlier we had conceived an IT SEZ, but now we will be converting it into a housing project.. This we will take up in February 2017 once we finish the GIFT City project,” he said. The real-estate group is building a 16-storied IFSC commercial building in the SEZ area of GIFT City at Gandhinagar, that is scheduled to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi during the Vibrant Gujarat summit in January 2017.
“When we start in January, we expect four-six stories to be occupied on the first day,” Niranjan said adding that he plans to lease out the entire four lakh square feet of the multi-storied commercial tower by October2017. The company is currently leasing it out at a rate of Rs 53 per square feet per month. “BSE will be occupying the 2-3 floors immediately, then 100 stock brokers will also register for space before the opening (in January). Kotak Bank is also taking up an entire floor and about five banks are in the process of signing up for space,” he added.
[Source:-The Indian express]
