Ms Anita Arjundas, Managing Director and CEO of Mahindra Lifespaces, has been entrusted with steering the realty arm of the group. This is largely unorganised sector is dominated by city-specific players where price rises are the order of the day.

With over eight million square feet under development, Ms Arjundas has kept a tight leash on pricing and says the company had dropped them between five and 11 per cent in late 2008 and early 2009 and only “sort of made up” later.

Excerpts from an interview:

Home prices are up again to peak-2008 levels. The RBI is talking of reemergence of the asset bubble with prices across cities galloping anywhere between 30 and 70 per cent. Is this justified? I think it is up 15-30 per cent, in general, since last year. In any case there are two parts of the country – Mumbai and the rest.

Mumbai is altogether a different ballgame and obviously gets all of our attention. The city has seen some very steep increases in the last year and is back to the peak of January 2008. But the good part is the kind of people coming back to the market are largely endcustomers and not so much investors.

I think Mumbai has kind of peaked too fast. Is the price rise justified?

I think it varies from location to location and project to project. In some places I think the increases have been too steep and difficult to justify.

As far as Mahindras are concerned, we do not have a system where prices keep changing everyday. We have never gone berserk. In late 2008 and early 2009 we dropped prices by five to 11 per cent and have just about made up.

The affordable segment is getting a lot of new entrants. Do you see yourself playing a relevant role in this space?

In my view, affordability is a function of how housing is in each segment of the market. The way we see it is the midsegment – between Rs 20-50 lakh, Rs 50-Rs 1 crore and Rs 1 crore-plus but below Rs 2 crore. Most of the projects we have are in the Rs 1 crore-plus category.

At this point of time, we are not looking at Rs 10-20 lakh and sub Rs 10 lakh. I think the entire cost dynamics here are different in terms of location, FSI (floor space index) and construction cost, and technology, besides organised lending for the sub Rs 10 lakh category. We think there is a fairly large market in the mid market we focus on. It is a decent span of segment we can concentrate on without being subjected to too many inflationary pressures.

There is a general perception that the realty arm is not leveraging the Mahindra brand.

I think you are referring to joint developments. We are looking at it but it will be location and project-specific. In some ways it is a `win-win’ combination for both the developer and the landowner.

However, it is very important that you select the right type of associates so that no problems crop up later. We do have three to four deals in progress on the joint venture mode.

What exclusivity does Mahindra Lifespaces bring to the table for home buyers?

The whole focus of the brand is that we help customers raise the quality of life of their family in terms of the environment we provide through design, ventilation lighting, open spaces and amount of landscaping. Our approach is to offer healthy living spaces. The second key differentiation we bring into a market which has been largely unorganised for a long time is the trust and credibility of the Mahindra name. There is a comfort in dealing with the group with the promises we offer on quality and delivery.

What are the plans for the near term?

In the short to medium term, we will build eight million square feet for which we have clear target dates for launch in the next 18 months.

How is it being CEO of a realty company in an industry that is largely male-dominated?

I honestly have not had an issue. If you look at Mahindra World City I was in for a long time, it largely involved dealing with Government. I think it is also important whom you work for.

With the group such as the Mahindras you have certain standards defined in terms of business – what you will do and not do. Then, you are running it like any other corporate ruled by a corporate rule book and you are not forced into situations where you have to take calls you do not want to take.

Popularity: 1% [?]