Focused leadership making dynamic business development
There are many factors that make Godrej Properties Ltd. stand out as a trustable brand. It involves doing business at a rapid pace, brining accountability in operations and lead-ing with optimism.
- How was your journey to create a world class organisation? Tell us about a leadership role that you played and count as your achievement.
I began my career in Hindustan Levers after doing MBA from IIM Calcutta in 2003. Post HLL, I worked with AT Kearney for 2 years. I have been in real estate sector for the last 11 years. Started my real estate journey with Unitech, post which I worked at Redevco, a Dutch private equity fund. I have been with Godrej Properties (GPL) for more than 7 years. Joined as Head of Business Development, worked in different areas and led GPL to a market leadership position in NCR before taking over the larger role of Executive Director and now as the MD & CEO.
I would say the greatest achievement so far has been to make GPL the largest listed real estate company in India. It’s something I am extremely proud of. When I joined, GPL was a very small player in the industry and the journey towards market leadership has been a very exciting experience. Today we have created a world class organization which is best placed to leverage the benefits of market consolidation.
- Share with us about your market portfolio and how you will expand your company growth in 5 years from now?
We are currently developing residential, commercial and township projects spread across approximately 14.36 million square meters (147 million square feet) in 12 cities in India. We have identified four key real estate markets in India – Mumbai, Pune, NCR & Bangalore and our focus will be to further enhance our position in these markets and become one of the top three real estate players in these markets.
- Discuss the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on your business and what operational changes you will make due to it?
We consider the recent changes in fiscal and regulatory regime, as a huge opportunity for us to capitalize on our brand and operational strengths. Over the next year, we wish to channelize our strategy and energy towards gaining further market share by strengthening our project pipeline and improving our value proposition for the customers through innovative design and technology driven excellence in operations.
- What factors make your company stay ahead of the competition?
There are many factors that make us stand out from our competitors. First of all our differentiated asset-light model has helped us scale up at a rapid pace. We have also de-centralized our operations thereby bringing in more accountability and focus in our portfolio across the regions we operate in. We have a young work force that brings in a lot of dynamism and optimism in the way we go about doing business. And most of all- the legacy of the Godrej group which is known for trust and transparency.
