SOBHA to accelerate its growth despite external challenges.

What are the different divisions of Backward Integration and what are their functions?

SOBHA Limited is one of India’s largest and only self-reliant real estate companies with a backward integrated model, allowing it to produce all major construction components in-house, from concrete products to aluminum windows and major woodwork for interiors. This makes us the only “Aatmanirbhar” real estate company in India delivering high-quality products on time. Our Interiors, Concrete Products, Metal and Glazing, and Restoplus Divisions run self-sustaining revenue generation units for the company, enabling SOBHA to accelerate its growth despite external challenges. All our factories are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities that are comparable to the best in the world which helps in manufacturing products with the desired finesse, durability, and precision.

• Concrete Product Division – SOBHA’s Concrete Products Division manufactures concrete blocks, pavers, kerbs, water drainage channels, paving slabs, and glass fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC), a type of fiber-reinforced-concrete product are used for not only its internal projects but for other leading developers too.
• Glazing and Metal Works Division – It manufactures products such as aluminum doors, windows, structural glazing, SS cladding, architectural metal works, and pre-engineered buildings. The division’s principal focus is to consistently evolve products that are of high quality under different aspects such as Curtain Walling, Structural Glazing, Bolt Glazing or Spider glazing, Fin supported glazing, Cable Glazing, and suspended glazing.
• Interiors – With cumulative expertise of more than two decades for SOBHA in this division, the Interiors division produces all kinds of furniture – kitchens, wardrobes, home furniture, office furniture, door, door frames, and interior fit-outs. It caters to the requirements of corporates, hospitality, commercial and real estate projects all across India.
• Restoplus Mattress – Restoplus offers customers best-in-class products that are comfortable, durable, hygienic, scientifically designed, and aesthetically better mattresses. SOBHA Restoplus Mattress is renowned in India for its best-in-class quality and technologically advanced features.

Please brief on the growth story on the Glazing and Metal Works division generating a turnover of Rs. 2 crores in 2000 and growing up to Rs. 280 crore last financial year?

The Glazing and Metal Works division of SOBHA manufactures the best quality products in a state-of-the-art facility. SOBHA has a well-equipped factory space of 1,30,000 square feet for production. Since the division started functioning in 2000, we have focused on providing world-class products for our customers. Over the years, the growth of the division has been very progressive owing to the rapidly evolving construction sector. There have been massive changes in the real estate industry that led to performing creative experiments using modern technologies. Today, the fenestration industry is gaining momentum and more people are aware of the
importance and requirements of windows and doors in a building. Due to the advancement in technology, there have been many developments in the Glazing and Metal division like Smart Glasses and acoustic glazing. It is essential to be updated in terms of recent advancements to suggest the best solutions to customers in terms of the energy-efficient facade. Also, the demands and requirements from younger customers encourage us to research more and grow further.

Our growth story started 20 years ago when the G&MW was smaller, but the division was still able to generate a turnover of Rs. 2 crores and in the last financial year, we have been able to amass a total of Rs. 280 crores. The division has been growing at a rate of 33% CAGR since FY-16. These numbers are a testament to the contributions of the respective departments and how they have been able to add their inputs to aid the
organization’s growth at a macro level.

Please brief on the relevance of the Glazing and Metal Works division today and also give an idea about  SOBHA’s plan on introducing a window series for extreme weather conditions?

Since the pandemic hit the country, people started spending quality time inside their homes due to the lockdown and social distancing norms. Slowly, the residential real estate sector started seeing demand for larger window spaces and glass doors for better light and air passage. It is needless to say that the demand for window and façade innovations and advancements gradually increased over the years. However, this trend had seen a significant increase in demand from customers during lockdown owing to the rapid urban globalization in metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, which has led to the noise reduction techniques to be implemented in apartments and houses, which were earlier used mostly by the hospitality sector. Additionally, the increasing trend on preference for green buildings can be executed by the G&MW division. Insulated and high-performance glasses with proper shading on the outside, contribute to the green building norms. These are some of the major reforms which have highlighted the importance of a backward integration module and how it can implement a variety of relevant measures within a shorter span of time.

How will Backward Integration aid the future of the real estate and what would be its larger impacts on the industry?

Backward integration is one of the key elements to ensure supply chain efficiency and on-time delivery of projects by manufacturing all the products required for the construction in-house. Having a full-fledged backward integrated division at SOBHA helps us in reducing the construction time without compromising on the quality. It has a significant impact on the real estate industry as it helps the sector to be self-reliant and provide more innovation and quality. SOBHA’s self-reliant business model makes us an “Aatmanirbhar” company committed to delivering high-quality homes on time. Having an in-house background integration division has given us full control over the quality of products and a track record of on-time delivery.

How are SOBHA projects unique from others?

Being the only self-reliant real estate company with a backward integrated model, we at SOBHA, ensure that the quality of the product is maintained at every step. We ensure to give importance to a process called “snagging” which is meticulous quality checks at every level, well-streamlined processes till the property handover are done to ensure perfection and customer satisfaction. While we continue to retain our quality, it is worth noting that SOBHA is one of the first Indian companies to have a technical collaboration with ‘Schuco International KG’ and is an authorized market dealer in the country.

A consequential collaboration has made our services and products stand out from the clutter as we continue to bring world-class quality and standards to each project under our umbrella. As a pioneer to drive innovations and take the industry to greater heights, introducing new advancements and technologies has surely aided the holistic growth of the industry.

With this uniqueness, SOBHA’s Glazing and Metal Works division has successfully executed various projects for prestigious organizations like Infosys, ITC Limited, Wipro and Salarpuria Sattva, etc.