Puravankara eyes up to ₹2,000 cr capex, PE backing to become a ‘national player’

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The group plans to triple its land bank to about 45 million square feet from the current 15 msf of net developable area in the next three years. It is also planning to make a beeline for Delhi NCR in FY26. To kickstart the ambitious plan, the group is now in advanced talks with private equity investors.

“In the next 12 months, we will deploy anywhere between another 1,500 to 2,000 crore, for new acquisitions in both residential and commercial spaces,” Abhishek Kapoor, group chief executive and executive director at Puravankara told Mint in an interview. “We aspire to be a national player. But our focus really in a big way on substantial growth, will be between Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and Delhi.”

About 80% of the group’s focus will be on the key large markets, but it will continue to look at opportunities in the other markets like Goa and Kochi, Kapoor said.

Puravankara is accessing multiple routes of investment to fund these acquisitions. Earlier this year, the group’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Provident Housing, raised 1,150 crore from HDFC Capital Advisors, the real estate private equity arm of HDFC group. The group also received approval from its board to raise up to 1,000 crore through qualified institutional placement (QIP) mode, according to company filings on BSE. They are now in talks with more private equity players and looking to deploy its internal accruals to fund upcoming projects. 

“We are in advanced conversations with multiple private equity partners for our residential commercial platforms,” Kapoor said. “And of course we have internal accruals which we’ve seen grow to almost 2,000 crore in the last half year.”

The group has an alternative investment fund (AIF) which they have already taken to market and deployed and is now returning capital, Kapoor said. “Between all of this, I think we’ll be continuing to scale our acquisitions and commensurate with our plan of launches.” 

Pan-India strategy 

As it expands across India, the group will largely focus on the sub- 2 crore category of houses. Kapoor explained that this strategy will be applied to most of the country but it will change for markets like Mumbai and Delhi-NCR. As for South India, the company’s strategy and goals are clear—to continue to do 80% of their business in the sub- 2 crore category.  

“There is a very limited quantum of opportunity in Mumbai at sub- 2 crore category, both on possibility of supply and demand,” he said. “These numbers will be slightly different because now we are actively pursuing opportunities on the redevelopment side in Mumbai. We’ve already signed three redevelopment projects, and we are working on a few more. So the pipeline is quite robust.”

Puravankara secured redevelopment rights for two housing societies in Mumbai last year, with a gross development value (GDV) of 1,500 crore. In September, the group acquired rights for another project—Miami Apartments at Breach Candy, entering the uber-luxury south-Mumbai market. The property can command rates as high as 1,25,000 to 1,40,000 per sq. ft.

It also acquired a 12.75-acre land parcel in Thane, with a potential GDV of 4,000 crore through its wholly-owned subsidiary Purva Oak Pvt. Ltd.

Delhi venture

The group is looking to enter the Delhi-NCR market next year, and is currently evaluating opportunities there. They are most likely to venture into the Delhi market with the Puravankara brand, which offers luxury and uber luxury projects. 

“So the idea is to start with Puravankara. So far, that’s what we’re working on, but we are getting opportunities for Provident as well, between Gurugram and Delhi,” he said. “Of course, there are some opportunities that have come up in Noida as well. Let us see what we conclude.”

“On the demand side, today 35% of the demand across cities is in the mid-segment market ( 50 lakh to 2 crore). The issue is, supply has significantly dropped in that space,” said Rahul Purohit, co-founder and chief business officer at Square Yards. “I think no other player is exploring that segment.”

Purohit explained that it’s a good idea to foray into this market as the luxury market has become cluttered, due to a bull run over the last two years. 

“Legacy players have moved to the luxury segment due to rising cost of construction and price of land. Obviously, the luxury market gives a better margin to a developer because they can charge a premium,” he said. However, there is a shortage of supply in the mid-market segment, he said. 

Puravankara’s rival, Signature Global, which started with affordable housing projects costing 15-30 lakh ventured into mid-income housing priced at 45 lakh and above in 2020. In 2024, it launched its first two premium projects—Deluxe–DXP at Dwarka Expressway, Gurugram and Titanium SPR at Southern Peripheral Road, Gurugram. Both projects, that were priced at 3.5-5.5 crore saw good sales, Mint reported earlier. 

Macrotech Developers Ltd has also planned to transition away from entry-level housing towards the “upper end of the mid-income and beyond” segment, Abhishek Lodha, MD and CEO of Macrotech, said in the second quarter earnings call. “As a consequence of that, we will be moving from about 85-90% of our sales coming from lower mid-income and entry-level housing to 50%, obviously, over a period of 3 years,” he said. 

Others have a different view. “While they are talking about the 80-20 kind of a division, the revenue from their 20% market can be higher than their 80% market if they focused on luxury and uber luxury in Mumbai and NCR,” said Gulam Zia, executive director at Knight Frank India. “For most of the developers whoever is targeting an above-average growth in the revenue—they cannot afford to miss the Mumbai market and the super luxury projects.”

Burden of acquisitions  

While the company has a robust strategy, it is currently reporting losses amid acquisitions. The company’s net loss widened by over 50% to 17.06 crore in Q2FY25, compared with 11.22 crore loss in the same quarter the previous year. In the first half of the year, the company suffered a total net loss of 5 crore, according to company filings. On the upside, its revenue grew by 36% year-on-year to 520 crore.

In the last six months, the group has already invested around 945 crore in land, with a potential gross development value of 9,700 crore from 5.8 million square feet of new acquisitions.

Puravankara currently has 28 ongoing projects. The group has three brands on the residential side: Puravankara, offering luxury and uber luxury, Provident, with mid-and-mass offerings and Purva land, which looks at plotted development. The group has also forayed into commercial real estate, which comprises 10% of their business, with over three million square feet currently approved and in different stages of construction. 

Kapoor said that the group has gone through a transformation in the last decade, due to consolidation in the industry.

“I think the industry consolidated quite severely during that period, and that has given an opportunity also for brands like Puravankara to be part of that consolidation process and take more and more market shares,” he said.

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