Mohit Goel, Chief Executive Officer, Omaxe Limited

"The coming Budget is expected to continue with positive policy changes in order to improve business environment and give strong push to growth."

Feb 24, 2015 10:02 IST IIFL Yash Ved |

Mohit Goel, Chief Executive Officer, Omaxe Limited joined the company as an Executive. He gained the relevant grassroot experience in various aspects of real estate business, like construction, sales & marketing, business development etc. Goel has been credited with infusing new energy in the institution through regular meetings, discussions, events etc.Goel has also won the Young Achiever’s Award by ABP’s Real Estate Awards in 2014 along with the Young Male Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Infra & Realty Sutra Award 2014.
 
Omaxe Limited is one of India’s leading real estate development companies. Founded in 1987, the company has fast spread its footprints in 9 States across 30 cities. The company has in its kitty a diversified product portfolio that includes Integrated Townships, Hi-Tech Townships, Group Housing projects, Shopping Malls, Office Spaces, SCOs and Hotel projects. With approx. 92.6 million sq. ft. of delivered space in both real estate and construction contracting, the company is currently undertaking 42 real estate projects - 14 Group Housing, 18 Townships, 10 Commercial Malls/Hotels/ SCO. A BSE & NSE listed company, Omaxe has over the years made a mark with some landmark projects and engineering marvels. Sensing an opportunity in Tier II and III cities, the company made a conscious decision to venture into States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh to name a few and has immensely contributed in the socio-economic development of these cities.
 
Replying to Yash Ved of IIFL, Mohit Goel says "The coming Budget is expected to continue with positive policy changes in order to improve business environment and give strong push to growth."
 
What are your expectation from Budget?
Post the interim Budget, where a number of positive announcements were made, the macroeconomic indicators have improved with inflation and industrial growth showing positive signals. The coming Budget is expected to continue with positive policy changes in order to improve business environment and give strong push to growth. Government has been moving steadily on Smart Cities and the Budget will have a lot of announcements on this front including the broader contours. With several countries pledging support including the US, Singapore etc. Smart cities will bring in a lot of opportunities for private developers. The Government must further liberalize and allow FDI in other segments, after allowing the same in construction and affordable housing. The Government must re-introduce tax benefit under section 80 IB (10) of the Income Tax Act in order to overcome the supply gap and fulfill the vision of Housing for all by 2022. 
 
This benefit should also be extended to Smart Cities, affordable housing and re-development. The real estate sector is expecting its long pending demand of grant of infrastructure status. It will immensely help the sector to access easy finance. A single window clearance mechanism is the need of the hour when implementation of project is the key to investment and growth in the country today. GST is an important tax regime and will benefit the economy going forward. Inclusion of real estate in GST is something that needs a holistic view but we believe its inclusion will bring about a lot of transparency in the sector. Taxes comprise a major portion in a property purchase and it must be rationalized. While a cut in interest rate by RBI isn’t alone enough, buyers, too, have to be incentivized through rebate in Personal Income Tax and more money be put into their hands in order to drive demand.
 
Brief us about your Financials?
We recently announced financial results for Q3 FY15 which saw our consolidated Income at Rs 308 crore for the quarter ended December 31st 2014. PAT for the quarter stood at Rs 13 crore. In the 9 month period, the consolidated income stood at Rs 1017 cr. And PAT at Rs 40 crore.
 
Your new project launches for the coming months?
We are looking to launch 6-7 new projects in the coming months in cities like New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Bahadurgarh etc . We are also focusing on delivering our existing projects in New Chandigarh, Lucknow, Noida amongst others.
 
What is your outlook on real estate prices?
Prices are likely to remain subdued atleast in metro cities for the next 6 months. Inflation and industrial growth has shown positive signs. RBI’s repo rate cut and SLR cut may prod banks to reduce lending rates and keep aside more for lending to corporate and retail. The prices in tier II and III cities have seen some increase because these markets due to its affordability find many takers.
 
Do you expect demand scenario will improve for the real estate sector?
Sales have not been on expected lines on account of challenging economic scenario. Despite the formation of a stable Government and various reforms announced, demand remains subdued. However, the Government has been taking measures to boost sentiments and the outcome will be visible in the next 6-9 months. A lot of demand in commercial and residential space has been coming from tier II and III cities and we are expecting these cities to perform better then Tier I cities.
 
What are your fund raising plans?
The Board had given an approval to raise Rs 550 crore through NCDs. We have already raised Rs 50 crore and in this quarter, we may raise another Rs 50 crore.
 
Your current debt?
Our Gross debt stands at Rs 1147 crore, a rise of 5%, mainly due to Rs 50 crore raised through NCD. We are comfortably placed with a debt anywhere between Rs 1000-1200 crore.

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