S & T Corporation Ltd Management Discussions

<dhhead>MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS</dhhead>

 

INDIAN ECONOMY

The Indian economy continues to remain fairly resilient in the last year despite the global headwinds. However, it will see a moderation in growth in FY24 to 5.9-6.3% as per various estimates as against 6.9% in FY23. Rising borrowing costs and slower income growth will weigh on private consumption growth, and government consumption is projected to grow at a slower pace due to the withdrawal of pandemic-related fiscal support measures. Despite this, India will remain one of the fastest growing economies in a challenging global environment.

 

While the short-term outlook seems to be challenging given the rising interest rates, external supply shocks and geopolitical tension, we do believe the government is doing the right things to ensure a sustainable growth path for the country. The union budget presented this year was very supportive of the long-term growth of the real estate sector in India through its focus on urban infrastructure and the digital economy. The government’s sharply expanded capital expenditure target for the year is expected to create job opportunities and higher economic activity.

 

 

REAL ESTATE SECTOR

The post-pandemic picture for the real estate sector is a paradigm shift from before. The pandemic has reinstated the importance of home ownership and the attitude of customers towards residential properties has seen a substantial shift. Preference for larger sized apartments, inclination towards reputed developers and a rising demand for townships projects are just some of the emerging trends.

 

While the residential segment witnessed strong performance, the commercial office sector continues to remain sluggish with demand not yet reaching the pre-pandemic levels. The challenges to office space demand have been the work from home trend and slowdown in global economic growth. The global slowdown directly impacts sectors like IT/ITeS which is the major occupier of office space in India. The retail real estate sector though, is back to full swing with consumption recovering beyond pre-pandemic levels and should continue the momentum.

 

 

RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE MARKET

The residential market has sustained the momentum seen in the latter half of fiscal 2022. The robust performance of the sector during the last year signifies the strength of the underlying demand for property. The demand is driven by healthy economic recovery post pandemic, healthy affordability compared to historic levels and other favorable macroeconomic factors. The industry though faced the headwinds of a steep rise in raw material costs, consumer inflation and a sharp increase in borrowing costs.

 

Heightened savings during the lockdowns, relatively little income disruption in the mid and high-income categories and a comparatively strong economic growth outlook have sustained demand in the Indian residential market.

 

 

OPPORTUNITIES

Housing Demand: An expected economic recovery along with the belief of housing prices bottoming out amongst consumers and rising income levels are some of the factors which will drive the housing demand going ahead. Hybrid working models will also continue to drive demand for larger homes.

 

Affordable Housing: Affordable housing continues to remain a significant opportunity for developers and key focus area of the government. While the tax benefit for first-time homebuyers and tax holiday for developers in affordable housing segment was rolled back in Budget 2022, we believe it will not deter homebuyer’s decision of purchasing homes and demand will continue to be strong in affordable housing segment.

 

 

THREATS AND CHALLENGES

Regulatory Hurdles - Real estate sector is a highly regulated sector and any unfavorable changes in government policies and the regulatory environment can adversely impact the performance of the sector. There are substantial procedural delays with regards to land acquisition, land use, project launches and construction approvals.

 

 

Monetary Tightening and Funding Issues - There has been a contrasting trend in real estate lending over the past few years wherein reputed, low leveraged developers continued to enjoy easy access to liquidity as the lenders remained selective and weaker developers struggled with limited sources of capital. Real estate sector performance is closely linked to economic recovery and its monetary policies.

 

 

Shortage of Labour and Technology - Being the second largest employer in the country, the construction sector is heavily dependent on manual labour. During the pandemic, the sector was badly hit due to labor availability issues which affected the project completion timelines. Hence, there is a need for development of technologically less labour intensive alternative methods of construction.

 

 

INTERNAL CONTROL & ADEQUACY:

Adequate internal control systems commensurate with the nature of the Company’s business, size and complexity of its operations are in place and have been operating satisfactorily. Internal control systems comprising of policies and procedures are designed to ensure reliability of financial reporting, timely feedback on achievement of operational and strategic goals, compliance with policies, procedure, applicable laws and regulations. Internal control systems are designed to ensure that all assets and resources are acquired economically, used efficiently and adequately protected.

 

 

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE:

(Amount in Rs.in Lakhs)

Particulars	31.03.2023	31.03.2022
Operating Revenue	49.11	98.80
Other Income	5.18	0.12
Total Revenue	54.29	98.92
Total Expenses	(41.39)	(30.91)
Profit before tax	12.90	68.01
Tax Expenses	-	-
Net Profit after Tax	12.90	68.01

 

 

For details of Ratios and changes therein refer Notes to the Financial Statements forming part of this report.