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The company, recently, has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd and Godrej Industries Ltd. In terms of the memorandum of understanding the parties have agreed that Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd shall grant a new lease to Godrej Industries Ltd / our Company or to any other entity as may be formed by Godrej Industries Limited / our Company for a period of 99 years commencing from April 1, 2010 for development of such property.
Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company Ltd is the owner of approximately 36.5 acres of land located at Vikhroli, Mumbai and for the past several years Godrej Industries Ltd has been in possession of the said 36.50 acres of land as a lessee.
The company is also all set for its maiden public offer. GPL which had deferred its proposed initial public offer (IPO) due to market slowdown has now updated the prospectus it had filed with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last year.
Says Milind Korde, “The funds raised will reportedly be used towards acquisition of land development rights for our forthcoming projects; construction of our forthcoming project; repayment of loans; and general corporate purposes.
He further added, “We are focussing on development of residential, commercial complexes and townships and have so far completed 16 residential and 7 commercial projects majority of which are in Mumbai and Pune. GPL has since spread its wings to other Indian cities and today it has 16 ongoing and 12 forthcoming projects in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mangalore, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata and Chandigarh.”
On Green building
According to Milind, the concept of ‘Green building’ is widely used in western region while it is at nascent stage in India. Godrej Properties is also promoting the green building concept in India. He further adds, “We intend to bring sustainable design to all of our projects. For example, the Ahmedabad township project has been chosen as one among sixteen projects around the world by the Clinton Climate Initiative to work towards being climate positive. Launched by William J Clinton foundation, this programme supports projects adopting climate positive strategies like energy efficient mechanisms, waste and water management etc. The project is scheduled to be ready by 2017.”
The company is also a founding member of the Indian Green Building Council, which is actively involved in promoting the green building concept in India with a vision to serve as a single point solutions provider and facilitator for green building activities in India.
On economic slowdown
According to Milind, due to economic slump, the residential markets experienced a turbulent time in the second half of 2008, with end-user affordability reaching new lows, developers refusing to reduce prices and sales coming to a halt. However, since the beginning of 2009, the situation has improved, with an increasing amount of new launches and a healthy absorption rate. The main factors behind this recovery are rationalization of prices by developers, easing credit markets and improving economic conditions.
By Lovina Kinny
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