He has also done his Global Advanced Management Programme organized by Indian School of Business (Hyderabad) in association with Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (USA). Vijaykumar G Nair in conversation with Mudda, who is also Chairman of Builders Association of India’s Mumbai Centre and is on advisory boards of many organizations engaged in Real Estate Business. Excerpts:

What is the vision you have for your company, in which direction will you steer your company?

It has been 62 years we have been in existence however; the real growth has been in the last 5 years – thanks to impetus provided by Government of India on Infrastructure Development. It is a dream of every CEO to ensure that his company is rated amongst the top five in the related sector. My dream is no different than the rest of the CEOs. I would like to see my company growing at 25% CAGR in the next 5 years. We are predominantly present in the industrial, commercial and residential sector right now, I would like my company to foray into infrastructure segment in the coming years and contribute our bit to nation building. We had an enviable track record of not having a single litigation in last 62 years – I would like to maintain it that way in future too. Rs 1000 cr, listed company, well respected for its professionalism with qualified and happy work force is my vision for my company. Accelerated growth with reasonable profits and humane touch to our operations is the direction I would like my company to have.

How much has recession affected the real estate?

What is your expectation from the realty market this year? Which are the areas that will see maximum growth? To say that our sector has remained isolated to all the happening around us will not be the truth. Our sector has taken a beating as have other sectors in this global recession. Most of the entrepreneurs in this sector are real fighters and have learned the modern mantra of doing business. They have adopted to the changing demand patterns beautifully in the past and I am sure they will do so in future. The sector reaped the benefit when the going was good and has also seen the effect of an occasional rough patch dig into their coffers. Housing is the basic need of every human being. This sector will bounce back faster than others. Low cost housing, infrastructure development especially in roads, bridges & dams, construction of power transmission towers should see the maximum growth in coming years.

Tell us a little about your land bank .

NCCCL has been a hard-core construction company all these years. We have off late started venturing in to real estate development. Since this decision is recent, the land bank we hold in not very significant. However, we do hold some parcels of land in Pune, Bangalore and on the outskirts of Mumbai. We will wait for the opportune time to acquire some more land parcel and develop the existing ones as per market demand.

Tell us about the projects completed in the last financial year.

Most of the existing projects were bagged in FY 06-07 and many of them are very large with completion period of 2 year and more. Many industrial and commercial projects in Pune; almost all pharmaceutical units at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh; Sterling group, Brigade Group and Mantri Group’s residential projects, a few malls and IT parks for Bagmane Group in Bangalore are some of the completed projects in last F.Y. Minimum value of each project is approx Rs.50 crores.

Tell us about your on-going projects and projects in the pipeline.

Most of our projects are large projects often in excess of Rs.100 crores and thus typically spill over two financial years. We are doing two very large commercial projects in Mumbai – both in corporate sector. One is for Hindustan Unilever Ltd. – for its corporate office at Andheri with approximately 1.3 Million Sq. Ft & worth Rs.115 crores and other for Nirlon at Goregaon – an IT park, again with some what similar financials as that of HUL. A very large housing project is on at Pune for Gera Developers – a novel concept of high rise bungalows and row-houses and many residential and commercial projects in Bangalore. In all there are around 25 projects progressing simultaneously all over India of varying sizes with minimum value being Rs.45 crores. There are at least 10 projects in pipeline in various parts of the country – from large to very large.

Share details with us about your dream project.

What makes it so special? We are a leading construction company in India and though we dirty our hands with brick and mortar we also put our heart and soul in every project, thus every project is a dream project for us which gives us immense satisfaction on its completion and on seeing happy faces of our clients. Constructing a world class convention centre on the lines of Sydney’s lotus shaped Opera House is my personal dream. I hope god gives us the opportunity to realise it during my regime.

What was the turnover of your company in the last fiscal, how much was profit after tax?

Ours is closely held public limited company and as such we do not publish our financials. It would be sufficient to say that we are amongst the top five construction companies in India with a turnover in excess of Rs.300 crores during last fiscal with an equally healthy bottom line and an order book of Rs.700 Crores.

Are you planning any JV / Foreign tie-up in the near future?

Yes, very soon we will give you the news about it.

Are you planning to raise finance through the public route this year?

All options are open for us to increase our business with a healthy infusion of capital including IPO. We will explore all avenues when the time is ripe. Currently we are happy with HDFC as our strategic partner, which has picked up a stake in our company.

How many centers do you operate from and what’s your current number of employees?

We are a pan India Construction Company as far as our projects are concerned. We operate through our offices situated at Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Goa and Baddi at Himachal Pradesh. We have a current man power strength of approx. 1000