HEMANT SHAH: AKRUTI CITY LTD.
When you have an entire building to yourself in
the snootily upscale Malabar Hills locality in Mumbai, the odds are that your swagger will have a panache that is distinctive. And if you betting big time on one of the most ambitious projects in the real estate sector in India, the swagger doesn’t look entirely out of place either. Sitting across the man in a plush sofa in a drawing cum living cum dining room, you can’t help these thoughts cross your mind as the energetic Hemant Shah, Chairman of Akruti City Ltd. bombards you with homilies, analogies and alliterations that are genuinely amusing.
Sample this gem from him when asked for his views on the tentative, apprehensive and reluctant steps taken by policy makers while dealing with the massive increase in dollar inflows into India. “As far as I am concerned, God is favouring India with pouring rain. So we must create new lakes, ponds and reservoirs to store and utilise the extra water coming our way. But what does our government do? It is trying to stop the rain with umbrellas!” he says.
In the big bad world or real estate in Mumbai & Maharashtra, very few entrepreneurs have been able to leapfrog from being one of the dozens of small time wannabes, into a modern corporation with rapidly growing revenues, and a clear vision on how to expand and grow over the next 10 years, as one of the premium real estate companies of India. Some names that come quickly to mind from Mumbai are the Rahejas and the Hiranandanis. By going public in January 2007 and raising Rs.360 crores by diluting 10% of his stake in the company, Shah has smoothly made the transition from a ‘builder’ to the CEO of a modern real estate company.
He is now in august company as one of the who’s who of India Inc. and is now rushing to cash in on the unprecedented boom in the real estate sector in India. Industrial parks, software & IT parks, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), satellite townships and organised retail – all promise to generate billions of dollars in revenues and profits in next decade or so in Indian economy. And Shah is not one to lose out on this golden opportunity.
As the smart analogies are unleashed by Shah in a torrent of words, you put your coffee cup down on the gleaming glass top table and wonder if he represents the animal spirits of the Indian entrepreneur unleashed in the 21st century. Of course, Akruti City, with an annual revenue of Rs.900 crores and market capitalisation, is not yet in the stratospheric league occupied by the likes of DLF, Unitech, Ansals, Rahejas and Hiranandanis. Compared to the $25 billion that K. P. Singh of DLF can claim as capital of his net worth, it would appear as if it would be a while before Shah and his company Akruti can lay claim to being one of the big daddies of the real estate sector in our country.
But you simply cannot doubt the confidence of the man even for a moment. “I do not benchmark myself against any other person or company. I have my own plans and am certain they will work out,” says Shah. And what are the plans? Akruti is doing what most real estate companies are doing at the moment in India. There is an under construction project in Panvel near Mumbai to develop a theme based township spread over 3,000 acres. There is a 134 acre SEZ coming up in Mumbai, besides more ambitious SEZs coming up in Pune and in Gujarat. Shah is excited about all this no doubt. But his eyes dance and sparkle when he talks about his ace in the hole – the slum rehabilitation project started by the government of Maharashtra. The sprawling slums of Dharavi are the arena in which Shah and Akruti aim to catapult into the heavyweight league in the Indian real estate sector.
Real estate companies are required to build modern flats for slum residents after a mutual agreement to which slum dwellers from Dharavi can shift. This will enable the company to use the vacated land in Dharavi for commercial purposes – developing office spaces as well as residential projects. Do remember that Dharavi is almost in the heart of the city and once the project is completed, real estate prices here will reach stratospheric heights. Any company that can grab a significant share of this project will almost certainly join the multi-billion dollar club. And Shah appears supremely confident that this will be his ace in the hole. Akruti plans to commercially exploit close to 10 million square feet of prime real estate through this project, a surefire way of getting into the billion dollar club.
When you have an entire building to yourself in
the snootily upscale Malabar Hills locality in Mumbai, the odds are that your swagger will have a panache that is distinctive. And if you betting big time on one of the most ambitious projects in the real estate sector in India, the swagger doesn’t look entirely out of place either. Sitting across the man in a plush sofa in a drawing cum living cum dining room, you can’t help these thoughts cross your mind as the energetic Hemant Shah, Chairman of Akruti City Ltd. bombards you with homilies, analogies and alliterations that are genuinely amusing.Sample this gem from him when asked for his views on the tentative, apprehensive and reluctant steps taken by policy makers while dealing with the massive increase in dollar inflows into India. “As far as I am concerned, God is favouring India with pouring rain. So we must create new lakes, ponds and reservoirs to store and utilise the extra water coming our way. But what does our government do? It is trying to stop the rain with umbrellas!” he says.
In the big bad world or real estate in Mumbai & Maharashtra, very few entrepreneurs have been able to leapfrog from being one of the dozens of small time wannabes, into a modern corporation with rapidly growing revenues, and a clear vision on how to expand and grow over the next 10 years, as one of the premium real estate companies of India. Some names that come quickly to mind from Mumbai are the Rahejas and the Hiranandanis. By going public in January 2007 and raising Rs.360 crores by diluting 10% of his stake in the company, Shah has smoothly made the transition from a ‘builder’ to the CEO of a modern real estate company.
He is now in august company as one of the who’s who of India Inc. and is now rushing to cash in on the unprecedented boom in the real estate sector in India. Industrial parks, software & IT parks, Special Economic Zones (SEZs), satellite townships and organised retail – all promise to generate billions of dollars in revenues and profits in next decade or so in Indian economy. And Shah is not one to lose out on this golden opportunity.
As the smart analogies are unleashed by Shah in a torrent of words, you put your coffee cup down on the gleaming glass top table and wonder if he represents the animal spirits of the Indian entrepreneur unleashed in the 21st century. Of course, Akruti City, with an annual revenue of Rs.900 crores and market capitalisation, is not yet in the stratospheric league occupied by the likes of DLF, Unitech, Ansals, Rahejas and Hiranandanis. Compared to the $25 billion that K. P. Singh of DLF can claim as capital of his net worth, it would appear as if it would be a while before Shah and his company Akruti can lay claim to being one of the big daddies of the real estate sector in our country.
But you simply cannot doubt the confidence of the man even for a moment. “I do not benchmark myself against any other person or company. I have my own plans and am certain they will work out,” says Shah. And what are the plans? Akruti is doing what most real estate companies are doing at the moment in India. There is an under construction project in Panvel near Mumbai to develop a theme based township spread over 3,000 acres. There is a 134 acre SEZ coming up in Mumbai, besides more ambitious SEZs coming up in Pune and in Gujarat. Shah is excited about all this no doubt. But his eyes dance and sparkle when he talks about his ace in the hole – the slum rehabilitation project started by the government of Maharashtra. The sprawling slums of Dharavi are the arena in which Shah and Akruti aim to catapult into the heavyweight league in the Indian real estate sector.
Real estate companies are required to build modern flats for slum residents after a mutual agreement to which slum dwellers from Dharavi can shift. This will enable the company to use the vacated land in Dharavi for commercial purposes – developing office spaces as well as residential projects. Do remember that Dharavi is almost in the heart of the city and once the project is completed, real estate prices here will reach stratospheric heights. Any company that can grab a significant share of this project will almost certainly join the multi-billion dollar club. And Shah appears supremely confident that this will be his ace in the hole. Akruti plans to commercially exploit close to 10 million square feet of prime real estate through this project, a surefire way of getting into the billion dollar club.
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
Top Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
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