Aim to be among top 3 in every market: Godrej Properties

New Delhi: Godrej Properties aims to be among the top three players in each city it operates in, building on its status as the largest listed developer by sales booking in the last two years, says Chairman Pirojsha Godrej.

The company's key focus locations would be Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Pune that comprise nearly two-thirds of India's real estate market by value, Godrej said in his address to shareholders in Annual Report 2016-17.

"In the past two years, we were the largest publicly listed developer in India by booking value. While we are proud of this achievement, further increasing operational scale and efficiency is a critical goal for your company.

"Our goal is to consistently be amongst the top three developers by booking value in each city we operate in, but especially in Mumbai, NCR, Bangalore, and Pune," Godrej said.

He said these four markets represent half of India's real estate market by volume and nearly two-thirds by value.

"As one of the only developers with a strong presence across each of these markets, we believe achieving this goal will make us India's largest real estate developer by booking value," Godrej said.

Godrej Properties, the real estate arm of the Godrej Group, achieved a sales bookings of Rs 2,020 crore and Rs 5,038 crore in the 2016-17 and 2015-16 fiscals, respectively.

The Mumbai-based developer follows a business model of partnering with landowners for development of projects rather than acquiring land on an outright basis.

Godrej also emphasised on generating higher returns on equity than industry average. "Our medium term goal is to generate a return on equity of above 20 per cent," he said.

He said there was immense opportunity in the Indian real estate sector but there would be strong competition from its "capable peers" both domestic and global.

"To emerge as a clear leader in the sector, we will have to deliver excellence across various aspects of our operations. Three fundamental areas of focus will be customer centricity, employee engagement, and operational scale and efficiency," Godrej said.

Stating that the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, passed last year, promises to bring sweeping reforms to the sector, Godrej said factors like good governance, on-time delivery and high quality construction will increasingly become hygiene factors in the realty sector.

Godrej Properties is currently developing residential, commercial and township projects spread across 140 million sq ft in 12 cities. It posted a net profit of Rs 207 crore over an income of Rs 1,733 crore during last fiscal.