Ramji Subramaniam, a real estate entrepreneur from Bengaluru wants to make affordable housing projects a reality and feels that perfect management is necessary to make affordable housing projects successful. He said that many affordable housing projects were launched in the past in India but hardly any have succeeded. Subramaniam believes that affordable homes are possible provided they are high on quality and delivered on time to the customer. He further added that most of the real estate companies were among the worst hit by demonetisation and faced challenges. However, he wants to make his Bengaluru-based company, Sowparnika Projects and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a success story just like Indigo airlines has been successful as a low cost airline.
The company is offering a studio apartment under the brand name, Positive Homes, in the IT city for an all inclusive starting price of Rs 6.3 lakhs. The project comes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and it also offers a 2 BHK for Rs 15 lakhs and a 3 BHK for Rs 22.3 lakhs under the scheme. Interestingly, Subramaniam had earlier tested this model successfully in Thiruvananthapuram in 2012 and is now trying to replicate it in Bengaluru after he sold the complete units of the Thiruvananthapuram project.
“In Thiruvananthapuram we had sold an apartment for as low as Rs 12 lakhs and sold all our apartments without any hassle. As soon as we get the cash flow running, we invest in another project without any delay. We also do not do any joint projects and do everything in house including the architecture, construction so as to manage the project cost to the optimum,” Subramaniam told THE WEEK. After the Bengaluru project he plans to launch projects in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai also with an affordable price tag. The experience of managing projects during his fifteen year stint at the US-based multi-national corporation, General Electric in Bengaluru, has helped him in better project management.
“Our architects optimise space and using 360-degree construction helps in cutting overheads. The model has worked well for us and the benefit of the same has been passed on to our customers in terms of cost. We also believe in the traditional method of mass-construction which reduces the wastage of raw materials. We are also able to foolproof this model with resource optimisation and volume buy. In this age of cut throat competition, we need to come up with innovative, out-of-the-box solutions to sustain. Hence, we usually do not have any inventory. Also in the real estate segment we do not have a large land bank but take land as per the requirement. The work on a project should never stop and the labourers and our managers should not sit idle as it increases overhead costs,” remarked Subramaniam.