Luxury & sustainable real estate takes center stage at The Economic Times Real Estate Conclave & Awards 2024, ET RealEstate

NEW DELHI: Luxury real estate which has seen an upswing in the last one year in India, according to several industry reports, and sustainable construction which has taken importance since Indian government announced its net zero plans by 2070, were two major topics that were discussed during The Economic Times Real Estate Conclave & Awards 2024 held in Taj Santacruz, Mumbai on February 23, 2024.In the first panel of the conclave, G Hari Babu, national president, NAREDCO, Boman Irani, president, CREDAI National and Domnic Romell, president, CREDAI-MCHI shared their views on how government initiatives and policies have fuelled growth in the real estate sector, the upswing the real estate sector has witnessed in the last 12 months, need of input tax credit and land title insurance to further fuel the growth of Indian real estate.

In the second panel moderated by Anuj Puri, chairman, Anarock Group, panelists Dhaval Ajmera, director, Ajmera Group, Rahul Talele, group CEO, Kolte-Patil Developers, Rohit Gera, managing director, Gera Development, Pradeep Kumar Aggarwal, founder & chairman, Signature Global (India) and Salil Sadanandan, president – K&B KOHLER Brand South Asia & Asia Pacific discussed about dominance of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) in residential real estate sector, how luxury housing developers balance exclusivity and accessibility in their projects and comparison of luxury real estate in India and abroad. They also talked about overall performance of Indian real estate, the incorporation of eco-friendly designs in luxury real estate projects and innovative bathroom and kitchen solutions playing in sustainable luxury living.

Gaurav Pandey, MD & CEO, Godrej Properties in a keynote talked about the opportunities that lies ahead for all the stakeholders of Indian real estate sector, how the sector has moved in the last few years, what challenges lies ahead and what trends can be expected going forward.

Suresh Kozhikote, MD & CEO, SBICAP Ventures, Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO, CapitaLand India Trust Management, Vikram Goel, senior vice president-Realty Business Finance, HDFC Bank and Pradeep Kumar Aggarwal, founder & chairman, Signature Global (India) in the third panel of the ETRECA 2024 conclave talked about how builders should go about financing their projects, how to make projects financialy viable in the long term, why do projects get stuck, need of funds like SWAMIH to cater to stuck projects and best practices of project life-cycle management.

Co-working & fractional ownership which have gained lot of traction in the last few years were to important topics discussed during the fourth panel moderated by Kaustuv Roy, MD (Business Solutions), Savills India. Anuj Munot, CEO & Founder, UrbanWrk Sumit Lakhani, deputy CEO, Awfis Space Solutions, Pankaj Gupta, CEO (Commercial Real Estate), Oberoi Realty, Nidhi Marwah, group managing director, The Executive Centre, Shabala Shinde, partner- Real Estate & REITs, Grant Thornton Bharat and Gagan Randev, executive director, India Sotheby’s International Realty joined in to talk about how both co-working & fractional ownership are challenging the way how traditional industry works, scope for fractional ownership in the residential sector and role of bigger landlords entering the co-working space.In the fireside chat of ETRECA 2024, moderator Neeraj Bansal, partner, Co-Head and COO – India Global, KPMG India was joined by Jimmy Mistry, founder, Della Group, Sonali Rastogi, co-founder, Morphogenesis, Mili Majumdar, managing director, GBCI India and Vivek Bhole, chairman & managing director, Vivek Bhole Architects. The panelists shared their views on how can the government and stakeholders address the issue of balancing sustainability with economic goals, Sustainable materials and other emerging innovations that are transforming the real estate sector and what are some leading sustainable practices embraced by top global real estate markets.