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RERA was supposed to save the day for homebuyers, but that doesn’t seem to have happened – at least not yet. In many states RERA, in its present form, is currently either non-existent or a pale shade of what it was intended to be.
With so much money around and developers mostly uneducated, it is the senior functionaries in most of the real estate companies who create their own cartel of corruption. Sales leads that are generated within the company are generally leaked to the brokers and the brokerage is distributed with the sales, marketing or the corporate communication, depending upon their clout within the organisation.
The Indian residential market volumes spiraled down in terms of demand and supply almost every successive year in this decade. From a high of 480,000 units in 2010, the supply last year stood at mere 103,000 units across the top 8 cities.
The ancient Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’ certainly has a lot of pertinence to Indian real estate today. These are doubtlessly ‘interesting’ times for the sector, which has transformed significantly over the last decade. The pace of transformation has been accelerated further by the Central Government’s reformative steps aimed at ushering in ‘Acche Din’ to the realty sector.
When it comes to assimilating AI, the Indian property industry is not far behind. From the way property seekers scout for property to offering probable buyers with applicable information to investigating property values – all the phases of property procurement are now powered by AI and machine learning.
I often question how will honest journalism survive in this eco system. It is not that I don’t face the challenges and resistance of not being a party to this cartel of corruption. Forget the builders, even a large section of builders’ ‘paid & pet’ journalists have issues with me. I am, after all, a game spoiler for them who is spreading the negativity with brutal honest and ruthless journalism.
Ever since I got into the hitherto-untouched & challenging business of brand rating of Indian real estate developers, I only get the reactions in extreme, depending upon whether the developer has been rated high or low. After all, every builder is a God’s gift to the world of brand, as per his own make-belief metrics.
Competing against DLF, the company won the auction and soon made plans to construct a grant 18-hole golf course surrounded by luxury apartments and villas, to be marketed as the plush “Unitech Golf and Country Club”. Flashy advertisements were immediately published and huge booking amounts were collected from aspiring buyers who looking forward to their dream homes in the project.
Meet Ravi Menon, Chairman of Sobha Ltd and son of PNC Menon whose legacy gives the son liberty to rest in his cabin and enjoy the laurels that the company has earned. But it seems there is something professional in the DNA of this family. Hence, the colleagues respect Ravi as first co-worker in the office whose personal involvement and eye for detailing is what has helped brand Sobha to get to the next level of brand reputation.
He came from Kolkata to Bangalore in 1993 to set up the Salarpuria Group’s construction business. But he believes that he was destined to be in this business. The business leader still carries the gratitude to point out that he was fortunate to be mentored by the best professional, Late Mr Salarpuria, in the industry which has goaded him to be where he is today.