We’re not in a rat race; NRI interest in Indian real estate back: Aakash Ohri, JMD, DLF Ltd

We have over the last 2-3 years been witnessing a 15 per cent odd increase in bookings y-o-y. Perhaps we will keep that trajectory going. 

Across all other businesses, if I collate everything, the NRI representation is almost 25 per cent.

So 20 per cent of the project overall in super luxury, the percentage of NRIs was just 8 per cent previously, which has gone to 12 per cent. Even in The Dahlias, the NRI percentage has gone up from, you know, an 8 per cent to 12 per cent.

Another interesting thing, between 2010 and 2020, the NRIs had completely gone away from the Indian real estate market. Their money was being spent in Spain and in Portugal, in America or in Singapore. But definitely, not in India. The NRIs had burnt their fingers. And, they kind of stayed away from investments here. Now the whole story has changed for the better.

Because in India, strong regulations, great products like in DLF, good appreciation (in property prices) have played their part; and then there is the ‘India calling’ card – the emotion value. Being attached to their roots, many of them want to invest in good properties; spend three weeks to three months in the country, and so on. They are now happily investing in the better and bigger projects. That is the change.

Not at all. There is no harm in having good brands here. I mean, India’s real estate market is evolving, and getting better. Also the ‘Trump Tower’ brand has been there. The brand ‘Trump’ benefited from DLF Crest. The point I am making is that anybody who came into our ecosystem in Gurgaon benefited because of what DLF has done there. So, whether it was the product that people got used to, whether it was Gurgaon as a geography, or otherwise. Because the entire ecosystem was fed like that. 

We’ve got land that we’ll be monetising. But, we will not do anything if the margins don’t make sense to us. DLF will not get into this rat race or get into this endless treadmill story. We don’t have to set the record straight or anything like that.

As a company we have very strong fundamentals (and financials). Unfortunately, the stock price doesn’t reflect that at all. For us, it’s the investors that matter. As long as we continue to work for our customers, we are good.

We’ve stopped looking at that particular thing now. All we know, we have to keep our heads down and do our job right. I think we’ve created enough value for our customers. And that is what is driving this growth. It is a huge endorsement for DLF. We will continue to do that.

Please understand, real estate, the whole process of real estate in general, apart from being very capital intensive, it’s also regulatory. You know, so the cycles of approvals take time. Once that particular thing goes through, then the cycle – construction, bookings, sales – starts happening. We can’t really do anything about it. Once the product is into the market, then you kind of do it better. And then it’s a good analysis for you to make as to what was the time that it was brought in to the time it was sold or whatever percentage, you know. Markets right now, as I said, the priorities will remain real estate.

The priority will remain purchasing good, luxurious or super luxury real estate and luxury real estate. I think the customer today is willing to pay for a good product and obviously subsequent service.

To be fair, other than DLF, no developer has been announcing a sell-out. If you actually track in the country, whether it is Chennai or Panchkula or Gurgaon, it’s only DLF that has been announcing a sell-out. Nobody else has been able to. We take nearly 9 per cent of the money (apartment price) as a booking amount. That’s not a small amount of money. Those buying then are hardcore people and no fly-by-night operators.

Not just upgrades. You have to get new people from outside. You’ve got NRIs, you’ve got metros and Tier-I & II cities. We’ve got the present community, which is upgraded. So it’s a mix of everybody.

We’ve done the IREO acquisition last year (28.49 acre land parcel in Gurugram for ₹1241 crore). It was a big acquisition. And whenever an opportunity presents itself, why not. But we are not actively going to hunt for them. 

We are not thinking of REITs now. Plans have not been shelved, but that’s not a priority at present. We don’t want to open too many fronts and not do anything.

What is the outlook for the Mumbai and Goa ventures?

As soon as we get our permissions, we will get into Bombay (Andheri West). I hope we can do that in FY25 Q4 end (Jan – Mar). And in Goa may be Q4 or Q1 (FY26), we are now all lined up. But we are awaiting approvals there too. In any of these new geographies, approvals take that much time.