Mahindra Lifespace in talks with MFIs for affordable housing

HYDERABAD: Mahindra Lifespace Developers (MLDL), the real estate arm of the $15.9 billion Mahindra group that hitherto focused on medium and premium residential projects, is in talks with microfinance institutions and banks for its foray into affordable housing sector.

The property development firm, known for its Mahindra World City projects at Chennai and Jaipur, has zeroed in on Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to launch affordable housing projects, said Sangeeta Prasad, chief executive of Mahindra World City Developers.

She said the company saw huge opportunity of at least 25 million affordable housing units in the country catering to the needs of a large section of the society with Rs 5-12 lakh of annual income.

"While finances for customers of medium to premium residential projects was not an issue, a large part of the people with Rs 5-12 lakh annual incomes were finding it highly difficult to get funding for their housing needs. We are in talks with MFIs and banks and hope to seal deals shortly," she told reporters in Hyderabad on Friday.

Prasad was in Hyderabad to announce Mahindra group's debut into Andhra Pradesh with its first premium residential project in the city at Kukatpally, close to the IT hub in Gachibouli. At present, the company has operations in several key Indian cities that include Mumbai, Gurgaon, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur, Jaipur and Faridabad.

She said the company has already acquired land parcels in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra for its ambitious affordable housing projects and applied for approvals. Upbeat on the huge business opportunity in the affordable housing sector of 300-550 square feet flats, she said the composition of affordable housing in Mahindra Lifespace's business would be 'good', refusing to quantify.

Mahindra Lifespace, which has posted a revenue of Rs 724 crore and net profit of Rs 120 crore during year to March 2012, has so far constructed and sold some 6 million sft of real estate space and has 10 million sft in various stages of development. The company, which had built World City projects over 1,500 acres in Chennai and 3,000 acres in Jaipur, has a land bank that helps build another 12 million sft, she said.