In view of this, the rationale of our differentiated existence will
continue to be summarized in two words: ‘Life quality.' Life quality is the sum
of all our experiences and aspirations. Life quality represents our need to live better.
Life quality is the ideal world we can create for ourselves. The desire for superior life
quality has been rising and has never been more pronounced than now. There is a greater
exposure of customers to the lifestyle standards in developed countries, greater incomes
to back purchases in evolved gated properties and wider financing the customer's
dreams come true. Over the last couple of decades has emerged an entire rationale cum
eco-system that empowers individuals to graduate to a better quality of living.
At Kolte-Patil, we progressively deepened our commitment to provide
buyers with an enriching and evolved lifestyle experience. The Kolte-Patil property is
positioned like an island; the calm in the whirlpool. A progressive decline in commuting
ease has been increasingly offset by most facilities – leisure and entertainment
– being increasingly curated inside our gated complexes. The growing water stress has
been addressed with institutionalized water harvesting and recycling. The decline in
community engagement has been addressed with an increase in miniaturized social hubs
within our gated facilities. The decline in being able to trust service providers with
one's lifetime savings has been addressed with a governance-driven approach that
strengthens promoter and project integrity.
In view of this, Kolte-Patil has not just been providing homes across
the last few decades; it has been consistently providing an antidote to the stress of
everyday existence. This then is the vision with which we went into business and this
vision to has only been validated.
Our relevance
Growth in India's real estate sector is being facilitated by more
than the national economic momentum. Even as the sector has been growing attractively for
the last few years based on a sectorial
The rationale of our differentiated existence will continue to be
summarized in two words: ‘Life quality.' flow, there is a growing premium in
remaining relevant to the subject of life quality, managing our business holistically and
remaining sustainably profitable.
The result was an across-the-board improvement in our operating
numbers. The complement of these numbers validates that the operational engine of the
Company is aligned with the Company's vision and that we are capitalising effectively
on a favourable sectorial environment. These numbers are likely to grow progressively
larger, enhancing value for our stakeholders.
Transforming markets
The biggest sectorial reality is that customer preferences are
perpetually transforming. What may have worked until yesterday may no longer be relevant
today; what customers seek today may graduate a couple of rungs higher a few years from
now.
The result is that companies like ours engaged in developing properties
with at least a three-year cycle - from product conceptualization to handover - need to
continuously pre-guess evolving customer needs. This warrants an ongoing presence at the
sector's cutting edge with a corresponding investment in ideas, products, and
property support services that redefine lifestyle standards not just for the day but
expected to remain future-relevant. At Kolte-Patil, we have consistently grown our
business with this forward-looking objective. Even a couple of decades ago, the priority
was not merely to address the markets of the day; we were engaged in consistently raising
the bar – often voluntarily more than reactively – so that we remained relevant
across customer preferences and market cycles. The result is that if we have grown
consistently across the last decade, the principal reason has been our capacity to remain
consistently ahead of the curve. This strategic direction is now being extended to how we
seek to grow in the years to come.
Our strategic blueprint
At our Company, this capacity to remain proactive compared with the
prevailing trend has been derived from specific priorities in how we sought to grow our
business.
One, a power of focus progressively translated into a compounding
of capabilities. Your Company remained principally a real estate company with no sectorial
diversification; there has been no resource drain from the principal business. Even within
the real estate sector, the Company has selected to deepen its presence within the
residential niche, strengthening its brand. By selecting to work within predefined
guardrails, we have maximized recall, revenues, capital efficiency and reinvestment. The
big message is that we expect to remain principally a real estate residential company
(with extension into adjacent spaces) primarily on account of the vast addressable
potential as well as the Company's deepening brand within this segment.
Two, the Company made a conscious long-term selection of the
markets in which it would work. The result is that the Company commenced operations in
Pune, and then subsequently extended to Bangalore and Mumbai. In keeping with its
long-term commitment to deepen its presence in select markets (over broad-basing its
presence across more pan-India markets), the Company selected to derive all its growth
from just three markets. We expect that our non-Pune sales will increase to a projected
30% in the near future, diversifying our risk profile and empowering us to capitalise on
the robust growth coming out of our key operating markets.
Three, we were convinced that we would remain sustainable if we
continued to address the evolving customer preference with speed. In the past, we curated
our portfolio of offerings from the mid-priced to the premium luxury segments; during the
last financial year, we increased the proportion of offerings around the premium and will
continue to evolve our offerings mix around evolving market preferences, deepening our
brand recall around agility and responsiveness. Our premium leaning in FY 2023-24 was
backed by a conviction that in a country often considered to be price-sensitive there was
now a growing evidence that people sought to spend more and live better. This conviction
was reinforced by various realities: higher-end automobiles were sold more than low-priced
equivalents; there was a secular increase in the offtake of value-added products across
virtually every consumer segment.
This trend had a visible influence on our sales mix during the last
financial year. The proportion of pre-sales generated from projects marketed under the 24K
brand addressing the premium luxury segment increased to 36% in FY 2023-24.
Four, we resolved that we would grow around liquidity, financial
prudence and capital light business model. I must also state that the Company grew its
business to the extent its Balance Sheet could bear. In doing so, we graduated from a
scenario where we could have pursued growth at any cost to growth at an optimized cost,
deepening our business sustainability.
Five, the last decade has also been a period of game-changing
sectorial formalization. The introduction of RERA imposed new rules and compliances. It
compelled players to raise their game. It is to the credit of our Company that we
addressed the challenges arising from the new industry environment with no interruption in
our business structure or sustainability. Besides, we had recognized well before the onset
of RERA that the Company needed to become independent of a personality-driven model and
rely more on systems that became agnostic of changes in management leadership. This
organisational reset away from singular personalities to broadbased processes attracted a
new generation of professionals and subject matter experts. I am pleased to state that in
a sector marked by informal practices, we were among the first to corporatize, deepening
adaptability and sustainability. Going ahead, we see this governance ethic deepening at
our Company, translating into improved process and performance predictability.
We are now a well-rounded real estate development company with a
presence in the most attractive micro-markets enjoying a strong brand recall, attractive
market share within the segments of our presence and a greater room in which to increase
realisations per square foot.
As an outcome, we see our Company being progressively insulated from
sectorial cycles. We have deepened our resilience, we expect to report smoother curves
across market phases. We have deepened our brand salience by graduating from a
construction approach to a service mindset and our focus has extended from ‘How fast
can we build?' to ‘How much more can we delight?'
By combining volume with value with velocity, we expect to enhance
stakeholder value attractively across the foreseeable future.