We have witnessed about 100 per cent growth, says Sanjay Jain, Siddha Group

- Sanjay Jain, Group Managing Director, Siddha Group Founded in 1986, Siddha Group has designed and built residential and commercial units and townships in Kolkata, Jaipur and Bengaluru. With the aim to deliver high-design material and construction excellence within committed timeframes at competitive prices, the company has several awards and certifications to its credit. A Kolkata-based company, Siddha has ventured into other metro markets such as Bengaluru and now Mumbai. Sanjay Jain, Group Managing Director, Siddha Group, shares more on the company's plans in conversation with SERAPHINA D'SOUZA. How do you see the foray into markets like Mumbai expanding the company's growth? Each city has different price brackets for affordable housing. While Mumbai would range around Rs 1 crore, Kolkata will be approximately between Rs 30-60 lakh. As a focussed affordable housing company, we considered Bengaluru for expansion and did a test project owing to the availability of working professionals and brand connectivity. We were always keen on entering the Mumbai market, and were able to do so with the help of our local partners. We ventured into Mumbai with two projects in the affordable segment - flats ranging from Rs 1-2.5 crore - with focus on timely delivery with quality. We are constructing about 10 million sq ft in Kolkata, and moving this kind of capability to Mumbai will increase our turnover to manifolds. Tell us about the strategy behind your planned slum rehabilitation projects in Mumbai. We were the first company in Jaipur to take up a project called 'Aashray' for the EWS and deliver it as per schedule. We recently completed a project 'Bonorini' in Kolkata, the only project on PPP model with the state government, for rehabilitation. We have an ongoing project, Siddha Seabrook, in Kandivali, Mumbai, of 228,466 sq ft with a sales building area of 316,000 sq ft, where around 430 units are being rehabilitated, and another one called Siddha Sky Wadala with a sales building area of approximately 820,000 sq ft for about 1,790 units. What is your procurement requirement in terms of construction equipment for these? We are a semi-engineering company; we have our own shuttering materials and equipment. In the past year, we bought 20 sets of aluminium shuttering technology from Korea, worth over Rs 100 crore. We are adopting this in all our projects. We are making monolithic structures, wherein the floor, wall and roof slabs are all constructed with RCC. This is more permanent, has better insulation, and is more secure from water seepage, leakage or water absorption. Apart from the technical benefits, these RCC walls constructed with aluminium formwork have a better finish. We are developing our machinery wing to procure all of this. We currently have about five to six batching plants that we operate, more than Rs 115,000 worth of aluminium shuttering, tower cranes, etc, in our fleet. Our yearly procurement is over Rs 20 crore, which is around 4-5 per cent of our turnover. What about purchasing cement or any other materials? We are exploring the procurement of cement from mini cement plants and the possibility of tying up with a plant that manufactures some 100-200 tonne, where we can monitor quality and buy their entire production if they have advanced machinery. Apart from this, we are looking at procuring TMT steel, sand or fine aggregates, ready-mix concrete, TMT binding wires, coarse aggregates, bricks and blocks, multi-functional hoists and tower cranes. Also, what about your sourcing requirements for ongoing projects in Kolkata? We are seeking several vendors; in fact, we often have a vendors' meet, which is rare in the realty industry. Both vendors and developers need each other to efficiently execute projects and conduct business. We have six ongoing projects in Kolkata: Siddha Sky, a 424 apartment project; Siddha Eden LakeVille, a 1,874 apartment project; Siddha Suburbia, a 2,000+ apartment project; Siddha Galaxia, a 2,500+ apartment project; Siddha WaterFront, a 1,970+ apartment project; and Siddha Happyville, a 1,510-apartment project. Five of these are similar in terms of pricing and one is in the mid-segment. We have about 10,000 units in these six projects, from which around 4,000-5,000 flats are under construction. In fact, Siddha Galaxia at Rajarhat will have the world's longest rooftop skywalk on completion! Yes, we are offering four skywalks in six of our projects in Kolkata. Siddha Galaxia in Rajarhat - 1.1-km-long and 140 m above the ground - was the first to be offered in 2015. We are offering this unique lifestyle without an additional charge to buyers. We have been working on the technology to develop these and our structural team is working hard to maintain cost-efficiency. We have hired a Malaysian company famous for skywalks and have almost finalised a company from Mumbai too. We have endeavoured to maintain cost-efficiency without compromising on quality and safety. Tell me about the company's financial performance and your expectations for the next fiscal. In the current year, we should touch around Rs 800 crore plus turnover, maybe up to Rs 1,000 crore. In the past three years, we have witnessed about 100 per cent growth. In terms of expansion, our second project in Mumbai at Wadala is expected to launch soon with a skywalk. We have some 1,200 saleable flats of 1,800 flats, with a total construction of 2 million sq ft. Once this project in launched in January, we have more lined up, all below Rs 15,000 sale price. For full version, log on to www.ConstructionWorld.in Year of establishment: 1986 Top management (promoters): CP Jain, Chairperson; Sanjay Jain, Managing Director; Siddharth Sethia, Joint Managing Director. No. of employees: 859 Centre of operation: Kolkata Ongoing projects: 12 (Kolkata - 7, Jaipur - 3, Mumbai - 1, Bengaluru - 1) Upcoming projects: 5 (Kolkata - 2, Jaipur - 2, Mumbai - 1) Completed projects: 34 (Kolkata - 26, Jaipur - 8) Turnover: Rs.600 crore (2016-2017); `250 crore (2015-2016). To share your building experience, write in at feedback@ConstructionWorld.in