Jaypee’s 13,915 houses ready, buyers safe and a promoter hoping for fresh lease

Jaypee Infratech had as on March 31, 2018 completed 13,200 houses, according to the Group’s CEO Manoj Gaur

Tense and uncertain as they are, these are also interesting times at the beleaguered Jaiprakash Associates and its subsidiary Jaypee Infratech. From a situation where everyone looked like losing — be it the promoters or banks or home buyers — has emerged a scenario where there could be more than one winner if not all. One constituency whose fate has suddenly somersaulted — and for good — is the home buyer with both Supreme Court and the Tribunal putting their interests on priority. Understandably so.

Jaypee Infratech, the subsidiary at the centre of trouble, had as on March 31, 2018 completed 13,200 houses, according to the Group’s Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manoj Gaur.

According to a source clued in on the goings on at the Noida-based group, the company is now ready with 13,915 flats. This includes 9,744 units which have been offered for possession and 4,171 units against whom the offer of occupancy is pending. Of the 9,744 units offered for possession, 5,925 units have been registered.

This is a far cry from Jan 7 when the buyers had to choose between seeking a refund or a finished property. At that time, 11,800 buyers had responded with about 2700 buyers asking for a refund and the rest possession. Two factors have since reversed the scenario.

“It’s very, very unlikely the company will be liquidated. If the group isn’t able to retain control of Jaypee Infratech which is also a possibility, it will go Lakshadweep Pvt Ltd. What is clear is that the company will not sink. Plus with the international airport at Jewar coming up in five-six years, property rates have started to improve. So there are not many buyers who will be looking to encash right away,” another source tracking the insider developments at the company said.

The Supreme Court’s April 16 decision to let the insolvency resolution professional and the committee of creditors decide on Jaiprakash’s bid has lifted the morale of the management. That the Apex court also allowed company directors Pankaj Gaur and Sunny Gaur to travel abroad has also brought some relief to the Gaurs and gives hopes that the worst may coming to a close for the family.

But it may be too early to rejoice. The law doesn’t as such allow the existing promoters to bid for the distressed company and if the National Company Law Tribunal allows it, it might open a Pandora’s box with promoters of other stressed companies asking for the same treatment.

What goes in favour of Jaypee promoters is that the company has solid assets that are in excess of its current liabilities and that Jaiprakash Associates’ original offer — before the company became an NCLT case — was far better than any of the bids being considered by the insolvency resolution professional.

“The law may not allow the Gaurs to bid for Jaypee Infratech but the valuations being offered by the bidders are baffling. The assets are worth much more. The creditors have created scenario one, scenario two and scenario three that show the different haircuts they may have to take. There is no need for a haircut if the Jaypee offer is accepted,” the source first quoted above said.

According to a conservative estimate, the value of the company’s assets should not be less than Rs 20,277 crore. This is derived from the hospital being worth Rs. 500 crore, 167-km Yamuna Expressway Rs. 3,500 crore, 900-acre land parcel near Formula-1 track at the circle rate of Rs 7 crore per acre, 1,225 acres in Jewar at circle rate of Rs 3.34 crore per acre, 1,185 acres near Agra at circle rate of Rs 3.28 crore per acre and 10 million square feet FSI at Noida at Rs 2,000 per square feet.

Jaypee Infratech’s offer included this: 10 percent per annum interest on Rs 3,140 crore of sustainable debt and giving away 448 acres against Rs 2,340 crore of debt as well as an issuance of optionally convertible debentures and conversion of debt into equity.

As far as outside bidders are concerned, the race is now down to two — Lakshadweep and the Adani Group — with the former in the front seat. Lakshadweep is a joint venture between Sudhir Valia-led Suraksha Asset Reconstruction Company and Mumbai-based Dosti Reality. Valia is the brother-in-law of Shanghvi and an executive director on the board of his company, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries. Dosti Realty is a real estate company promoted by Shanghvi’s cousin Deepak Goradia.

As per Lakshadweep’s Rs 7,350 crore offer, it will make an upfront payment of Rs 1,200 crore to the banks. It has marked Rs 4,000 crore against the sale of land and another Rs 2,000 crore to be converted into long-term non-convertible debentures. A small equity stake may also be offered to the lenders.

Adani Group has offered Rs 1,200 crore in cash, Rs 3,500 crore of land parcel and Rs 3,000 crore of back-dated instruments.

“If the bidders are also offering land against cash, then what is the problem with accepting Jaypee’s offer? This is like the right hand taking from the left and giving away. With the airport coming up and the real estate bottomed out, land prices can only improve from here,” the first source said, adding any new player coming in would not be able to deliver the remaining flats before 2022. There are around 16,000 flats left to be delivered.

The 167-km-long Yamuna Expressway, a 525-bed super specialty hospital, a Formula-1 track, more than 3,200 acres that also lie in the city of Taj Mahal are assets to not let go. No wonder then that Manoj Gaur hasn’t stopped delivering on the flats. He is looking to neutralize “the curse of some of the home buyers,” in his own words.

Jaypee Greens offering possession at Jaypee Wish Town

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Metro to run deeper into Noida, Ghaziabad by Sept

New Delhi: By September, Delhi Metro will open two new corridors connecting Dilshad Garden to Ghaziabad and Dwarka to Noida Sector

62. The one on the Blue Line would go ahead of Noida City Centre up to Electronic City, DMRC managing director Mangu Singh said. This would take metro connectivity to many far-flung Noida sectors like 34, 52, 59, 61 and 62. The corridor would also touch the Noida-Ghaziabad border on NH-24 where the last station—Noida Electronic City—is located.

The physical work on the corridor is complete except for two or three locations where there were some special requirements. We are hopeful that by September the corridor will be ready,” Singh told TOI.

The much delayed Dilshad Garden to New Bus Stand (Ghaziabad) corridor is also expected to open in September, Singh said. The corridor would benefit those staying near GT Road and interior parts of the district. At present, Ghaziabad has only two stations, Kaushambi and Vaishali on the Blue Line.

“Physical works, including civil and signalling work, are more or less complete and it should be possible to start the corridor by September,” Singh told TOI. “There were some land issues involved, apart from one issue of shifting of transmission lines near Arthala, which has now been done,” he added.

Apart from these two corridors, another extension of the Blue Line (Aqua Line) would move towards Greater Noida, which will be operated by NMRC. The Sector 52 metro station would come up as an interchange station for the Noida – Greater Noida Corridor. This is expected to be opened by 2018-end.

DMRC is also planning to connect the Dilshad Garden-New Bus Stand corridor to Vaishali by constructing a new corridor between Vaishali and Mohan Nagar. There is a separate plan to extend the metro corridor from Noida Sector 62 to Sahibabad through another corridor.

Singh said that detailed project reports for both the Mohan Nagar-Vaishali and Noida Sector 62-Sahibabad corridors have been prepared and submitted to Ghaziabad Development Authority for approval.

Jaypee Greens Wish Town

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HOUSING FOR ALL - How to make housing more affordable

Real estate has been a major contributor to the growth of world economy, which is true in the case of India as well, with the residential property segment alone accounting for nearly 56% to the country's GDP.

And, in this segment, it is affordable housing which is believed to be the key enabler for reviving growth in the sector in the coming years, mostly driven by the Modi government's ambitious “Housing for all by 2022“ scheme, as well as its focus on affordable housing.

Industry experts, however, say that although the government's move is commendable and some policy changes have also been made to give a push to the sector, this is still not enough and lots more remains to be done to make housing affordable in the true sense.

“The avowed aim of the Modi government's `Housing for all by 2022' scheme is to construct 2 crore houses in Indian cities, within this time frame. But to achieve this, the government needs to introduce a fast-track approval process for such housing projects, provide suitable financial empowerment to EWS-category buyers, and unlock government-held land parcels on which such affordable housing can be built,“ Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of JLL India, said.

In line with the objective of financial empowerment, an interest subvention or subsidy scheme is necessary to provide cheaper-structured finance to the target categories.Also, the scheme envisions habitable shelters at zero cost to slum dwellers, but provides no tangible solutions for the urban poor who do not live in slums but, nevertheless, hope to own a house in a metro city.

Though the home loan amounts have been increased, the income levels of the targeted people, more often than not, exclude them from loan disbursal amounts of the required magnitude. “If cheap, newly built houses are to become available to such people, and to migrating people who live in slums, appropriate land resources must be allocated. The government owns massive tracts of land that are lying idle, including land held by the Indian Railways, department of heavy industries, the ministry of public enterprises, and port trusts. Such land must be unlocked, the approval process for schemespecific housing projects must be put on fast track, and incentives for private sector participation must be worked out--all, through a massive coordinated effort.Only then will the vision of `Housing for all by 2022' be achievable,“ Puri says.

According to experts, a single-window clearance system alone can bring down the cost of property substantially. Currently, more than 50 approvals from the government and various authorities are necessary for the launch of a real estate project in India.The approval process, including the NoC and licences, take nearly 18-36 months to complete and, if any project gets stuck at some point, it causes further delay. But a single-window clearance system, if implemented, will not only prevent unnecessary delays in the delivery of a project, but also bring down the price of houses by at least 15-20%, making them more affordable.

It is also necessary to bring in the private sector, in a big way, for achieving the targets set out in the scheme. “The private sector has a substantial role to play in turning the dream of `Housing for all' into reality. However, exorbitant land prices coupled with the high costs involved in long-drawn approvals are some of the biggest impediments in moderating the cost of housing, especially in urban areas,“ Vivek Singhal, president (corporate strategy) of M3M Group, said.

Singhal says that the input cost in housing largely consists of three elements--land, con struction cost, and approval cost-taxes. “While construction cost can be brought down by using cost-effective technologies, approval costs can only be brought down by policy initiatives by the state and central governments. Housing can also be made more affordable by development of smaller units, especially in places like Gurgaon, where density norms restrict development of smaller-sized units. Larger projects can also facilitate affordability, through the economies of scale,“ Singhal said.

Some experts and developers, however, believe that apart from the availability of finance, land and regulation, the success of the “Housing for all“ scheme will depend, to a large extent, on execution as well.

“Unfortunately, execution is often given less attention. Apart from execution, the success of the scheme will also depend on improving urban infrastructure, speeding up the process of obtaining approvals, and targeting the actual beneficiary,“ says Dimple Bhardwaj, GM (marketing and corporate communications) of Raheja Developers Ltd, adding that housing can be made more affordable also by making models of subsidization and incentives to developers.

True, some challenges remain. But they need to be overcome--the sooner, the better.

“The Modi government's `Housing for all by 2022' scheme is an effort to provide affordable homes to the urban poor and slum dwellers, at low interest rates. However, to achieve this goal, some challenges must be overcome, like: long gestation period of realty projects, absence of an effective policy framework for EWS and LIG, high urbanization and migration rates, etc. We however, believe that if the necessary policy changes are made and concrete steps are taken to implement them, `Housing for all' would be come a reality,“ Ravish Kapoor, director of Elan Group, said.

Jaypee Greens Wish Town also having some affordable projects apartments such as JAypee Kosmos etc.

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