Dubai-based Emaar Properties is looking for local partners to develop some of its land parcels in India that it does not intend to construct. The declaration was made recently by Emaar India’s new CEO Prashant Gupta.
Emaar Properties has a land bank of 4,500 acres across India. As per the statement, the company will provide the land to its joint venture partners, who would develop projects under their own brand.
“We have a land bank of 4,500 acres across India,” Money Control quoted Gupta as saying. “We will not sell land as we are not allowed to do so as per the FDI law. We will go for partnership for land parcels which we don’t want to develop.”
The CEO further added that such projects will not be developed under the Emaar brand. Not even as co-branding, the Dubai giant would just share revenue with its partners.
It is not that Emaar is looking for JVs for its every property. The company is still interested in launching its own projects and reportedly has identified some land parcels where it would like to develop projects.
In fact, Emaar is planning to launch 7-8 projects in 2019 calendar year, out of which one may happen this year. However, Gupta emphasized that the company’s focus is currently on the execution of existing projects. There are 10,000 pending units that need to be completed by the end of the next year at a cost of about Rs 1,000 crore.
“Our entire focus is on completion of all existing projects,” Gupta said. “We have increased the number of laborers at our sites to 9,000 from 7,000 workers a few months back.”
Emaar entered India in 2005 after partnering with MGF Group as Emaar MGF. The JV lasted till 2016 after which the Dubai-based firm has been strengthening its India operations. The company has delivered projects in NCR, Mohali, Lucknow, and Chennai.