Realty That Cares
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T Chitty Babu, Chairman & CEO, Akshaya Pvt. Ltd. is one of India’s most awarded real estate developer. Known for his green initiatives, this environmentally sensitive “visionary by choice and engineer by profession”, in his own words is also the Chairman of COC (Code of contact) & CRF (Customer Retraction Forum) of CREDAI National and an Executive committee member of IGBC. For someone who is credited with redefining the skyline of Tamil Nadu his philosophy is “never sell a project, make people buy a home”. Under his leadership, Akshaya has launched 151 projects in just 18 years from small apartment complexes, to villa apartments, to mega-cities and commercial establishments. The company has also diversified into the hospitality sector through Akshaya Hotels & Resorts Pvt. Ltd., which runs a chain of restaurants and is in the process of developing a few resorts. In an exclusive conversation with Built Expressions he tells us more.
You started Akshaya Homes in 1995. Can you take us through your journey in the realty business across nearly two decades?
The two decades have been a galaxy of learning. Akshaya was started with a seed capital of `10000 in 1995 and today it stands |
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tall as company with a turnover of `450 crore. Akshaya’s reputation and goodwill of over 18+ years speaks for itself. Our uncompromising principles of transparency and ethical business practices has made us the most preferred realty partner; be it with customers, vendors, financial institutions, consultants or government institutions. And the genuine awards and accolades such as the CRISIL & ISO ratings speak volumes about our conviction. Akshaya is one among the 11 real estate companies in India to receive the integrated ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS 18001:2007 management certifications. It is also worth mentioning that Akshaya is one of the only two real estate companies in India to get the SA 8000:2008 global standard for social accountability.
You believe in instilling transparency in your entire business process, how do you view the relevance of it in the current scenario of realty market?
Transparency is the key to successful realty business. The current issues in the real estate industry can be sorted out only if the sector is accorded with Infrastructure Industry status otherwise home buyers will continue to face burden of cost increases and wrath of no single-window clearance and delayed approval processes.
According to you which segments of real estate is driving demand and why?
Demand in the real estate sector is coming from different quarters. The boom in the residential sector is due to extreme urbanization that India is facing today. Growth in the commercial sector is stemming from the invasion of MNCs and every growing demand for sustainable office space in metros as well as tier 2 cities. The retail sector is also doing well due to the fact that India has become a key shopping hub in the Asian market.
Several of your projects have won accolades. To achieve success in realty, what is the kind of value system a builder must have?
Akshaya is a ‘Go Green’ Company and we build only sustainable green projects. Also we just do not stop with building projects but are going further by inculcating the art of staying green simple by imbibing ‘green’ day-to-day habits that help to reduce waste in our projects. Some of our notable projects are:
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Akshaya CRISIL & IGBC Rated Project 2012-2013
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Akshaya CRISIL Rated Project 2012-2013
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S. No
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Project
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Ratings
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Locations
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1.
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36 carat
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7 star rated
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Ponnamallee High Road
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2.
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Adena
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7 star rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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3.
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Belvedere
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6 star rated
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GST Road, Chennai
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4.
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January
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6 star rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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5.
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Abov
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5 star rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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6.
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Today
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5 star rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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7.
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Orbit 11
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4 star rated
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Trichy Road, Coimbatore
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8.
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Metropolis
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3 star rated
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GST Road, Chennai
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Akshaya IGBC Rated Project 2012-2013
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1.
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Rubics Square
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Platinum Rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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2.
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Domaine
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Platinum Rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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3.
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Abov
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Platinum Rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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4.
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Orbit 11( Residence)
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Gold Rated
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Race Course-Trichy Road, Coimbatore
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5.
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Orbit 11 (Commercial)
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Gold Rated
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Race Course-Trichy Road, Coimbatore
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6.
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36 Carat
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Gold Rated
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Ponnamallee High Road
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7.
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The Belvedere
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Gold Rated
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GST Road, Chennai
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8.
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January
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Gold Rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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9.
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Vibgyor
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Gold Rated
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Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai
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10.
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Today
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Silver Rated
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Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai
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What kind of challenges do you see in realty and how do you counter them?
The greatest challenge as of today is the rising cost of construction materials and shortage of labour which is hurting us in the ever expanding cities. If this continues, technological advancement such as mechanized construction materials and concrete block units in the industry will be the only solution to deliver results.
Which are the industry segments that are driving real estate growth in Chennai?
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In past couple of years, Chennai market has seen superior intensification in the economy of the state with major boom in industrial, IT, education, hospitality, retail and medical segments. The upsurge has seen an increased demand in the residential as well commercial realty space in Chennai. For residential OMR, GST & Porur are turning out to be favourite spots while GST & Oragadam is high in demand as far as commercial requirements are concerned because of its location advantage.
What is your outlook pertaining to the realty segment in Chennai and South India in particular?
Despite any slowdown, South Indian realty market is in full swing. Industrial and other sector upswing has prompted developers to do key business across two cities - Bangalore and Chennai, |
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followed by developments in Coimbatore in Tamilnadu. In Chennai it would be Areas OMR which includes Perungudi, Thoraipakkam, Navalur, Kazhipattur till Mahabalipuram; Pallikaranai, Velachery, Vandalur, Guduvanchery ,Sriperumbudur and Oragadam that are doing brisk businesses. The other belt that is gaining in the super luxurious demand category, both residential and commercial are in Nungambakkam, Cenatoph Road and Khader Nawaz Khan Road. In Bangalore the key residential centres would be Hebbal, KR Puram, Whitefield, Electronic City, JP Nagar, Jayanagar and Bannerghatta Road.
Technology plays a big part in modern homes – what is your take on the same?
Technology definitely plays a key role in modern homes today. All major realty developers are investing in such smart homes as gadget frenzy buyers are increasing. Tier 1 cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi as well as Tier 2 cities like Pune and Coimbatore are seeing a fair share of demands for such homes. Akshaya’s homes such as the Abov and Metropolis are some of the technology dominated homes.
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Tell us about Akshaya Facility Management Services?
This is our futuristic venture which will be a full service provider and render after sales service in the areas of common area maintenance, club house maintenance and electrical, plumbing requirements as well as security services. We are currently doing this service at all our residential projects as a post sale option and |
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we are soon to delve into providing this service to the general public as well.
What kind of role does 'Akshaya Cares' play in your organization?
As a responsible corporate we have zero tolerance towards compromises of any kind. Hence throughout the year, ‘Akshaya Cares’ undertakes a series of activities that matches our ideologies of staying ‘Uncompromised’. The topics are wide ranging, be it environment issues, safety of laborers or kids safety awareness programme - Akshaya ‘cares’.
Bindu Gopal Rao