Concrete Conversations - The Indian Real Estate Podcast

With its history of high population density, limited geographical footprint and heritage buildings, finding open land for new construction in Mumbai, today, is extremely rare. For this reason the city has seen a boom in redevelopment projects in both the private and public sector. To talk us through the details of such redevelopment projects, we have with us today Mr. Divyesh Doshi , Director at t...

Today's episode explores the novel concept of Managed Farmland! Since Covid, we have seen a rise in plotted development launches across the outskirts of metros along with tier 2 & 3 cities, as people crave open space, clean environments and a connection to nature. As urban Indians start to put more thought into their health, wellness, and  living a sustainable lifestyle, we’re seeing a ne...

All over the world, we are seeing Climate change impact people's lives. The scope and complexity of the problem is massive, and solutions are often hard to implement. However, we know that Renewable energy, circular economies and sustainable practices all play a role, and that corporations, governments and the public are all stakeholders here. To talk to us about the interconnectedness of Rea...

Welcome back for an episode with a recurring guest! Over the past few years, the air quality in urban India has gone from a seasonal problem in certain cities to a growing concern among the entire urban population in India. This can be seen in the AQI or Air Quality Index in most Indian cities, with more days of the year in the "severe" and harmful categories. Air pollution has many heal...

Amongst emerging trends within the last 5 years, Fractional Ownership has become a popular concept to democratize Real Estate ownership for investors in India. According to a recent report from Knight Frank, the market for fractional ownership in India is projected to grow from $5.4 billion in 2020 to $8.9 billion in 2025. As this space grows, SEBI has recently approved the framework for Medium, S...

One of the biggest decision drivers of a real estate project is its financing. For developers, raising capital from the right sources is critical to enabling the project to be completed. Over the years sources of capital for Indian real estate have evolved from the traditional Institutional Banking, to include NBFCs and Institutional Private Equity.  Recently, we have seen a significant rise in Re...

Joining us today is Mr. Vijeth Reddy , the Co-Founder and CEO of Kots a pioneering residential leasing company operating in East Bangalore, that caters to the needs of both tenants and Landlords. Renting an apartment in a metro city is fraught with challenges for both the tenant and the landlord.  If you’re a tenant you have several criteria you’re juggling: price, location, quality of the apartme...

Joining us today is Mr. Saurabh Garg , the Co-Founder and CBO of India’s first Proptech Unicorn, NoBroker . During the last decade, one of the fastest growing sub-sectors within Indian Real Estate has been Proptech, as an increasing number of real estate transactions have been happening online. This surge is reflected in the investor market as well, with a total of $4 Billion in funding being pour...

Welcome to Season 3 of Concrete Conversations, the Indian Real Estate Podcast! (now in Video format too on YouTube!) In the past couple of years, the lines between hospitality and commercial workspaces have started to blur, as the demand for premium amenities in grade A commercial spaces rises, and members clubs and collaborative spaces proliferate across India. There are efforts to reposition the...

Joining us today Jonathan Schneider , Senior Director of JLL Capital Markets across the New England region, and Professor Keith Munsell , Master Lecturer of Strategy & Innovation and Head of the Real Estate Concentration at Boston University ’s Questrom School of Business . The world’s of real estate and finance may not always seem like they share a symbiotic relationship but they do.  Capital...

Joining us today is Mr. Ramesh Ranganathan , CEO of K Raheja Corp Homes . The increased standardisation in regulation and practices in Indian Real Estate in recent years has opened new horizons for developers. For example, the implementation of RERA, or the introduction of unified development regulations in Maharashtra both of which have allowed established developers to extend their presence acro...

Joining us today is Mr. Amit Ramani , CEO of Awfis , one of India's largest coworking and full-stack office solutions provider. The coworking and flexible workspace market in India has been through many ups and downs, with their explosive introduction and growth, spearheaded by international firms, followed by a period of peril and reorganization post Covid and the changes to the nature of wo...

Joining us today is Mr. Nitin Govila, the Chief Sales & Marketing Officer for APAC and MEA at Serge Ferrari, a producer and global supplier of technical fabrics. When it comes to design, architects and engineers are always looking to incorporate innovative construction materials to bring their visions to reality, and create an iconic structure that is associated with them. But selecting innova...

Joining us today is Mr. Nikhil Rathi , the Founder and CEO of Web Werks , one of India's leading Data Centers. As technology and the internet become more ubiquitous in our lives and society, the backbone and infrastructure that enables this will have to expand as well. The connected world of today, along with all its comforts, on some level relies on data centers, the physical locations and s...

Joining us today Mr. Ravindra Pai , Managing Director at Century Real Estate Holdings , a Bangalore based real estate developer. Real Estate Development is a business that can involve long time horizons, and requires a forward looking strategy when it comes to things like consumer preferences, project planning, finance, and even land acquisition. Each project can take years to plan and execute, an...

As the coliving market regains some vigor after a trying pandemic period, we have with us today Rishi Sreedharan , the Co-Founder and CEO of Hyphen , a community focused  CoLiving operator.  Renting a home as a student or young professional in India can be a daunting task.  Younger renters, especially in metro cities, are either priced out of suitable accommodation, or on the receiving end of stru...

Joining us today is Mr. Joe Albanese , Founder & CEO of Commodore Builders , a 20-year-old, $550 million Construction Management/General Contracting Firm located in Waltham, Massachusetts, in the USA. Joe completed his Civil Engineering from UMass Lowell and his MBA from Boston University, and joined the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps early in his career, staying with them until his retirement...

Joining us today is Mr. Angad Sing Bedi , Managing Director of the BCD Group ,  a 70-year-old construction company with experience in a vast variety of sectors, from hospitality to infrastructure, in India and globally. In recent years, the BCD Group’s footprint has risen to over 60 million sq.ft., with  projects across verticals such as luxury, as well as middle to lower income housing, and the G...

Joining us today is Mr. Avinash Sule , Managing Director - Investment Management at RMZ Corp , one of India’s largest private developers. Over the last decade, the infusion of foreign capital has changed the landscape of Indian Real Estate, with almost $24 Billion being invested between 2017-2021 alone .  But why the interest in Real Estate in India? How do these multinational corporations evaluat...

Joining us today is Shesh Rao Paplikar of BHIVE , one of Bangalore's first co-working spaces that has since evolved into a multi-offering real estate firm. The Indian startup ecosystem has seen prolific growth over the past few years, and the Real Estate sector is no exception. Startups in this space, driven by innovations in technology, have made significant impacts in verticals like coworki...

Joining us today are Nidhi Kumra and Shubha Lal of Your-Space , one of India's first and largest organised Student Housing companies. Student housing has historically been an unorganized sector in India, with individual run, small scale providers dominating the market. However, as students return to college campuses in 2022, the demand for Purpose Built Student Accommodation is seeing a resur...

Joining us today is the Co-founder & CEO of the tech-enabled fractional real estate investment platform, Strata - Mr. Sudarshan Lodha . The commoditization of Real Estate is a relatively new concept in the Indian market , but it’s a concept that is fairly common in more mature financial markets.  On the private equity side, one of the sectors that has been at the forefront of this commoditizat...

Home buying can be a daunting process.  The sheer volume of choices and information available, the documentation and due diligence involved, the financial planning required, altogether can make this process extremely overwhelming for anyone, and even more so for first time homebuyers. To help you navigate home buying in India, and give you some insights on how to select your dream home, we have wi...

With the country's population not only growing population but also becoming more upwardly mobile, the demand for homes in India is only expected to rise in the foreseeable future. With over 40 million square feet delivered in 2021 and an expected 46 million square feet to be delivered in 2022 , and supplemented by major infrastructure projects ongoing in nearly all the country's metros,...

Over the last two decades, the landscape of residential real estate in India has changed significantly. As developers look to find novel ways to add value to their projects and stand out in a competitive market, we are seeing a greater emphasis on community, lifestyle and services. Joining us today is Mr. Ankur Gupta , the Joint Managing Director at Ashiana Housing Limited , who brings to the tabl...