Interviews

From Amaryllis to malls, to healthcare, and much more

In conversation with Unity Group Director Bansal

An enterprising techno-commercial leader, Harsh Vardhan Bansal, Director of Unity Group, is an engineer graduate. With 27 years of experience in real estate industry, he has led the Unity Group to be one of the leading real estate companies in Delhi. Bansal’s core strength lies in retail planning and zoning, architectural direction, project execution and construction technology. An avid reader and traveller, Bansal has a strong business sense and a foresight that keeps him ahead in these changing times. Under Bansal’s leadership, the Unity Group has developed and delivered more than 10 million square feet of developments in Delhi which include multiple retail and commercial developments. Currently, the Group is working on more than 20 million sqft of real estate projects in Delhi, including one of the biggest residential projects, The Amaryllis. Conceptualised in year 2014, this 40-acre project is being developed in phases. The Group is also coming up with a shopping mall and a healthcare project and also has plans to launch hotels. Realty & More Editor Palash Roy spoke to Bansal to know more about The Amaryllis and also about Unity Group’s other diversified forays.

The following is the text of the interview:

Palash Roy: Tell us something about The Amaryllis project which your company has launched recently?
Harsh Vardhan Bansal: It’s purely a residential project. The land size is 40 acres and the entire land is freehold. Plans are approved by all municipal authorities with 3 FAR and the project is registered with RERA.

PR: What will be the total number of units in the entire project?
HVB: Around 2,500 units are going to be there in the entire project, besides the EWS. The project is divided into three types of apartments, or you can say, livings. Phase-I is economy living where we have 700 apartments. Phase-II is a luxury living where we have around 1,800 apartments and our Phase-III is a super luxury branded living where we have around 150 apartments.

PR: What is the price range?
HVB: Phase-I starts from Rs 12,000 per square feet, Phase-II from Rs 14,000 per sqft and the branded residencies are only by invitation.

PR: Have you launched the branded ones also?
HVB: No, we have not launched the branded. We just briefed the press at the Italian Embassy last week. We and Versace brand, both were there. We just briefed about the basic facility and the details about the project.

PR: When do you expect to launch the branded residency?
HVB: We are beginning with Phase-I, which we launched recently. Phase-II will be officially launched by this year end and the branded residency will be launched next year

PR: What are the unit sizes in Phase-I?
HVB: The Phase I unit sizes are from 1,200 sq feet to 1,900 sq feet, from two- bedroom to three variants of three-bedroom.

PR: When do you expect to complete Phase-I?
HVB: We plan to complete it by the end of 2019

PR: What has been the initial response to Phase-I launch?
HVB: It’s very good. It’s more than our expectation. People were looking for quality residential area, quality residential living in the heart of Delhi and as soon as we introduced and launched, we got very good response.

Around 2,500 units are going to be there in The Amaryllis project, besides the EWS. The project is divided into three types of apartments, or livings.
We are beginning with Phase-I, which we launched recently. Phase-II will be officially launched by this year end and the branded residency will be launched next year.
The response has been very good. It’s more than our expectation. People were looking for quality residential area, quality residential living in the heart of Delhi and as soon as we introduced and launched, we got very good response.
We are coming up with Delhi’s biggest shopping mall, in Dwarka. It’s under construction – it will be launched very soon. And we are also coming up with a healthcare project. It will be the biggest private healthcare project in Delhi.
We have already diversified into so many verticals. We are in automobile retail and we are in healthcare. We are coming in hotels. Healthcare will be launched very soon.
Education and health are the basic needs of the people. If you have quality education and quality healthcare, only then you develop the country.

PR: The land is your own or you have tied up with the landowner?
HVB: You can say it is a sort of JDA (Joint Development Agreement).

PR: With whom?
HVB: The land was earlier owned by DCM and we have a JDA with them. The majority stake is ours. They have a minority stake.

PR: So, will they be sharing the revenue?
HVB: They will be sharing the top-end revenue

PR: And what after this project gets completed? Do you have more projects in the pipeline?
HVB: Yes, we have two more projects in the pipeline. We are coming up with Delhi’s biggest shopping mall, in Dwarka. It’s under construction – it will be launched very soon. And we are also coming up with a healthcare project. It will be the biggest private healthcare project in Delhi. These two-three projects are in matured stage. We are certainly looking for more projects in Delhi.

PR: Will all these be under the Unity brand?
HVB: Since 1996 we are in the business of real estate under the Unity brand, and we continue with this brand only.

PR: You said you will be diversifying into healthcare. By when is that announcement expected?
HVB: We have already diversified into so many verticals. We are in automobile retail and we are in healthcare. We are coming in hotels. Healthcare will be launched very soon.

PR: In which location of Delhi?
HVB: It will be in Pitampura. It is under construction

PR: What prompted you to diversity into healthcare?
HVB: These are basic infrastructure verticals. Education and health are the basic needs of the people. If you have quality education and quality healthcare, only then you develop the country. We are already in education – we have a law college in Pitampura and we have an institute in the name of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, where we have BJMC and BBA courses and now we are entering in to healthcare. So, if the country has good education and good healthcare system, the citizen will develop automatically.

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