Ashwin Sheth aims to launch over 10 housing projects in 2025, enter Bengaluru

Real estate developer Ashwin Sheth Group is preparing to launch more than 10 housing projects in 2025 and mark its debut in Bengaluru, as it aims to tap the public market to finance its expansion plans.

The Mumbai-based group’s revenue share from the projects, which include joint ventures, is expected to be as much as ₹30,000 crore, which it will realize once the projects are developed and sold. While most of these will be launched in Mumbai, the company is entering the fast-growing Bengaluru market for the first time with two projects, Bhavik Bhandari, chief sales and marketing officer, Ashwin Sheth Group, told Mint.

To fund these developments, the group plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in the next 12-18 months.

“Our aim is to expand our footprint across cities and take a leadership position pan-India in the premium to luxury real estate market,” said Ashwin N. Sheth, chairman and managing director, Ashwin Sheth Group. “We will achieve this by leveraging strategic partnerships and aggressive growth with an upcoming IPO to fund our expansion plans and clear whatever little debt that might still be pending by the time of our IPO, in the next 12 to 18 months.”

The group’s upcoming launches include a 1 million sq.ft residential project in Kandivali East with a revenue potential of ₹1,400-1,600 crore, 1 million sq.ft project in Borivali West at ₹3,000 crore and 1.1 million sq.ft development in Goregaon worth ₹3,400 crore among others.

In Sewree, it will launch a massive 3 million sq. ft project with the group’s potential revenue share estimated at ₹12,000 – ₹14,000 crore. They also have projects lined up at Nepean Sea Road and Malabar Hill.

In Bengaluru, a 0.50 million sq. ft project is expected to generate ₹600– ₹800 crore in revenue, while another farmhouse project in the city will have a revenue potential of ₹800- ₹1,000 crore.

Currently, the group has five ongoing projects in central Mumbai, two in the western part of the city and one in south Mumbai’s Marine Drive. Three of these projects are likely to be completed this financial year.

Previously known as Sheth Group, the four-decade-old company recently unveiled a new logo and vision in a rebranding exercise in July 2024.

“We have evolved in every single aspect of doing business, whether it is to do with organization structure, scale of growth that we’re looking for, entering into new segments, entering into new cities, and looking to get listed,” Bhandari said. “As we speak, the audit is going on so that we are ready for the listing in the next 12 to 18 months.”

The company is now aiming for a pan-India presence, and is hoping to become one of the top 10 real estate players in the country in the next five years. 

With an ambitious upcoming portfolio, the company is eyeing a ₹10,000 crore topline in five years. In FY24, the company earned a revenue of ₹1,486 crore.

“In next three years, the turnover would be around ₹6,000 to ₹7,000 crore with around 12-14 ongoing projects,” Bhandari said.

Group’s growth strategy

Most of the group’s upcoming projects will be offered in the premium to luxury segment. “Going forward, in the next 3-4 years, we don’t see ourselves in the affordable segment,” Bhandari said. “We see ourselves doing premium, luxury and super luxury projects.”

The company’s portfolio will constitute 90-95% residential projects, while the rest will be a mix of boutique plus commercial offerings, he said. While the company is set to test the waters in Bengaluru, it is also eyeing Chennai, Pune and Delhi.

The plan is to go asset light this time.

“We wanted to ensure that debts are almost negligible,” Bhandari said. “We do a lot of JVs (joint ventures), society redevelopments, slum rehabilitation projects, MHADA development, etc., where we are not investing significantly high in land acquisition, but more so in construction and having multiple projects at a point of time.”

The company currently has a net debt of ₹400 crore.

Bhandari said the focus is to enter locations which are already developed, that is, prime locations. They will not enter markets that are not yet developed, such as the outskirts of a city.

Post-covid, developers from across India have been foraying into Mumbai to redevelop its old, dilapidated housing societies and slums to expand their footprint in the land-starved financial capital of the country.