MANOJa

NEW DELHI: Realty firm Ashiana Housing, which focuses on developing homes for elderly people, has entered into an agreement with a land owner to develop a housing project in Gujarat.

The Delhi-based company plans to develop up to 500 housing units under the project at Halol in Gujarat at an estimated cost of about Rs 60 crore.

"We have entered into the Gujarat real estate market through a revenue share agreement with land owner for 10.65 acres of land. We will develop a group housing project on the land," Ashiana Housing Director (Finance) Varun Gupta said.

The company expects to get all approvals to develop this project within the next six months, he said.

Gupta noted that there is a good demand for housing at Halol where many big companies, such as General Motors, Siemens and Sun Pharma are already located.

In September, Ashiana entered Kolkata property market by acquiring about 10 acres of land from Bengal Shriram Hitech, a subsidiary of Shriram Properties.

The company plans to develop a housing complex, comprising 600 flats, for senior citizens in Kolkata.

Ashiana had posted a net profit of Rs 43.86 crore over a total revenue of Rs 154.12 crore in 2010-11. It sold 1.35 million sq ft of area last fiscal and is targeting to sell 1.6 million square feet of area this fiscal.

At present, the company is developing seven projects, out of which three are in Jaipur and one each in Bhiwadi, Jodhpur, Jamshedpur and Pune. It is building a retirement resort at the Lavasa township in Pune.

Ashiana's share price closed at Rs 153 on BSE on Friday, down by 0.29 per cent from previous closing.



Ashiana enters Gujarat housing mkt; ties up 11 acre for project - The Economic Times