Parsvnath announces retail foray in India, in talks with S'pore co. for real estate, hospitality ventures

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According to Parsvnath chairman Pradeep Jain, the developer is scouting for a foreign partner for the venture that will include developing hypermarkets, as well as convenience stores, food stores and very large 24x7 shopping markets.

"The company is in discussion with major retail chains to explore possibilities of foreign and domestic collaboration for setting up various retail formats in India. Our focus in the first year for the joint venture will be to have 8 to 10 hypermarkets in operation, starting from North India," Jain said.

Parsvnath will hold majority stake in the retail venture, said Jain, whose company has completed 31 projects in India, including developing malls and apartments.

"We have 5.5 million sq ft of retail space across country and this is our strength as a real estate developer," Jain said.

The company has, however, ruled out entering the cash-and-carry business. Parsvnath "would be front-ended, meaning the retail partners would support us in logistics," Jain said, adding that besides bringing multiple brands into its stores, the developer will also introduce "some of its own brands."

According to Jain, Parvsnath is also in talks with a Singapore-based real-estate company for hospitality and real estate joint ventures. The Indian developer has already set up a Singapore-based subsidiary, Parsvnath Developers Pte Ltd, and would soon set up offices there, as it perceives the city-state as a "well organized, very transparent market," Jain said.

"We hope to close some of the transactions in the next few months," Jain said. The name of the potential venture partner was not disclosed.

Parsvnath, which is set to invest Rs.250 crore on developing a luxury mall and high-end office spaces on a 5,735-square yard plot near Connaught Place, the central business area of New Delhi, is also set to foray into Tier-II and Tier-III cities and towns like Mysore and Jaipur and take up developing projects worth an estimated $5 billion over the next 3-5 years.

For the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2008, Parsvnath posted a net profit of Rs.109 crore as against Rs.132 crore, a decline of nearly 18 percent.

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