Increase in transparency creating buyer confidence
 Luxora Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. has developed Ensaara Metropark and is jointly promoted by the Luxora Group  and Aanya Group and. The organisation has over 30 years of experience in residential real estate development, with a particular focus on producing quality developments, which feature beautiful, modern designs built to exacting standards. Niraj Bhatia shares his views on recent industry trends and other related things.
Recent industry trendsNowadays developers have become quality conscious. Industry has become very customer centric and quality of living is main concept of delivery. “Developers are focusing on sustainable design and construction (green building) having a LEED certified project is a need and a USP,” observes Mr Bhatia. “Public awareness and knowledge is catching up with developers resulting in expectations. Also as speed does matter, going the prefab route the industry has reduced timelines along with wastages.”
Mr Bhatia further points out, “With RTI, there is more transparency on status of projects increasing buyer confidence. Taxation norms have curbed a lot of malpractices benefitting the economy.”
Major growth avenuesWith the government focus on infrastructure, sectors like highways, waterways (river transportation), bridges, metro, monorails, etc. will get a boost. With government planning to provide housing to everyone, real estate sector is also expected to boom. Add to that, steel, formwork, cement, RMC and related industries will see major growth in times to come.
Big opportunityThe government has proposed the ambitious project of 100 smart cities in near future. Mr Bhatia looks from very positive point of view toward it. He say, “It’s great to give equal emphasis to regions across India. Employment opportunities in these cities will reduce migration. Also equilibrium will be maintained with better standard of living across India. It will support continuous growth in various sectors and increase in IIP.”
Current happenings in procurementConstruction industry is gearing up to reduce wastages and delivery lead time; many developers have switched to aluminium formwork and readymade steel on a larger scale. Availability of information has reduced wrong buying.
“Today procurement is very transparent and open which helps in proper value/cost evaluations,’”believes Mr Bhatia. “With fast changing concepts and designs, sourcing of unique products is part of procurement KRA’s. Today procurement plays an important role during product finalisation stage.”
ChallengesAccording to Mr Bhatia, the main challenges procurement sector is facing are as follows:• Quality of material differs from region to region.  Logistics and cost associated to maintain quality is a major challenge. For example, cost and availability of quality river sand differs from region to region• Developing supply alternatives is a continuous task of procurement managers• Legal approach towards supply grievances is time consuming and at times ineffective• Internal and external supply chain co-ordination defines the efficiency and effectiveness of procurement. Therefore supply chain management has to overcome the challenges along its way• Scarcity of knowledgeable talent is a challenge; output is directly proportional to industry experience.
Efficient planningEfficient planning helps in prioritising procurement sequence reducing unwanted inventory. Further, practising JIT helps in reducing warehouse and inventory holding costs. Also micro-monitoring cash flow every 15 days with 3 months look ahead procurement plan keeps inventory and out flows under control.
Benefits of online sourcing and ERPMr Bhatia explains how the procurement sector is getting benefitted by the use of online sourcing and systems like ERP.• Online sourcing provides variety of competitive vendor base.  Logistics, before and after sales service issues are reduced as local vendors are easily located.• Proper ERP systems and procedures eliminate manual errors.  Monitoring of budgets and expenses are done real time helping management take proper decisions.• Work Breakdown Cost Structures (WBCS) is possible only through ERP, it provides activity-based cost overrun report for corrective action.• e-Procurement and reverse auctions have made standardised material procurement easy, maintaining competition.
———————————–Luxora Group and Aanya Group combine building design, local sensitivity and international practice to create progressive, socially-responsible developments. They share a vision of creating residential housing and multi-use metroparks, which exceed expectations and are symbolic of modern India.
Luxora and Aanya are also collaborating on other projects in Maharashtra, including recently launched Crystal Spires – a luxury development in Thane under construction and developments in areas of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
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———————————–With government planning to provide housing to everyone, real estate sector is also expected to boom. Add to that, steel, formwork, cement, RMC and related industries will see major growth in times to come.
Today procurement is very transparent and open which helps in proper value or cost evaluations.- Niraj Bhatia, Deputy General Manager – Procurement, Luxora Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.