SIGNATURE MOVE

SIGNATURE GLOBAL, A LEADER IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING, IS LOOKING TO GET BACK IN THE BLACK WITH A SHIFT IN FOCUS TO MID-SEGMENT AND PREMIUM HOUSING AFTER LOW-COST PROJECTS BECAME UNVIABLE FOR DEVELOPERS

- ARNAB DUTTA

BRICK BY BRICK

FOUNDATION SIGNATURE GLOBAL, WHICH STARTED IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN 2014, IS TURNING ITSELF INTO A MIDINCOME AND PREMIUM HOME DEVELOPER T

NEW STRATEGY AS THE AFFORDABLE HOME SEGMENT TURNED UNVIABLE DUE TO THE STEEP RISE IN INPUT COSTS, IT IS NOW FOCUSSING ON HOMES PRICED UP TO 3 CRORE

IMPLEMENTATION AS A RESULT, THE SHARE OF AFFORDABLE HOMES IN ITS UPCOMING PORTFOLIO HAS FALLEN TO 1%, FROM 50% IN 2017

UNIT REALISATION CHANGE IN STRATEGY AT A CRUCIAL JUNCTURE BOOSTED THE COMPANY'S PER UNIT REALISATION BY 200% BETWEEN FY21 AND FY24

PROFITABLE WHILE PROFITABILITY REMAINED A CHALLENGE FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, THE COMPANY CLAIMS TO HAVE TURNED PROFITABLE AT THE NET LEVEL IN FY24

FOR PRADEEP AGGARWAL, Founder-Chairman of Signature Global (India), good corporate governance is not just about complying with rules and stating the said compliance in officialese in the annual report. Aggarwal is a stickler for corporate governance as he knows it defines success in any field—including the fields of the then Gurgaon’s Sector 107 in 2014.

That was where (and when) Aggarwal, after two decades in the stock markets, put together a crack team to enter the real estate business as the government pushed the concept of affordable housing.

Aggarwal announced his first housing project in 2014, and investors and buyers lapped it up. The project was oversubscribed three times. The prices clicked (up to ₹25 lakh for 1BHK and 2BHK apartments, unbelievably affordable even then). The delivery schedule clicked (announced in 2014 and delivered in 2018). Construction quality clicked.