Replicating Worldmark's Success

Having tasted success with Worldmark Aerocity — a flourishing business district in Delhi NCR — Bharti Realty is developing 8 million sq. ft of commercial and residential projects

- Ashish Sinha

REAL ESTATE BUSINESS SEEMS TO BE a natural progression for players in the telecom space nowadays. Hobbled by multiple headwinds including a debt of more than Rs 7.7 lakh crore as well as decapitating competition, this sector is seeing its players gravitating towards reality.

These players are either exiting the space altogether and turning to reality for growth — a la Reliance Communications — or nurturing their real estate business to health and prominence, like Bharti Enterprises, which has seen its telecom arm Airtel getting relegated to the third position behind Vodafone Idea and Jio after ruling at the top for nearly two decades.

Bharti Realty, the real estate arm of Bharti Enterprises, is already making waves by demonstrating proficiency in the realty business with timely completion of commercial projects. The company is credited with developing and managing over 5 million sq ft of grade-A commercial space in the National Capital Region. It is developing another 8 million-plus sq ft of commercial real estate, for which it has pumped in more than Rs 3,000 crore and is inking deals with joint venture partners to execute some of the projects.

The company has built a solid reputation for itself by executing a string of award-winning projects. These include Bharti Crescent, New Delhi; Airtel Centre, Gurgaon and Worldmark Aerocity, a 1.5 million sq ft office space which is 100 percent leased now. Worldmark Aerocity is today home to a number of marquee global and local companies like E&Y, Airbus, Sumitomo, Mitsubishi, Bank of Tokyo, IMF, IFC, Grant Thornton, among others.