NBCC received orders worth Rs12,000-cr in FY20; Likely to get orders worth Rs2,500-cr in Q4: PK Gupta, CMD

Pawan Kumar Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), talks about his expectations from 2020 and the budget, strategy, order book and redevelopment projects during a candid chat with Swati Khandelwal, Zee Business. Edited Excerpts:

Will 2020 be more promising for NBCC when compared to 2019?
We have positive news related to Jaypee Infratech in 2020. The committee of creditors (CoC) has given 97% votes to NBCC and the case has been sent to NCLT for approval. Its result will be out by February 6, 2020, and we believe the decision will be in our favour. Then, we will start our work in the company within 90days. The second hope is related to Amrapali and the Supreme Court has allowed us to work on 7 projects of the group. NBCC has started working on 2 projects of Amrapali and the work on the remaining 5 projects will be started by mid-January. Its tenders have been opened on January 6 and we hope that we will start working on them between January 15-20, 2020. Apart from this, NBCC shall start working on other projects like Karkardooma transit-oriented developments, Bharat Vandana Park, IIM Vishakhapatnam, IIM Sambalpur, Sports University, Imphal, Manipur in the near future. 

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What will be your strategy to grow your business and provide a timeline for completion for the secured orders and expected additions? Do you think that this growth momentum will continue next year as well?
NBCC has received orders of around Rs12,000 crore in 2019-20 and hopes that another Rs2,000-2,500 crore orders will be added in the fourth quarter of FY20. So, we will have a strong order book, which stands around Rs74,000 crore. Apart from Jaypee and Amrapali, we would like to enter into start projects but it will depend on the government. 

We also have a focus on redevelopment of properties and we have signed an MoU with Andhra Pradesh government and have started the process of selling its properties. We wish to have similar arrangements with other state governments and talks are in process. These are large-value projects and much funds are not required in such projects as the sale of old properties help us in raising funds for it. 

You said that orders of around Rs2,000-2,500 crore will reach you in the next three months. Can you update us on it?
It is related to Nauroji Nagar project which was halting and we expect that it will be given to us in this fiscal. 

Can you name other state government with which NBCC is working at present and the state on which you will focus upon?
The company has received an Rs150 crore order from Port Blair on a self-sustainable basis. Talks are on with Rajasthan government and letters have been written to other states as well and the talks are at the initial stage. We are also talking about the central government lands that are lying with public sector undertakings (PSUs) like MTNL. And, we have received a redevelopment order of Rs350 crore from Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL) for their land piece in Zakhira, Delhi and we have started working on it. 

Update us about the ongoing talks with MTNL and how you will use their land bank? 
It is a redevelopment concept includes the creation of commercials and selling it off and then create residential with the money that is raised through in the process. It also includes affordable. Thus, the redevelopment project can be referred to as a mix-use development concept as it reduces the requirement of transportation. 

What is your take on the stock price of the company which is not positioned as per the potential it has? What is/are the concern/s areas for investors? 
Nauroji Nagar World Trade Centre project - lying idle since one and half year due to a stay from High Court - was a big project for us. The last hearing of the case was done in November 2019 and the company expects that the decision will be announced soon. It is a big setback for the company as the money raised from it would have been invested in Sarojini Nagar and Netaji Nagar's projects, which hasn't been started. 

Your expectation from the upcoming budget?
Every incentive announced for the real estate sector will have a positive impact on us. So every advantage provided to the real estate sector by the government will benefit us and I hope that additional incentives will be announced for the sector.