Affordable Housing Is Our Top Priority: MRG World’s Vikas Garg
Vikas Garg has took it upon himself to help the cause of affordable housing segment and bring in a culture of delivering projects ahead of the schedule.
Real estate has seen tremendous growth in the last few decades, and it welcomed people from all walks of life to fulfil the infrastructural requirements. The developers entering the domain made sure that they work according to the demand in the market; however, a lot remained to be done to meet the demand in affordable housing. A student at the time, Vikas Garg was contemplating the career path he wants to pursue. Among numerous industries, he got fascinated by the real estate and decided to study the sector. After finishing an MBA and CFA Degree, he analyzed that the real estate is flush with projects that are not catering to the segment which immediately needs a house. At this juncture, Garg decided that real estate is the right path for him and that he will concentrate on affordable housing. Soon, the journey started as MRG World came into existence.
At a very young age, he noticed the uneasiness of people with the high priced properties that were doled out. The talks of high disposable income, double income, etc cut no ice with the realistic Garg. During the college days, he started to get fancied by the thought of providing homes to people and daydream about the kick he would get by looking at the happy faces of people moving into their homes.
The urge to give shape to his dream picked up pace when he would go for house warming parties, especially of the middle-class people. “Those signs of elation and a wide grin on middle-class families never left my imagination. I noticed a genuine feeling of thankfulness and content on fulfillment of a dream. The purity of emotions made me realize the meaning of true happiness – to help fulfill the housing dreams of people who need it most,” says Garg.
In 2018, MRG World arrived on the horizon, and Garg took up the responsibility of Marketing, Finance, and Business Development. Being the Co-founder and Deputy Managing Director of the company, it is also his responsibility to ensure that the projects are demand specific and iron out challenges that can hamper the completion. “Affordable housing is an intricate form of development. The cost constraint is a challenge as this market is extremely price-sensitive, and to control the price when costs are skyrocketing requires implementation of potent engineering. From choosing the right location to designing, controlling marketing cost, etc forms an inseparable part of the efforts to ensure that the cost of units remains within reach of the target buyers,” adds Garg.
According to him “Knowing the pulse of the buyer is important when you are catering to affordable housing”. It is from this experience that he understands the difficulties that middle-class face when they have to bear the EMI and rents simultaneously if the project gets delayed. The company at the onset decided to stick to the policy of delivering the projects before time. MRG world has sold out three Affordable projects in Gurgaon – MRG world Meridien (755), MRG World Ultimus (720), and MRG World Balcony (730). The company will deliver these projects ahead of the scheduled deadline in 2022 – Balcony by March 2022, Meridien and Ultimus by December 2022.”
“In fact, the resolve of the company to stick to affordable housing got attestation from the reality that the demand for affordable went up when the global pandemic hit everyone hard. “We also noticed the renewed interest of fence-sitters to own a real estate asset. This is the reason that the company has plans to come up with several projects in 30-40 acre with around 6,000 flats in the affordable segment,” informs Garg.
Source : Business World.
