Merlin Group founded around three decades ago was the vision of the Chairman Sushil Mohta and currently is a well established entity in the real estate industry in India. In this interview, the Chairman himself talks about its growth, projects and future prospects.
How has the company evolved since its inception, and what were some of the key turning points along the way?
Merlin Group was formed in 1985. The Promoters of Merlin Group Sushil Mohta and his father Late Shiv Kishan Mohta were in Real Estate even prior to that, but that was more as a side business. Since 1985 Merlin started doing Real Estate in a professional manner and since then, over the last 37 years, it has developed over 200 projects in different parts of the country consisting of Residential, Commercial, Retail, Mall Industrial Estate, Retreat Home Project, Hospitality Projects etc. Merlin Group, having started in the year 1985, by the year 2000 was in a quite comfortable position having established a good brand in Kolkata. By the time, the Group had developed almost half a million sq ft with 25 projects, primarily of residential and some commercial developments.The year 2001 was a turning point for Merlin Group, when a large opportunity in the form of South City came. It was four million sq ft. development. Merlin Group along with some like-minded developers in Kolkata formed a Consortium and successfully completed this project in five years, a project consisting of 1700 apartments, a Shopping Mall of a million sq ft, a School and Resident Club. In the year 2006, another big opportunity came and that was a PPP invitation by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) to develop a project of Stadium with a Commercial Complex in a prime area of South Kolkata on a PPP basis. Merlin participated in the competition and out of the eight competitors Merlin’s offer was considered to be the best both for financial and technical point of view and Merlin was selected to develop a project and the story of `Acropolis’ began from there. It was one of the mostcomplicated projects where an F.A.R of six ½ acre land, almost a million sq ft was to be consumed in just two acre of land. So with over 600 parking and three basement and 20 storied buildings having a Mall, Offices, Restaurant, Multiplex, a vibrant mixed-used development was planned and executed in the next five years. The project gave a lot of financial muscle and knowledge bank to Merlin Group and after developing this project, the Group became known across the country for its capabilities. In the meantime, the Group also started venturing out in cities like Raipur, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Pune and in all the cities Merlin has developed residential and commercial developments but Kolkata was the main activity centre for Merlin Group.The Group also ventured outside the country. In Colombo the Group has developed ‘Altair’ the 68 storied iconic building designed by celebrity Architect Moshe Safdie in partnership with other developers, being part of South City Group.
Can you describe a particularly challenging project you have worked on, and how you overcame any obstacles that arose during construction?
There were always obstacles in terms of challenges in design and execution. The biggest challenge was to complete the South City project in a span of five years starting from the groundbreaking to handing over of 1700 apartments in four- five years and the Shopping Mall, the South City International School all put together. Acropolis brought another challenge, three basements in the soft soil of Kolkata was really challenging to safeguard the neighbouring road infrastructure and successfully completing the project without any accident. Merlin completed this as a ‘Grade – A’ retail and office space. Today, the building commands a premium in this part of the city.
How do you manage project timelines and budgets, and what steps do you take to keep clients informed about progress and potential delays?
The Group enjoys at least 35 per cent of the customers as a referral and a large chunk of customers are NRI, that is because of the strong reputation of completing the project in a time bound manner with proper quality control and no litigation with its customers.We always make the best offers to control our budget and timeline, but in an economy which has got five to seven per cent yearly inflation, it’s really difficult to control the cost. So far the increase in sales price was used to compensate for the increase in construction cost, but post 2016 till 2020, the industry saw higher cost escalation than the sales price and in many of the projects the profit eroded. At that point of time, because of very efficient management and because of the reputation of the Group which helped in advanced selling, the Group could manage with decent profit in all projects instead of losing. Many of the real estate players saw a very tough time and few had to close their businesses but Merlin survived all the challenges and emerged stronger.
How do you incorporate sustainable building practices into your construction projects, and what are some of the most innovative green technologies you’ve used?
Sustainability was always considered the top priority of Merlin. Acropolis Mall was the first ‘Green Building’ structure as a Shopping Mall. The building has been given ‘Gold Rated Green Building Certification’ and since 2015 all the projects of Merlin Group are Green Building certified and some are of Gold Standard. Merlin believes in going beyond the expectation of customers all around greenery, better workmanship, top of line fittings, fixtures and strong quality control at different stages of construction is something not compromised at Merlin. The other interesting project Merlin is now doing is one more Mall in southern part of the city namely “Acropolis South”. It is a brownfield project, half built Mall was acquired from Paharpur Group and Merlin is now doing 3.5 lakh sq ft. Multiplex, food court, restaurant, retail, hyper market etc. Merlin has also completed three IT Parks in Sector – V covering over a million sq ft. Merlin Greens a sprawling development with acre of land with a Resort – IBIZA – The Fern Resort is a personal project of Chairman Sushil Mohta who started this project out of his love towards nature, landscaping and today there are over 1200 bungalows with a Resort on 15 acre of land ‘IBIZA’ and the next phase being ‘Aquaville’, a development to be completed in next two years.Various features of sustainable development like alternate sources of energy, water recycling, water recharging, energy efficient feature, water efficient feature, proper light and ventilation in the built space are ensured in all the buildings with all around greenery which are sustainable features by Merlin Group.
What steps do you take to ensure that your workforce is trained and equipped to handle new technologies and techniques in the construction industry?
The Group conducts regular training sessions for all the verticals be it construction / technical department, marketing department finance and accounting department, customer relation and legal department. Merlin constantly endeavours to upgrade its work force and depute them to various knowledge enhancing conferences, There are knowledge sharing sessions happening in the Company periodically. Today the Group is in a position to command top talent in the country because of its reputation, adequate compensation to employees and providing growing opportunities in the company.
Please let us know about your equipment bank. How strong is it currently, and what are your plans to make it even stronger or potentially expand it?
Merlin has changed with time and has adopted newer technology as the construction cycle has to move fast now. All the buildings are now constructed with aluminium foam work of Korean technology. Merlin also has a few Tower Cranes, Material Hoist, and Concrete Pumps. The Group has its own two RMC ready mixed concrete plants.This has helped the Group in controlling the concrete quality, timely delivery of the concrete to the construction site and timely completion of the project. The Group has its own aluminium casting material of almost a million sq ft. Recently it has acquired two large Tower Cranes. Additionally there are different construction machinery starting from road binding to cutting, material hoist etc. Additionally the machineries are also hired by the contractors where certain works are awarded to contractors with material and machinery to be brought by the contractors.
How does Merlin Group plan to assist in the growth and development of the nation through the services or products it provides?
Merlin is committed to continue providing housing to all sectors of society, particularly to the middle class and lower class. Merlin is also committed to develop quality workplaces, retail spaces to generate employment. The Group has recently started the project ‘World Trade Center” in Kolkata. The proposed World Trade Center will reinforce the economic prosperity of West Bengal as well as Eastern India by forging collaboration with international trade bodies and investors from other countries through other World Trade Center members. The proposed World Trade Center will contribute significantly to the State Exchequer and will create huge job opportunities. Merlin Group has been also providing support to the community and people in the area of Health, Education, Skill Building, Environment, Sustainability under its CSR arm Merlin I’m Kolkata. Merlin as a responsible group firmly believes in contributing to the sustainable and holistic development of the society. So far Merlin I’m Kolkata has benefitted over lakhs of beneficiaries in education, skill development, healthcare . It has also undertaken sustainability initiatives like integrated waste management projects and support for green sports like cycling. We have recently also promoted the cause of deaf cricket in Kolkata by hosting a Tri nation Deaf cricket tournament involving Bangladesh, India and Nepal at our Club Pavillion Cricket ground of Merlin Rise –the sports city project in Rajarhat.