Tata Housing Shubh Griha low-cost house scheme launched

After the success of the Tata Nano, Tata Housing, a subsidiary of Tata Sons, said, on May 6, 2009, that it plans to offer low-cost houses, at affordable prices.Under the housing project, called Shubh Griha, a 100-crore township will be built across 60 acres, in Boisar, two-and-a-half hours by train from Mumbai.

The Tata Shubh Griha houses will cost between Rs 3.9 lakh to Rs 6.7 lakh, without taking the registration fee into account.

Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO of Tata Housing, said, “The Tata name will give a lot of surety for people wanting to invest in their first home. It is an innovative sharing scheme with the landowners. We will have control of the project.”

He said that the Tata Shubh Griha scheme would bring in a topline of Rs 100 crore, but did not give any details about the cost of the Tata Shubh Griha project.

The company said it would offer 2500 flats under the Tata Shubh Griha scheme, of which around 1500 would be in the value housing category and the rest would come under affordable housing.

“The affordable housing segment offers better margins,” Mr. Banerjee said.

The company said that the Shubh Griha scheme is targeted at the low-income bracket who live in either rented or company accommodation, and face a huge shortage of houses.

“Our study shows that around 48% of them are currently staying in rented accommodation,” Banerjee said.

Under the Shubh Griha scheme, houses will come in three sizes, a one-room + kitchen of 283 sq ft, a larger one-room + kitchen of 360 sq ft, and one bedroom + one living room + kitchen of 465 sq ft, in the ground-plus-two layout.

Tata Housing plans to expand the Shubh Griha scheme to the South and NCR next.

The Economic Times quoted Mr Banerjee, as saying, “The plan is to later have Shubh Griha projects in Bangalore and Delhi over the next few months. This will depend on factors like how quickly the land is obtained.”

Tata Housing plans to expand the Shubh Griha scheme across India, by 2014. “We plan to enter cities like Nashik and Ludhiana. Today, we have projects in Bangalore, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Pune and Goa,” Banerjee said.

The company will start distributing forms, costing Rs 200, for the Shubh Griha scheme, starting from May 9, 2009, from the State Bank of India.

Tata Housing has said that customers should submit the application form along with the initial booking amount of Rs 10,000, within 20 days of buying the application form.

Customers will need to pay the booking amount through a bank pay order at select branches of the SBI across Mumbai.

As with the Tata Nano, winners will be chosen through a lottery system. The first list and the waiting list will be declared after 15 days of the final booking.

Tata Housing will then send the allotment letters, for around 1000 flats, along with the payment schedule.

The Shubh Griha houses will be ready by 2011. At the time of possession, customers will need to pay the remaining amount.