Tag: Piyush Gupta

News

Investments in developmental assets set to surge as India marches towards USD 5 Trillion economy

Jun 7, 2024 by Mansi Praharaj 0 Comments #Asia Pacific, #India marches, #Investment, #Piyush Gupta, #Vimal Nadar

Mumbai, 7th June, 2024  – Four of the top five global cross-border capital destinations for land and development site investments in the first quarter of 2024 were in Asia Pacific, according to a new report from Colliers. The report, Asia Pacific Global Capital Flows May 2024, listed China, Singapore, Australia and India within the top five destinations globally for cross-border capital investment in land/development sites in Q1 2024.

In India, the institutional investors are largely drawn to completed and pre-leased income-yielding assets due to their ability to provide immediate & steady returns, low risk profile, compliance assurance and lesser exit-related hassles. However, with majority of the large Grade A projects being already funded, investors are also forging partnerships with local developers and investors, in developmental assets spanning across office, residential and industrial segments. The inflow in developmental assets (mainly in the form of platform deals) includes investments in various phases of developmental activity including land acquisition and asset development, etc.

The inflow into developmental assets includes investments directed toward creating new assets from the ground up. These investments span various phases of development, including the formation of platforms, land acquisition, and construction.

Select transactions in developmental assets (in 2023–Q1 2024):

Quarter/Year Investor Investee Deal Value (in USD million) City Asset Class
Q2 2023 CPPIB RMZ Corp 324.2 Mumbai Office
Q4 2023 Alta Capital Goldman Sachs & Warburg Pincus 320.0 Others/Multi City Alternatives
Q3 2023 HDFC Capital Advisors The house of Abhinandan Lodha 182.0 Others/Multi City Residential
Q1 2023 PAG Credit & Markets M3M 180.9 Delhi NCR Residential
Q1 2024 Ivanhoe Cambridge+LOGOS   132.3 Pune Industrial & Warehousing

Over the last decade, institutional investments across various asset classes in real estate sector have seen promising inflows, bolstered by a wave of infrastructure investments and comprehensive economic reforms. Persistent economic growth, strong demand fundamentals and optimistic business outlook in India relative to its global peers, have enhanced global institutional investor confidence in exploring multiple avenues for investments in India.

“Foreign investors continue to exhibit confidence in India’s real estate sector, infusing USD 3.6 Billion during 2023, driving 67% of the total inflows. The momentum continued in Q1 2024 as well, with foreign investors driving over 55% of the investment inflows at USD0.5 Billion. Their sustained preference for ready assets continues, evident from the 73% investment inflows in such assets during Q1 2024. Simultaneously, India also presents abundant opportunities for investment in developmental sites as the real estate sector is set to reach USD 1 trillion by 2030, accounting for 13-15% of India’s GDP. The preference towards developmental as well as ready to move quality office assets will continue, with visible emphasis on sustainability. The Capital in Indian Real Estate is getting more diversified to sectors such as Residential, Logistics, Alternatives, Credit.” said Piyush Gupta, Managing Director, Capital Markets & Investment Services at Colliers India.

With the GDP set to cross USD 5 trillion soon, India offers burgeoning opportunities for real estate investment, both in ready assets and developmental sites. The real estate growth is likely to extend beyond the top 6 cities, covering multiple smaller cities across the country, backed by infrastructure advancements, increased digital penetration and supportive regulatory framework in these cities, offering an array of opportunities for the investors.

“This is an opportune time for investors to invest in developmental projects in India’s real estate sector backed by stable economic conditions. The past two years have witnessed significant investments in land, particularly for residential projects, with prominent real estate developers keen to strategically acquire large contiguous land parcels. Institutional investments in residential segment, meanwhile have also witnessed a 20% YoY rise during 2023, at USD 0.8 Billion. With robust residential sales momentum across cities, this trend is expected to continue, making it an opportune moment to capitalize on greenfield development opportunities especially in residential real estate,” said Vimal Nadar, Senior Director & Head of Research, Colliers India.

Select land deals (in 2023–Q1 2024):

Quarter/Year Investor Investee Deal Value (in USD million) City Asset Class
Q1 2023 PAG Credit & Markets M3M  180.9 Delhi NCR Residential
Q1 2024 Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited DLF  88.8 Chennai Mixed use
Q4 2023 ESR Group    54.0 Others/ Multi City Industrial & Warehousing

Chris Pilgrim, Colliers’ Managing Director of Global Capital Markets in Asia Pacific, said “APAC continues to show strong growth with stable forecasts, a factor that is driving the strength of the land and development market in particular. More broadly, investor confidence is returning both in terms of deploying capital and the belief that some economic headwinds have stabilized or are now factored into risk adjusted returns. Strong demand fundamentals are also driving significant investor interest in India, where office assets remain at the core, while industrial and residential assets are seeing heightened activity.”

Business

2022 will be an exceptional year for Asia Pacific real estate investments

Dec 13, 2021 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #APAC, #Asia Pacific, #Asia Pacific real estate investments, #Piyush Gupta, #Ramesh Nair, #real estate investments, #Vimal Nadar

Leading diversified professional services and investment management company Colliers (NASDAQ and TSX: CIGI) has revealed that quality office assets in major metropolitan markets like London, New York, Tokyo, and Sydney, have retained their allure and will be in high demand next year. Core and core-plus office spaces are the top global strategy picks, with 60% of investors stating these assets as their investment preference, while industrial and logistics (I&L) assets will be the most coveted.

Their appeal not only stems from the realisation that office demand is here to stay, particularly in cities supported by strong transport infrastructure and high amenity values, but also the ease of large-scale capital deployment that office assets represent. The rising cost of construction, viewed by four in five (81%) investors as a pain point, could limit new builds, renovations, and retrofit projects, amplifying the demand for existing quality office assets.

“Investments in the Indian real estate sector have remained resilient despite the headwinds triggered by the pandemic, adversely impacting the economy and business climate. For the nine months ended September 2021, investments were recorded to the tune of USD3.5 billion, almost 75% of the quantum seen in 2020. Favourable one-time bulk deals have been keeping the investment momentum strong in the last past few quarters. Interestingly, residential and industrial & warehousing sectors have emerged as major beneficiaries this year garnering a combined 36% of the investments. While the office will continue to remain a dominant sector, investments in residential and industrial & warehousing are likely to strengthen in 2022 aided by strong business fundamentals. Income visibility & stability, attractive valuations and identifying the dark horses will underline the investment ethos in 2022”, said Ramesh Nair, CEO, India and Managing Director, Market Development, Asia, Colliers.

A standout year for Asia Pacific property investments

Across the Asia Pacific (APAC), more investors are prepared to put into action their ambitious plans that have been delayed by COVID-19. Cross-border capital flows are also likely to return, as travel and business activity progressively returns.

Piyush Gupta, Managing Director, Capital Markets and Investment Services, Colliers India, added, “The pandemic has accelerated a number of structural trends and will have lasting changes on the nature of real estate business in India. This presents several opportunities for investors looking to future-proof their portfolios or recalibrate their strategy towards growth sectors. This is already evident in the rapid investment being allocated towards the Residential, increasing development of data centres, Industrial, Office as well as the evolution of the life science sector. Further opportunities exist in identifying locational trends based on changing consumer and work patterns and may also provide investment strategies to new markets in India”.

Overall, I&L assets will be the most sought-after real estate assets in the region, with more than 20% of investors anticipating capital value gains of 10%-20% in value-add I&L assets in 2022, supported by tailwinds and large-scale economic transformation.

Significant interest continues to surround core-plus offices, which remain a popular asset class for regional investors in Tier 1 cities like Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. 63% of the respondents indicated that they plan to invest in these assets, versus 54% last year.

Multifamily/built-to-rent (BTR) properties are also an increasingly sought-after asset class, with investors targeting both core and development projects. In Japan, this is a sector that is well established and has long attracted foreign core capital, whereas in Australia, it is an emerging asset class with development opportunities.

Retail is for the opportunistic while specialised assets gain favour

Our survey shows that investors see significant potential for the appreciation and repurposing of retail assets. Around a third of the investors mulling retail allocations are targeting opportunistic (including change of use) investments. In addition, hotels are also an opportunistic target, with 38% of investors looking at this sector. Both hotel and retail sectors offer good opportunities in cities with large domestic markets, like Japan, Australia and Korea.

Specialised assets, particularly data centres, life sciences and healthcare, are expected to help boost investment volumes in 2022, with student housing also poised for a comeback as Australia, the region’s main market, opens up to international visitors.

“2021 has seen a strong investor appetite for emerging asset classes such as data centres and life sciences. Global data management firms, developers and alternative asset managers formed strategic joint ventures /platforms to develop and operate data centres in India. Also, investments in retail and mixed-use assets showed up on investors’ radar and formed nearly one-fourth of the total investments during the nine months ended September 2021 as they continue to scout for profitable and stabilized retail assets. Taking cues from Global and Asia-Pacific, green financing is expected to gain steam in the coming years as developers, asset owners and investors sign up for sustainable-led development”, added Vimal Nadar, Senior Director & Head, Research, India at Colliers.

ESG considerations are growing in importance to investors

The report also shows ESG (environmental, social, governance) considerations remain prominent, with nearly three in four investors surveyed globally integrating environmental factors into their strategies. This desire to invest with intent is both a means of future-proofing their assets and responding to the stakeholder and societal pressures requiring them to respond to the climate crisis.

ESG has also become a strong focus in APAC, as it will soon be a priority in the office sector as government and corporate tenants pressure owners to get their ratings up.

Business World

Kestone Endeavors to Make Virtual Events Equally Immersive Even for the Differently Abled; Adds Accessibility and Interactivity Features for the Dyslexic & Visually Impaired

May 25, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Kestone, #Piyush Gupta, #President

25 May 2021, New Delhi, India: Kestone, India’s leading data-driven integrated sales and marketing services company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Career launcher (NSE, BSE: CLEDUCATE), in an endeavor to support disability inclusion at virtual events, today announced adding assistive tech/ high-tech accessibility and interactivity feature to its platform for the dyslexic and the visually impaired. With this, regardless of the disabilities that some of the virtual event attendees might have (visual impairedness, dyslexia, etc.), Kestone would be able to provide them with an equally immersive digital event experience based on their unique accessibility needs. This step will empower corporates to add disability into their diversity and inclusion plan, widen access to more talent and skills at a time when hybrid working mode, knowledge sharing through virtual events is gaining mainstream significance due to COVID19 2.0 impact.

Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Gupta, President, Kestone said, “The need for a disability-inclusive business culture is highly critical to help voice the talent and skills of persons with disabilities (PWDs), the underrepresented community in the corporate world, which constitutes not even 0.5 percent of employees in India’s top companies. Social isolation, insufficient job opportunities, and financial uncertainty have already taken a major toll on them during the pandemic. Kestone has always assessed and added new-age tech features on its virtual event platform. The addition of Assistive Tech will help the dyslexic and the visually impaired gain more immersive experience, navigate the event schedule with more ease, and make corporate virtual events more inclusive. The presence of such disability-friendly virtual events will surely encourage innovation, talent, and a sense of equality across industries”.

Digital tech innovation has never been more significant than it is today. With only 1 in 10 PWDs having access to the virtual technologies according to the WHO and the pandemic protocols impacting their lives and mental health all the more, India needs to accelerate technology adoption in its disability inclusion road map. Considering that flexible and disability-inclusive work policies benefit employees across the board and boost an organization’s resilience, communication, and knowledge sharing through virtual events will need to have such assistive technology at its base. As companies rethink their business models and work environments to adapt to the pandemic, disability inclusion will take a vital significance.

The future will need the marketing tech world to innovate around designing content solutions that ensure accessibility, inculcate thoughtful adjustments, support inclusivity, and remove disability discrimination within information and communication technologies. With Govt.’s Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) that aims to achieve universal accessibility for PWDs and the corporate world endeavoring to adopt remote working, touchless technology due to the pandemic impact, India is sure to embark on a promising start and the role and contribution of virtual tech designers will become more integral.

About Kestone:- Kestone, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Career Launcher (NSE, BSE: CLEDUCATE) and India’s leading data-driven integrated sales and marketing services company, founded in 1997, is the player behind India’s first, entirely home-grown, experiential “virtual platform”. Replicating every element of an offline events experience i.e. unlimited customizable virtual environments, gamification to ensure active user engagement, interactivity to ensure in-person meetings/conversation experience, or the marketers’ need for real-time data and analytics to arrive at a performance index, coupled with multilingual functionality, 3D environments, LIVE video streaming, audience engagement interventions with polls, quizzes, real-time reporting, etc., data privacy and security encryptions, Kestone offers limitless possibilities for businesses to collaborate, communicate and grow across sectors. In 2021, they introduced VIRSA BOT – India’s first AI-powered Virtual Event Smart Assistant whose intelligent make and analytic capability could spike average audience engagement time at virtual events by 5 times. Kestone has aced 15K+ hours of streaming and engaged over a 10Mn audience. Headquartered in New Delhi, it has a presence in 250+ Indian Cities, and 15+ International destinations including Singapore, Dubai & the US. The INR. 130 Cr firm counts Dell and Cisco as among its longest-serving clients and has strategized & executed several campaigns for 100+ orgs including NASSCOM, SAP, TiE, Wipro, Airtel, 3M, Amazon, etc., across IT, ITES, FMCG, travel, transport, automotive, and real estate. It has built a portfolio of successful IPs – Melting Pot, Inquizitive Minds, Pocket Events, and Axis and won ACEF Global Customer Engagement Awards in 2018, 2019 & 2020, WOW Awards, Lighthouse Insights Best Mobile Marketing 2018, and Marketing Excellence Awards 2017 among other accolades. For more info, visit https://kestoneglobal.com/

Business World, News

Kestone’s Virsa BOT – India’s first AI powered Virtual Event Smart Assistance to increase audience average engagement time by 5x

Feb 24, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Kestone, #Piyush Gupta, #President

New Delhi, India: Kestone, India’s leading data-driven integrated sales and marketing services company, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Career Launcher (NSE, BSE: CLEDUCATE),  announced the launch of VIRSA BOT – India’s first AI powered Virtual Event Smart Assistance whose intelligent make and analytic capability can increase average audience engagement time at virtual events by multi-fold.

Gaining in-depth accurate behavioral insights and comprehending the audience psyche will no longer be a pain point for marketers now. Designed exclusively to interpret data rightfrom the registration process, VIRSA with AI driven algorithms can not only provide personalized recommendations to the event organizer about content choice and sessions topics assessing the attendees’ business profile for improved event strategy, but also is fully empowered to filter and recommend sessions, resources and indicative business contacts for interaction for the attendee once he/she logs in. Discovering relevant content, speakers and sessions and connecting to peers and business leads will be easier. Another great feature of VIRSA is speech-text conversion, known as Virsa Notes. VIRSA listens to all the sessions and takes a note of every aspect of the deliberation. So, in-case anyone misses a particular session, Virsa will convert that session into text with 85% accuracy.

Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Gupta, President, Kestone said, “Assessing market needs early and innovating ahead to deliver solutions that are long terms and effective have been our key goal. The pandemic has given virtual communication a whole new chapter and opportunities to advance newer concepts into the market. Audience engagement and interactivity were major challenges for virtual marketers ever since its start and our VIRSA bot – India’s first AI powered Virtual Event Smart Assistance, will be the most cost-effective, intuitive, personalized concierge for both marketers and audiences. VIRSA will change the event industry’s marketplace for good and we expect a minimum of 3-fold increase in their conversion rates and revenue by increasing audience average engagement time by 5x. There are no bandwidth concerns for VIRSA and hence no capping to the number of calculations the bot can make every second, irrespective of the event size.”

He also added, “Virsa has an extensive potential to activate wider reach for multi-lingual events, which will be the new flavor for brands as more local brands and marketers embrace virtual technology. For all those unfamiliar-new-audience attending such event, whose typical inhibitions could be their comfort and conversance level with a ‘tech’ platform and the sense of being ‘lost’ once they login, VIRSA can be their virtual concierge.”

Kestone’s virtual event platform which is India’s first, entirely home-grown, experiential “virtual platform” with a 360-degree integrated marketing and branding assistance has replicated every element of an offline events experience into it, offering limitless possibilities for businesses to collaborate, communicate and grow across sectors. Kestone has already done more than 10000 hours of streaming and engaged over 5million audience over a span of 8months in the virtual space.With 94% brands aiming at exploring digital IPs for improved consumer attraction and retention in the new normal, Hybrid events will be the future for event industry. Tech innovation under ‘Virtual’ and ‘Hybrid’ models is redefining the industry. For India, which ranks 63rd in Global Ease of Doing Business 2020 and 68th in Global Entrepreneurship Index; post pandemic business engagements and communication will be driven virtually, upping the market potential of VIRSA in terms of the growing market demand extensively.

Business World

Kestone partners with Give India to present Imagine, The Largest 24-hour Virtual Global Fundraiser Connect on 10th Oct 2020

Oct 8, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #BSE: CLEDUCATE), #Career Launcher (NSE, #Give India, #Kestone, #Piyush Gupta, #Priyanka Prakash

Kestone, among India’s leading integrated marketing services company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Career Launcher (NSE, BSE: CLEDUCATE) and Give India, India’s most trusted platform for donors, present Imagine, India’s largest 24-hour Virtual Global Fundraiser Connect from 10-11 Oct 2020.

Imagine in its 24 hrs of content will bring together Arunachalam Muruganantham – Padman of India, Atul Khatri – an Indian stand-up comedian, Dharmendra Rai – Mind Map Trainer, Dr. Mickey Mehta, Global leading holistic health guru and corporate life coach, Jessie Paul, CEO, Paul Writer, Anand Neelakantan, well-known author & screenwriter, C. K. Kumaravel, Co-founder of Groom India Salon & Spa, Sourabh Kaushal, Internationally Acclaimed Entrepreneur and over 50+ other artists, influencers, business leaders, thought leaders and social change-makers from across the globe to connect, collaborate and contribute to support the noble cause of enabling uninterrupted education in the post-COVID world, through inspiring sessions, workshops and performances.

The event is a celebration of the human spirit and a demonstration of the power of technology to bridge physical boundaries and barriers to provide a platform for people to come together from across the globe. Now more than ever is the time for us to reimagine the world as we know it and look beyond the constraints of the current reality that we are faced with. While we have already witnessed a sea change through a technological transformation in every aspect of our life, this is just the tip of the iceberg. It is time for us to leverage technology in novel ways to stay connected, keep our social accountability alive, innovate and build new communities as we navigate this new normal.

Speaking on the occasion, Piyush Gupta, President, Keystone said, “While we settle into the new normal and stay connected using newer technologies, we can’t ignore that a sizeable population of India is still deprived of the basic necessities required to be part of the online learning modes in this pandemic impacted the world. Social responsibility in education is critical now. The shift from physical to online has its own challenges and the lesser privileged children are the ones who are suffering the most with no access to digital means of modern education. Imagine – India’s 24-hour Virtual Global Fundraiser Connect is our humble attempt to rekindle this sense among all and bring together known and unknown personalities from across the world to collaborate for a single cause that has the power to change the world.”

Priyanka Prakash, Head-Online Giving, Marketing & Partnerships, GiveIndia:- further added “We are happy to partner with Kestone for Imagine, the 24-hour virtual connect for a cause. At GiveIndia, we have always been keen to collaborate with prospects that aim for a heightened social impact. With Imagine, we intend to support children’s education by making them access e-learning in these curtailed times”

Technology

Kestone’s Virtual Events Platform 2.0 Takes The Experiential Game a Notch Higher

Sep 1, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #BSE: CLEDUCATE), #Career Launcher (NSE, #Kestone, #Piyush Gupta, #President, #Version 2.0 of Kestone Virtual Events platform

New Delhi, 1st September 2020: Kestone, among India’s leading integrated marketing services company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Career Launcher (NSE, BSE: CLEDUCATE), today introduced an advanced version of their Virtual Events platform which promises to take the user experience multiple notches up. Version 2.0 of Kestone Virtual Events platform comes with a host of advancements including an overhauled User Interface (UI), support for multiple languages and advanced audience engagement and gamification features.

Speaking about the enhancements, Piyush Gupta, President, Kestone said, “Providing an immersive user experience has been one of the key pillars of Kestone Virtual Events platform, besides its ability to drive user engagements and compute deep data analytics. While a lot of us are conversant with conventional web conferencing solutions such as webinars, we need to be cognizant of the fact that there any many users who are experiencing virtual events for the first time. It is like graduating from wearing 3D glasses to using AR/VR solutions. Any good technology solution must handhold such graduations carefully keeping the end user in mind. Our UI enhancements try to aim just that by making the platform intuitive and extremely user friendly even for the first-time users.”

With second version of its Virtual Events platform, Kestone also introduces support for multiple languages. This means that now beyond English, the platform can also be offered in regional and foreign languages. Commenting on the upgrade, Piyush said, “Both content delivery pattern of brands and content consumption behaviour of consumers have seen tectonic shifts in recent times. Nowadays, just having a device-agnostic design isn’t enough for a digital product and one needs to look deeper into demographical attributes as well. Therefore, for our Virtual Events platform to be a truly global product, providing support for content delivery in the language-of-choice was both aspirational and inevitable for us.”

Kestone believes that these product upgrades will make its platform accessible to larger markets transcending geographical and demographical boundaries. Now the platform comes loaded with a host of features including 3D environments, LIVE video streaming, audience engagement interventions with polls & quizzes and real-time reporting while being compliant with international norms for data privacy and data security. Within 90 days of its’ initial launch, successful virtual conferences have already been hosted on the previous version of the platform for Google, Redington, in partnership with Dell Technologies, Strategink, in partnership with IBM and, CNBC-TV18, engaging 40,000+ CXO level visitors, 75,000 students, with 60,000+ social media interactions and 50,000+ exhibitor booth & product demo zone visits.

Talking further about the platform, Piyush said, “COVID-19 is a black swan moment for the events industry during which we saw up close, how, many businesses for whom events have been the lifeline, have suffered. With this product we aspire to set benchmarks for delivering exceptional customer experiences in the virtual world which are as good as physical events. That is where we have ploughed all our learnings from over two decades of event management experience into building this platform. The response to the initial version of the platform has been encouraging both in India and in the global markets of Canada, Dubai, Singapore and US.”

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