Sarang Wadhawan, MD, HDIL, said it will convey 40 acres in Q1 FY09 for airport rehabilitation.

Excerpts from CNBC-TV18’s exclusive interview with Sarang Wadhawan:

Q: Could you walk us through the performance highlights for the quarter?

A: For the quarter, we have done Rs 989 crore in standalone sales. We have posted a net profit of Rs 708 crore.

Q: Out of the about Rs 900 crore as consideration from Caledonia that you sold to Mack Star, how much of that amount have you booked in the current quarter? If any, does that needs to booked in the quarter going on right now?

A: No, we have booked the entire income from the Mack Star sale this quarter.

Q: Coming to a couple of projects that have evoked interest, especially the Mumbai Airport project. With the revised guidelines that have come in, how much of rehab sq ft would you need to construct and how many acres of land would you require for the same? Also, you have tied up for around close to one-third of that land, is that indeed true and how much more needs to be done on that front?

A: Certain pieces of land have been bought for the Mumbai international airport slum rehabilitation project. I would not be able to provide the actual rehabilitation area in sq ft because the survey is currently going on and the total number of tenements is still not fixed by the Maharashtra government. As soon as we have that figure, we will be able to give the total sq ft of rehab as well as the total sq ft of sale area or TDR, which will be generated from the project.

Q: There was a report which said that the Mumbai Airport project is likely to generate revenues for you from Q1 FY09 itself and you are likely to convey somewhere close to 50 odd acres of land for the same. How much do you expect to do in terms of that specific detail in Q1 FY09?

A: For the first quarter of 2009, the report says that we are going to convey 50 acres of land. The actual area of land that will be conveyed will be 40 acres. This land has been purchased at Kurla for a consideration of Rs 1,900 crore, which will be utilized for the Mumbai Airport rehabilitation project. TDR from that conveyance to Slum Rehabilitation Authority, or SRA, will be sold off in the first quarter of this financial year and that income will be booked once that is generated.

Q: The TDR that will be generated from that is close to 2.5 million sq ft. Am I on a ballpark figure?

A: I will give you those figures once we are very clear on the entire SRA policy. As far as conveyance of that land is concerned, the SRA policy is undergoing a change. There have been a few amendments that have been made by the government in the SRA policy. Once that is formulated, there is still some clarification pending from the Urban Development Department. Once that goes through, I will be able to give you that figure.

Q: You have increased the FII limit for your company. Any specific interest that foreign buyers would have shown that prompted you to do that?

A: Well there is interest and the company has taken that resolution. Whenever we feel that the time has come to increase the FII participation in the company, we will definitely take that forward.

Q: The Kolkata Knight Riders are out of the IPL league. Is that a disappointment? Does it mean you have written off the money you invested in there?

A: They played very well during this series now. We have got good brand mileage out of our association with the Kolkata Knight Riders. It is a disappointment that they will probably not make it to the semifinals but our association with them is going to be long-term, so we will take it each year as it comes.

Q: It is not a lesson that you learnt from and back Mumbai next time?

A: Some win, some lose.