Mumbai air pollution: Macrotech Developers warns that if big trucks are prohibited from entering the city, supply chain problems might arise

Mumbai air pollution: Macrotech Developers warns that if big trucks are prohibited from entering the city, supply chain problems might arise

Mumbai's air quality is mostly in compliance with the BMC's air pollution limits, according to Macrotech Developers.

After the country's financial hub's air quality deteriorated, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai's municipal authority, published anti-pollution directives for over 6,000 building sites in October.

Given the rising levels of air pollution in Mumbai, Macrotech Developers has warned that if heavy vehicle movement inside the city is discontinued in an attempt to reduce pollution, specific supply chain problems might arise. "There is a downside risk, but there is no impact on our construction schedule or spend," said Rajib Das, president of the listed real estate company that goes by the Lodha name in the Eastern Suburbs and Navi Mumbai. During the company's Q2FY24 earnings conference call, he was speaking.

After the country's financial center's air quality deteriorated, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Mumbai's municipal authority, released anti-pollution recommendations in October.

Furthermore, the BMC has started a campaign to penalize those who cause pollution while doing construction or demolition work. The BMC said on November 5 that penalties from violators over the course of three days, from November 3 to November 5, were Rs 4.71 lakh.

How this has affected real estate

According to Macrotech Developers, it complies with the BMC requirements for the most part. "I would argue that we mostly comply with them. .. However, if they prohibit heavy vehicle mobility inside the city to address pollution-related concerns, there's a chance that certain supply chain problems would arise, Das said.

Das emphasized that this would depend on whether or not the air quality was deemed severe.

"At this stage, I believes there is no impact on our construction timetable or spend, but there is a downside risk in the event the air quality crosses an upper limit that has been stated to be severe," Das noted.

Achieving environmental, social, and governance goals

Abhishek Lodha, director of operations of Macrotech Developers, expressed pride in the business's current position as the top-ranked real estate company in Asia and the second-ranked company globally based on reputable ESG indices during the call.

"As we look at issues around climate change and particular issues in our major cities around air quality along with pollution, this shows that it is very much conceivable in India to operate at the most advanced levels of ESG and still continue to accomplish long-term sustainable growth," Lodha said on the conference call.

Concerns about the Middle East crisis are widespread. 

Despite the ongoing unrest throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East, India's economy is growing steadily at what is obviously a very unstable time, according to Lodha. "After some early worries, we had a very good monsoon, and reports suggest that food output is at record levels. As a result, food inflation is beginning to decline and is probably going to do so in the future, according to Lodha.

Q2FY24 outcomes  

According to the corporation, it earned its highest pre-sales ever in the second quarter of the current financial year, which is also typically the weakest part of the year, at around Rs 35.3 billion.

Strong cash flows resulted from it, and we reduced our net debt to Rs 67.3 billion from Rs 5.4 billion. On an underlying pre-sales basis, our adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter was at almost 30 percent, which once again demonstrated the company's solid ongoing profitability," Lodha said.