NEW DELHI: Indian e-commerce site Snapdeal said yesterday it would sell real-estate online, partnering with the Tata conglomerate to supply “affordable housing” in what it says is the first such venture in the country.
E-Bay-backed Snapdeal and Tata Value Homes, part of the tea-to-steel Tata Group, will initially offer 1,000 units in seven projects spread over five cities — Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad.
Average costs for the apartments will range from Rs3.1m ($51,000) to Rs7m ($115,000), targeting India’s burgeoning and increasingly affluent middle-class.
The prices are still considered moderate as real estate prices have been soaring in Indian cities. Purchasers will be able to reserve apartments for a non-refundable down payment of Rs30,000 ($500).
“We’ve changed the way consumers shop (through e-commerce). Now we intend to change the way they buy their homes,” said Snapdeal founder Kunal Bahl.
“This is the first time an e-commerce site has got real estate as one of its categories in India,” Bahl told reporters.
Buying real estate in India is fraught with red-tape, concerns about building standards, authenticity of title deeds and other headaches. “We’ll take the worry out of this,” Bahl said.
Snapdeal, whose other investors include Singapore state-owned investment company Temasek and asset management firm BlackRock, calls itself India’s largest online marketplace with five million products in 500 categories.
Tata Value Homes, set up three years ago, is one of India’s fastest-growing real estate developers.
“We strongly believe India is ready to buy homes online,” said Brotin Banerjee chief executive of Tata Value Homes. India suffers from an acute housing shortage with some 19 million families lacking homes, according a 2012 housing ministry report.
India’s leading e-retail sites, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon, are battling to build up scale, adding warehouses, improving delivery times and widening product range, as Internet use soars in the country.
Last month, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, said it would invest $2bn in its Indian operations, a day after rival Flipkart got $1bn in investor loans.
AFP
