Gulshan Nagpal- Three Decades Of Nurturing Development

Gulshan Dynasty Will Be the Best Luxury Project in the entire Delhi-NCR 

Over the last about three decades of its inception, in 1989, Noida- based Gulshan Homz (now rechristened as Gulshan in 2020) has come a long way to create a big name for it in the Delhi-NCR real estate market. From a humble beginning as a developer of luxury bungalows to affordable to making a mark  as a luxury housing & commercial  player, real estate business has come full   circle for the Gulshan Group. Having done 6.7 msft of developments, Gulshan is entering into a high growth phase, with 1.9 million sqft of developments planned for 2022. While its flagship luxury project, ‘Gulshan Dynasty’ set for early delivery, Gulshan has upped its ante on luxury housing by entering into a joint venture with Jaypee Group for two luxury housing projects. It has also planned its expansion into commercial real estate besides entering into newer segments of hospitality and education. In this exclusive interview with Torbit Realty, Gulshan Nagpal, Chairman of Gulshan Group talks about three decades of successful journey and the future roadmap for the group. Excerpts.   Vinod Behl    

Having made its mark as a residential real estate player in the NCR, Gulshan Homz has now forayed into commercial real estate with Gulshan 129. Will you now be repositioning your brand? 

We have now removed ‘homz’ from our name. Earlier, our brand was called Gulshan Homz and now it is simply called Gulshan. It is very well thought of move because we now want to enter other sectors as well, namely hospitality, commercial, and maybe education later on. We will however continue to be in the residential sector. So, we consciously undertook this exercise to remove ‘homz’ from our company’s name and now our brand will be known as Gulshan.

Going forward, what will be your specific brand strategy?

Our strategy will remain the same. We have to serve our customers from the core of our heart. We have to keep delivering quality, keep giving after-sales service and keep taking care of our customers. This is our core value.  We also plan to stick to the luxury segment.

You have been basically into affordable housing segment. What really prompted you to get into luxury housing? 

Since the beginning, we wanted to be in the luxury real estate. There was a time when the market demanded it but we did not want to enter into luxury segment at that time because affordable housing was then driving the real estate market in Noida. But ever since my daughter Yukti joined us in 2014, she had been insisting on entering into luxury segment. Initially, I took her lightly. But she was persistent in her belief that getting into luxury segment would pay us rich dividends. So, one day when she again reiterated that we must focus on luxury segment, I asked her to undertake a proper market research as it won’t be easy to sell luxury homes. She took it as a challenge and after doing a thorough research, she finally concluded that luxury housing was a niche segment, and nobody was doing luxury there because everybody was thinking just like me – contended to be in the demand – driven affordable housing segment. She averred that we must think out of box. By chance at that time, we had this piece of land where Gulshan Dynasty stands now. We were just thinking what project we should launch there. Though market was bad at that time, yet after Yukti’s insightful market research, we felt it was only fair to give a chance to this young girl who had been propagating luxury housing for long. And since there was no player in the market to fulfill demand for luxury housing, we took a calculated risk to enter luxury housing market. Touchwood, it again proved to be a turning point in the journey of Gulshan, all thanks to Yukti.

How does your brand stand out in terms of luxury residential development?

We had been delivering quality far superior than other players in the affordable housing segment. Our offerings were much better than the standard affordable homes. You can say quality wise, our offerings matched the affordable luxury segment.  We were very good in delivering quality and equally good in after-sales service. So, going to the next level was not very difficult. We just changed the specifications, the size of the units, and we made it a higher ticket size. Since the market research was there with us, it was easy for us to clearly understand what homebuyers wanted. Our research helped us deliver more than what any other developer could deliver in terms of amenities.

If you look at Dynasty, it has numerous unique things to offer. For instance, mostly pets are not taken care of in a group housing society.   We designed a specially assigned luxurious area for pets. Besides, with a provision for a separate entry and exit for the service personnel, we are able to maintain decorum.   Moreover, these are first-of-its-kind wellness homes. What we have done is that we have added wellness to the luxury. Gulshan Dynasty offers some state-of-the-art amenities to its residents like an all-new concept of hydroponic farming for organic produce, yoga pyramids, dedicated sunbathing area, meditation ground, rooftop cinema and more than 450 plus varieties of medicinal plants. We have added hydroponics, and health on top of everything. No developer has thought about wellness the way we envisioned that it can be made an integral part of the group housing society. So, a person living in this society will find wellness all around him/her.

What has been the response from the buyers?

I think today if you talk about Gulshan as a brand, after Dynasty, we are 10 notches above. This is what people were looking for. This kind of luxury was not defined and it was simply not there in the market. But certainly, it was at the back of the mind of home seekers. So, when they saw it happening, they simply lapped it up. And that has paid rich dividends to us. We were looking for something different a, unique and unmatched. The dream of my daughter Yukti that Gulshan should be the most premium developer of North India, if not of the whole of India, is now going to come true.