Al Fara’a Group’s Indian arm delivers 27 prestigious projects within a short span of 6 years, under the proficient headship of 35 years old magnate, Nitesh Gangaramani, a qualified and experienced professional with comprehensive multifunctional exposure in management and operations. Having done his bachelors in civil engineering from Mumbai University, a postgraduate diploma in construction management from NICMAR, Project Management Professional from USA, and finished his MBA from Manchester University UK. Possess excellent working skills and knowledge together with good communication and interpersonal traits, talent for problem solving and proven ability to work in highly professional environment with multi-cultural people. He spearheads the Indian operations for the group.
In an exclusive Interview with India Unbound, Mr. Nitesh Gangaramani shared his childhood, his family, his professional life, his accomplishments and success stories.
He also shared his opinions on working of government, PM’s decision of Denomination of currency and its effect.
Please brief us about Al Fara’a Group.
Actually the ‘Al’ Means The and ‘Fara’a’ means Big so it’s The Big. When we started in India, we were doing just one project and today we have an order book close to Rs. 2,500 Crores, turnover standing at 650 Crores, staff strength of over 1200 people and our growth rate has been consistent at 50% year-on-year. Over the last 6 years, Al Fara’a Infraprojects Pvt. Ltd. and Belgium Aluminium And Glass Industries Pvt. Ltd. have built a solid reputation in the construction industry with an admirable record of accomplishment of sustained growth and delivering quality projects on time to their valued clients. We are proud to announce that we bagged our first Government Project, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) 570 crores SEZ at Uran, Navi Mumbai. Honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of this ambitious project which will double the capacity of the country’s largest container port in next two years. The port aspires to be among the top 15 of the world with the implementation of several infrastructure projects, including the fourth terminal, at present it is ranked 31st. This is a specialized job spread over 700 acres of land which involves infrastructure activities of levelling the land, storm water drains, building roads and electrical works. We have employed renowned Spectrum Techno Consultants on this project and our PVD material installation will be carried out on a Singapore based technology where we will see that there is zero settlement of land. It’s a very challenging opportunity for us as it is our first government job and we have set internal targets to complete the work in less than 30 months.
Please tell us about your childhood days and your family background?
I was born and raised in a middle class background. My father served the Reserve Bank of India as a Senior Banker and Mother has been a Homemaker. I am really very fortunate to have proud parents, as they really took good care of me and have influenced me towards spirituality and wellbeing traits of how I should lead my life being a strong warrior and efficiently manage and lead this life as an example for others. Since childhood, I was very ambitious and used to read magazines like Business Standard, Forbes and Business Week during my school days. I always aimed for the sky and believed that target should always be set higher than where you cannot reach easily, as Bill Gates said, “I don’t wait for an opportunity to come, and I continuously keep jumping so that I can grab one”. So life will continuously throw challenges on you, it depends on how you act upon them. I am very grateful to God as I have grown gradually from a middle class background to where I stand today and feel there is a lot to achieve, as life is full of learnings. I thank my parents and uncle for all the efforts they have put behind me”.
Please tell us about your Education details and honors you have received throughout your career.
Having brought up in Mumbai after completing my Bachelors in Civil Engineering from Mumbai University, I completed my MBA in Construction Management and Finance from the Manchester University, UK along with Post Graduate Diploma in Construction Management from NICMAR. Also I did one-year project management program PMP from USA. I have been highly instrumental in setting up operations of the group in India and head the same by closely involving myself. I am brilliantly updated about the happenings in the construction industry and throughout my career hav been conferred with various awards and recognitions like “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” by Estate Awards in the year 2012, “Best Construction Executive of the Year” by Estate Awards in the year 2013, “Indian Leadership Award for Industrial Development” by All India Achiever’s Foundation this year to name a few for my achievements in the construction arena. Moreover, Belgium Aluminum and Glass Industries was awarded the Runner up award for Façade Contractor of the Year – 2014, 2015 and 2016 at the Construction Week India Awards. Also, Al Fara’a Infraprojects was awarded the “Best Contracting Firm of the Year” in 2013 by Tata Housing for La Montana project at Talegaon in terms of quality, safety and progress.
How was your experience of Site Engineer in your initial days of career?
After completing my graduation in B. E. Civil Engineering in the year 2004 from Mumbai University I worked as a Site Engineer for a year with a Mumbai based developer. I started my journey as an employee and it was a very challenging project as we had sold flats and every customer was after us for the delivery of the project. I was very good in planning as that used to my strength, though my experience was nil, my planning skills helped me deliver that project very fast. Those were very hard days for me, as I had a very tough boss who ensured that I could capture all the execution capabilities of delivering a project. Now when I relate to my present situation of where I stand as a Director, I can relate to the common problems what an employee goes through. It brings maturity in you and helps you relate to their day to day affairs more positively.
In Picture: Mr. Nitesh Gangaramani with the Vice President of CRCC, Mr. Huang Jianmin
How you entered into Al Fara’a Group and what are your achievements in this time span?
I had fiery instinct futuristic outlook, indomitable will and burning passion when I left for UAE to work in my Uncle’s business. I was very fortunate and blessed to be working directly under my Uncle who is none other than Padmashree Dr. J. R. Gangaramani. I blindly followed him as my Mentor and Guru. He had organized a very strict training program for myself and his two daughters wherein he created programs and exams for all the verticals of his business which comprises of contracting, ready-mix concrete, electromechanical, precast, steel structures, aluminum and glazing structures and oil & gas. His onsite training really helped me to grasp things much faster. My Trainers were the Senior Employees, Associates of the company who had extensive years of experience in the industry. I got an opportunity to learn a lot from them.
I was fortunate that Dubai was turning as an emerging market during those years and Al Fara’a didn’t have much presence in Dubai. I took this as an opportunity and spoke to my Uncle about the same, providentially, he agreed to it, and myself and my cousin sister, Natasha joined hands to start Property Development arm of Al Fara’a Group. We both started with a very humble beginning with first trading buying and selling of properties, as we required huge cash for investment in land. My foresight and ability to judge helped us to lock in couple of deals that resulted in generation of positive cash wherein we were able to purchase a land in Jumeirah Village South, Dubai. Our project was named as Le Grand Chateau, which won many awards including the prestigious CNBC award for “Best Property of the Year”. It was our first flagship project in the UAE and we delivered it one year ahead of the schedule. The master developer Nakheel also awarded us for this project. After that, there was no looking back, we grew in leaps and bounds and had close to 27 projects all around Dubai. We reached to achieve a portfolio of over 2 Billion Dollars. We earned the valuable trust of almost all our investors and customers, as we could help them multiply their wealth with us. We were one of the top 5 leading developers in Dubai within a span of less than 3 years. The total portfolio was of 15 million square feet of development comprising of residential, commercial and retail spaces.
After years of experience in Dubai, how difficult it was for you to survive in India?
One fine day, after doing extensive research on how to go about setting up Al Fara’a’s operations in our home country, India as well, I put forward a proposal in front of Dr. Gangaramani. He always had the trust, faith and confidence in me, so he threw a challenge towards me and said that you have to bag a project on your own merits and credibility, take mobilization advance from it and manage and run the operation from that. He was trying to test my patience and ¬¬build my self-confidence towards this mission. I had left India 6 years ago, therefore, not much connections were active at that moment, as I was totally occupied and busy in UAE. I took up his challenge and moved to India in the year 2010. Initially, I had to struggle and convince people for winning the projects as everyone had few genuine questions for me, for instance, what is your experience in India, how will you be able to deliver when you have no experience to work in India. It took me around 6 months of struggle to bag my first project with Patel Realty and Patel Engineering for their upcoming township in Bengaluru, Electronic City, Neo Town. We signed our first contract for INR 36 Crores, this made our Chairman feel very proud and happy, and thereafter, he extended me his full support and co-operation.
What is Al Fara’a Group’s philosophy for benefit of customers?
Exceeding client’s expectations is our primary purpose and for this we engage with our clients to understand their needs. We engineer values through transforming creative thinking into reality. We work fast to deliver successfully and take great pride in the number of repeat clients which is a true measure of our achievements. The Al Fara’a Group is dedicated to delivery of world-class turnkey solutions to its stakeholders in partnership with its clients, consultants and the government. We achieve this through adhering to the highest standards of safety, quality and environmentally centric practices while completing the projects on time and within budget. Our success stems from our policies to continuously invest in technological capabilities and innovation to ensure market adaptability. We are dedicated to empowering employees to warrant their professional growth with rewarding careers. Al Fara’a’s vision is to be the clients’ first choice in turnkey solutions for specialized and integrated construction requirements across the World.
Adhiraj “Samyama” Residential Township, Taloja, Navi Mumbai
Which are the Core Values on which Al Fara’a firmly believes?
Al Fara’a Group’s strength grows from a distinct culture that is founded on the core values of the business, known as the 8 Es:
Ethics – Ethics and integrity in all that we do.
Exceeding Expectations – Exceeding expectations is our primary resolution.
Excellence – We are what we repeatedly do, excellence is not an act but a habit.
Entrepreneurship – We take ownership of the projects with which we have been entrusted.
Empowering Employees – Our employees are our greatest asset.
Emphasis of Quality – We are passionate about delivering quality results.
Ensuring Safety – Providing a safe and hazard free work place is an absolute priority.
Environmental and Social Responsibility – We are sensitive to the local needs of the environment, our stakeholders and the communities where we live and work.
In your view what is the one change that the industry needs?
The industry has to overcome a number of challenges on its path of advancement. Recent experiences of several new mega projects are clear indicators that the industry is poised for a bright future, however, on the technological front, the picture is abysmally low. The country has not invested adequately into making technical human resources capable of addressing the professional services needs of the construction industry like litigation, training of artisans, cost indices, contracting, insurance, finance, banking and taxation. On the engineering design front, education of the practicing engineers has not been adequately augmented from time to time with in-house or distance education modules.
We need to bring in new construction technologies in the industry. For instance, we are working on a proposal for the affordable housing segment where we are in talks with the Maharashtra and Karnataka Governments to bring in this technology called Plast Wall Building System, which is a unique fibre reinforcement cast in place and permanent concrete formwork, and replaces costly steel aluminium and plywood formworks. It increases the site production by as much as 300%, requires significantly lower skilled labor to build quality concrete homes and buildings.
In what manner is the Al Fara’a Group is different in infrastructure industry?
We don’t want to compete with anyone. Our mission is to become clients End to End Solution Provider where we are looking at timely delivery, quality, and safety. So we are not a volume driven company. We have our foremen from UAE who have worked with us for more than 35 years. We brought them in India and now are training the labors at site. This training is helping us in productivity at sites. Also, we are coming with our training and development center in Panvel.
Where do you see Al Fara’a Group in the next 5 years?
In the next 5 years, with our continuous and sincere efforts in developing the brand properly and maintaining the improvement in client satisfaction, we aim to achieve at least 5% market share in the Indian Market and bring-in significant changes in construction by examining technological trends and their effect on the entire construction sector. Having surpassed a turnover of Rs. 650 Crores with a strong team of experts and managers, besides state-of-the-art technology and an array of sophisticated plants and machineries, we look forward to be an industry leader and a market-driven engineering construction company renowned for excellence, quality, performance and reliability.
JNPT SEZ, Nhavasheva
What are the challenges faced by developers now a days? Real Estate Market is also down and Denomination of currency is also there.
I think it’s a temporary phase, for next 6 month situation is going to be hard. People were not used to this so it will take some time for the sentiments to come back to gain have faith in the system. But I feel it’s a good move and it will bring a lot of transparency in the system. Yes now the real estate market is down but in long run it is a boon.
What is the difference you see in the previous government and current government in your (developer) prospective?
Previous government was also good but there were lots of issues in previous government which developers were facing in terms of approvals, system. But current government is trying to make everything online. So lots of files will be submitted online. It will help us in getting accountability in our system. In Dubai within 21 days you get approval for your project. So I feel it’s a good move.
Developers are forced in to civil litigations that take time, energy and money, what measures should the government take to ease that pain?
I feel our judiciary system is very weak. I really request Hon. PM to help us in seeing how we could improve our judiciary system. In construction industry we don’t have much Litigation with anybody because we work with clients like Lodha, Tata Housing, Prestige, Sushil Mantri L and T and many premium clients. But I think we should bring some check and control mechanism in Judiciary system.
What strategies have you opted for to enter the Infrastructure Sector?
We had more experience in Building Construction, however, our Senior Management has a background of infrastructure. We have made strategic partnerships with top companies. Al Fara’a Infraprojects has collaborated with Hyundai Development Company (HDC), Korea for the purpose of joint bidding and execution projects for various Government and Private employers related to Residential and Commercial Institutions, Housing and Townships, Campus Buildings, IT Parks, Malls and Multiplexes in India. Also, we have collaborated with China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) for various infrastructure opportunities in India. These prospects include the construction of Metros, Highways, Roads, Bridges, Via Duct, etc.
During my recent visit to Beijing, China at their Head Quarters, I was successful in signing a Memorandum of Understating with CRCC for partnership in India for all infrastructure projects. CRCC – the Vanguard of ‘One Belt and One Road’ is an ultra large construction enterprise that enjoyed a turnover of 100 Billion Dollars during the last financial year and is supposedly the 5th largest construction company in the world. It is a specialized and an over qualified organization to take up any construction assignment across the globe.
Monarch Aqua, K. R. Puram, Bengaluru
Please tell us about any of your prestigious project and also the challenges faced while executing the same.
Yes, we were awarded a very complex design project at New Cuffe Parade, Wadala, Mumbai. It’s a Commercial Tower consisting of 4 Basements + Ground + 40 Floors by Lodha Developers. This project is one of its kind and unique in nature in terms of design and from architectural point of view. The entire building is enclosed in by RCC columns and cross beams like a web, which are being constructed outside the line of regular slab outer surfaces. Construction of such a kind of architectural design is technically challenging due to its height, varying shapes at different levels and along with reckli form liner, which gives a unique texture after concreting. All Formwork Material order was placed on time to get the material at site 4 months prior to the planned date of casting so as to install form liners and to do proper Mockup before execution. Columns were tapered in shape from Ground Floor to L3 level. L3 Floor to L4 Floor Columns are in “V” shape and L4 Floor to L5 Floor they are in “A” shape. Moreover, the shape of 4 corner columns of the building is like the Snake’s Crest or Hood, with standing height of 20 m from ground level for which staging work is one of the daunting and challenging one. The requirement of cup lock material was 12000 Nos. of Vertical of 2.5 M and 30000 Ledgers of 1.2 M. Huge construction load limited the cup lock to a maximum grid of 600 X 600 for which two towers of 1200 X 1200 were erected one inside the other. Tower area and Non Tower Area’s 4 Basements were completed in conventional formwork and above Ground Floor it is to be completed in Aluminum Formwork. The concrete used was of M70 Grade and was temperature controlled. The rate of rise was restricted to 3 cum/hr. We had to utilize both, concrete pump and bucket for pouring of concrete constrained to the irregular shape. Back-propping was required at all Levels to take the entire construction load straight to the Raft.
In your opinion PM’s decision of denomination of currency good or bad? Have it affected your business in any case?
We are the company who has been working on digital payments and cheque payment so for us it has not affected much. But I think It is going to be a short term effect for common people as transactions will get some time to happen. I think it is a good move as fake money is creating disturbance in GDP and whole financial economy. Decision not to be taken is worst decision, so we must support his decision. It is a very bold step for PM. He has a vision and he is not working for money. I agree that people suffered a lot due to this decision but this today’s pain will be tomorrow’s gain. Banking interest will go down, the lending power for the bank will increase, home loan rates will come down, so all this will help buyer.
How do you spend your leisure time?
I have a couple of best friends whom I spend time with on my weekends, I love playing badminton and am a member at the MCA Club Bandra so visit there frequently for swimming, badminton and squash. I enjoy running a lot every day morning I run and sprint for about 10 kms as it increases my adrenaline level high all throughout the day.
What is your view on today’s young generation who wanted to become businessman like you?
Never work for money, money is byproduct it will come. Do what you love and be committed and honest to yourself. Never ever cheat yourself. Success doesn’t go without hard work and success has no finish line. We have to keep our best and have faith and believe in ourselves.
What message you want to give to youngster, who wants to become a businessman?
Do your work best and don’t work for results. Results are bound to come may be today or tomorrow. If you work with good heart, you will be successful.