PN Mishra, the executive director of Ansal API group, has had a long and illustrious career. In a freewheeling interview with Millennium Post, he reveals all about new projects and more. Here are excerpts:
Tell us about your journey...
Before joining Ansal API Group in 1998, I worked in diverse fields. I joined Allahabad University as a lecturer after completing my studies in hydro dynamics, worked with DRDO and thereafter I was selected by the Public Service Commission and joined the Civil Services in Uttar Pradesh where I worked as vice president, Ghaziabad Development Authority managing urban development. While working as a civil servant, I studied development of huge townships in the Bartlett School of Planning and Architecture, London.
What are the major projects Ansal API is currently involved in?
At the moment Ansal API is working on two huge projects in Uttar Pradesh. One is in Lucknow which is already taking shape (Sushant Golf City). This township is being developed as a hi-tech residential township spread across 3,500 acres and is surrounded by an 18-hole international-standard golf course. It has golf villas, schools, institutions, malls and commercial space to meet every need.
The second hi-tech township is being developed near Dadri, UP and then there are several integrated townships that we are working on in Agra, Meerut and Ghaziabad.
Ansal API is dedicated to develop self-sustaining townships that are environment friendly. Rain water harvesting is key for all our townships. Natural resources are judicially used and preserved in their natural form and sewer lines are properly treated. We believe that power, drinking water and security are three basic things that a person needs to live and we provide that 24X7.
What are your plans for the hospitality sector?
These are allied activities. Like, in Lucknow, we are developing an 18-hole golf course in collaboration with a chain of five-star hotels. Golf today is an international sport which attracts many tourists. So if we organise a golf tournament of international stature, the hotels are bound to be filled.
Also, these hotel chains are a way of creating employment. So while our projects are meant to provide the experience of living the good life; creating employment is also a big part of our townships.
What are Ansal Group's corporate social responsibility initiatives?
Under the leadership of our Chairman, Sushil Ansal, Ansal API Group is continuously involved in several CSR initiatives. The Chiranjiv Charitable Trust, set up in 1976, currently runs schools in Palam Vihar and Sushant Lok in Gurgaon and has over 6,000 students. Ansal Institute of Technology (AIT) in Gurgaon has been running since 2000 in collaboration with many international universities.
We also support NGOs like Shanty Sahayog and Ila Trust in their healthcare programmes in and around Delhi for the last five years by providing free medical treatment and medicines. In order to encourage Hindi writers and literature, Ansal API Group has been supporting the literary organisation Samvad .
What is your take on farmers opposing the new Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill?
The bill has already been implemented by us in the form of a workshop. We have purchased more than 3,000 acres of land in Lucknow without any litigation or acquisition, and neither have we faced any farmer’s ire as we treat them as our partners. As far as hi-tech township policies are concerned, we have not faced any trouble from the farmers’ side in UP either.
What are the changes that you have seen in the real estate sector and how do you foresee the development in this industry?
Our country has grown at a rapid pace and is on the path of becoming a world-class destination.
India’s asset lies in today’s youth. As a developing nation, our effort should be to transform them into well-educated individuals in order to accomplish greater goals and this can only be achieved by strengthening our education system. There is a dire need to create centres of excellence and invest time and money in researches to come out with more innovations.
As far as real estate sector is concerned, it is a very hopeful picture that I see in the future, especially with the money getting pumped into the economy and the country doing so well.
Any plans for further expansions or investment?
We have a wide and strong presence in UP and have big townships in most of northern India. We also have a fair presence in states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. Our world-class facilities in all our townships help us boost the economy.
Tell us about your journey...
Before joining Ansal API Group in 1998, I worked in diverse fields. I joined Allahabad University as a lecturer after completing my studies in hydro dynamics, worked with DRDO and thereafter I was selected by the Public Service Commission and joined the Civil Services in Uttar Pradesh where I worked as vice president, Ghaziabad Development Authority managing urban development. While working as a civil servant, I studied development of huge townships in the Bartlett School of Planning and Architecture, London.
What are the major projects Ansal API is currently involved in?
At the moment Ansal API is working on two huge projects in Uttar Pradesh. One is in Lucknow which is already taking shape (Sushant Golf City). This township is being developed as a hi-tech residential township spread across 3,500 acres and is surrounded by an 18-hole international-standard golf course. It has golf villas, schools, institutions, malls and commercial space to meet every need.
The second hi-tech township is being developed near Dadri, UP and then there are several integrated townships that we are working on in Agra, Meerut and Ghaziabad.
Ansal API is dedicated to develop self-sustaining townships that are environment friendly. Rain water harvesting is key for all our townships. Natural resources are judicially used and preserved in their natural form and sewer lines are properly treated. We believe that power, drinking water and security are three basic things that a person needs to live and we provide that 24X7.
What are your plans for the hospitality sector?
These are allied activities. Like, in Lucknow, we are developing an 18-hole golf course in collaboration with a chain of five-star hotels. Golf today is an international sport which attracts many tourists. So if we organise a golf tournament of international stature, the hotels are bound to be filled.
Also, these hotel chains are a way of creating employment. So while our projects are meant to provide the experience of living the good life; creating employment is also a big part of our townships.
What are Ansal Group's corporate social responsibility initiatives?
Under the leadership of our Chairman, Sushil Ansal, Ansal API Group is continuously involved in several CSR initiatives. The Chiranjiv Charitable Trust, set up in 1976, currently runs schools in Palam Vihar and Sushant Lok in Gurgaon and has over 6,000 students. Ansal Institute of Technology (AIT) in Gurgaon has been running since 2000 in collaboration with many international universities.
We also support NGOs like Shanty Sahayog and Ila Trust in their healthcare programmes in and around Delhi for the last five years by providing free medical treatment and medicines. In order to encourage Hindi writers and literature, Ansal API Group has been supporting the literary organisation Samvad .
What is your take on farmers opposing the new Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill?
The bill has already been implemented by us in the form of a workshop. We have purchased more than 3,000 acres of land in Lucknow without any litigation or acquisition, and neither have we faced any farmer’s ire as we treat them as our partners. As far as hi-tech township policies are concerned, we have not faced any trouble from the farmers’ side in UP either.
What are the changes that you have seen in the real estate sector and how do you foresee the development in this industry?
Our country has grown at a rapid pace and is on the path of becoming a world-class destination.
India’s asset lies in today’s youth. As a developing nation, our effort should be to transform them into well-educated individuals in order to accomplish greater goals and this can only be achieved by strengthening our education system. There is a dire need to create centres of excellence and invest time and money in researches to come out with more innovations.
As far as real estate sector is concerned, it is a very hopeful picture that I see in the future, especially with the money getting pumped into the economy and the country doing so well.
Any plans for further expansions or investment?
We have a wide and strong presence in UP and have big townships in most of northern India. We also have a fair presence in states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. Our world-class facilities in all our townships help us boost the economy.