Niranjan Hiranandani: We Build Better Communities

"Each morning when I come into the office, I'm brimming with energy, ready to move on from one meeting to the other. When they ask me how I manage to do so much at 64, I smile; what can I say, It's simply passion: for life and for Hiranandani."

At Hiranandani, we've always worked at striking the perfect balance between 'structure' and 'nature'. I believe good and healthy living is the direct result of a fine attunement with nature. With this in mind, we turned our most prolific project, Hiranandani Gardens at Powai into a distinguished green community. It remains, to date, one of Mumbai's most coveted landmarks encompassing over 250 acres, and has truly changed the topography of barren Powai forever. Twenty seven years ago, no one thought we could make a township in the quarry land of Powai with no access to road. But we did it, with belief in our vision, a remarkable strategy, trust imposed in us by our residents and an undying passion for building signature addresses.

BLOCK BY BLOCK

Way back in 1978, I, at the age of 26, ventured into the real estate business along with my brother with a capital of just As 25,000 and projects amounting to 7,000 sq feet, which at that time seemed to be magnanimous. Thereafter, we've never looked back, for me, what matters is how much more effort I put in at work than I did yesterday and how much more will I do tomorrow, than I did today. A constant desire to improve no matter what the situation and to weigh one-self against his/ her own benchmarks is what makes Hiranandani a league apart.

Today, after 36 years, we're proud to have served over 50,000 customers who've bought our apartments and even more who made fortunes by investing in our properties early on. The acknowledgement that we, as a company, have been instrumental in shaping a thou-sand success stories, makes us bow with humility.

Hiranandani has grown incrementally and not exponentially. It has all been a part of value creation. Our growth since 1978 has been characterized by a lot of hard work, struggle and an unforgiving spirit that kept delivering landmark projects, each time, exceeding expectations - providing residents with a school, a hospital and a community center at a time when they'd not expect anything beyond a club house.

SCULPTING THE BRAND ONE PROJECT AT A TIME

At Hiranandani, the vision and the mission of the company evolved over time. For instance, when I finished 11 buildings in Lokhandwala complex, I looked out of the balcony of one of my apartments and was shocked at the terrible sight of buildings opposite to mine. So though my buildings were wonderful, ones around them weren't a happy sight. So it was kind of upsetting that the residents of my buildings will have to make do with a repulsive neighborhood. That's when I realized that I needed to create an atmosphere of my own that would be beautiful and self sufficient in its own way. Thus, we zeroed in on the concept of fully-equipped lifestyle townships.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

It wasn't a very smooth ride though. I think when one's young, one tends to be overly positive about everything that comes one's way. I made thousands of mistakes, enough to be compiled into a big, fat novel. But then, in the balance sheet of life, one's aim must be to make more rights than wrongs. Fortunately my sheet has been neat so far!

Every day is a challenge at the office, and having been tasked with the responsibility of overseeing 17 colleges, over 10 schools, two hospitals and three ten plus, along with being the troubleshooter at Hiranandani Developers, I'm constantly on my toes. But then again, that's the best part isn't it? To always be on the move and to fall in love with the moment, each time, every time.

HIRANANDANI TO ME IS ABOUT... Creation, commitment, excellence, ideas, passion, participation and much more. It's a blend of all these that make it what it is today. As a brand, it actually delivers value at the end of the day.

My vision for Mumbai: I would like to see that every slum is re-housed in Mumbai. Through Hiranandani, I'd like to create afford-able housing in the city on a large scale and also, at the same time I'd like to provide enough skill development to the idle workforce of India so as to turn them into a force that actually gets paid more than the graduates of the world.

He is best known for his incredibly popular books on business, including 'Boards That Deliver', 'What the Ceo Wants You to Know', 'Boards At Work' among others. Besides writing,