Mahindra War Room 2016

Realty & Infrastructure Business Caselet

MAHINDRA REALTY & INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR:

EVOLVING THE CO-SHARED HOME BUSINESS MODEL
Mahindras Realty & Infrastructure business comprises 3 major business verticals Mahindra Lifespaces, which builds and markets residential homes, and Mahindra World
City, which creates integrated business and industrial clusters, and Happinest which
develops affordable homes. This caselet pertains to evolving the Co-shared Homes
business model, based on the recent trend of co-shared work and lifespaces evolving
rapidly worldwide.
BUSINESS BACKGROUND
Mahindra Group first forayed into the Realty business in 1994, and subsequently reimagined its strategy in 1999 through the amalgamation of the erstwhile GESCO
Corporation with Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited (MLDL), with the dream of
transforming the way India lives and works in her extensive spaces. Mahindra
Lifespaces pioneered environmentally friendly construction in India, with a Green
Design-Healthy Living philosophy, that led to MLDL being the first company to receive
the Platinum rating from the Indian Green Building Council. MLDL has over 12.94
million sq. ft of completed residential and commercial constructions, with another 3.94
million sq. ft ongoing constructions and 5.51 million sq. ft forthcoming across Mumbai,
Pune, Delhi, NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru. Mahindra Lifespaces has also
recently pioneered Happinest brand of affordable homes offering high quality homes at
affordable prices.
In 2011, Mahindra Group created Mahindra World City Developers Limited (MWCDL), to
extend its goal of sustainable living to sustainable urbanisation, and tap the emerging
opportunity of integrated business cities where people can live, work and pursue a
livelihood. Mahindra World Cities were imagined as integrated business cities that
include Special Economic Zones, Industrial Parks, Residences, Schools, Medical
Centres, Retail Malls, Business Hotels, Recreational facilities, cultural facilities, sports
and Leisure facilities, with wide open green spaces. Currently, Mahindra World Cities
are operational at Chennai, Tamil Nadu (1550 acres) & Jaipur, Rajasthan (3000 acres),
housing more than 100 global corporations.
LIVE CHALLENGE: CO-SHARED HOMES BUSINESS MODEL
Looking at several socio-economic indicators, it would not be an overstatement to say
that India is in the cusp of a social and economic revolution. One of the youngest
countries in the world, with the average age of the population at 25 years, the country is

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Mahindra War Room 2016

Realty & Infrastructure Business Caselet

also one of the fastest growing open economies in the world with a large, unrealised
potential. With such a major revolution in the socio-economic sphere, the way future
Indians live and work is likely to drastically change in the next 10-20 years.
Historically, finding a home in a big city, for the young Indian unmarried migrant, has
been a big challenge. Reluctant to offer their homes to strangers, home owners have
either outright denied such tenants or enforced stringent rules that make life difficult for
this segment. Over the years, these home seekers have responded to these challenges
through informal arrangements. For example, in Mahindra World City, 3-6 young
software engineers take homes with 3 bedrooms on rent, with the common areas being
shared. In fact, their whole budget is worked out precisely, where one buys a
refrigerator, another buys the washing machine and so on. The arrangement has strict
rules as well, in the eventuality of anyone getting married or transferred. Expenses of
cook and maid are shared. But these are informal arrangements, largely among friends
or known people.
Simultaneously, this segment is growing up on different values, influenced by their
digital habits, higher levels of consumerism, and a demonstrated greater inclination to
live for today than save for tomorrow. The market has already witnessed a revolution in
the way these millennials choose to move around, with a distinct reduction in the
aspiration to own an automobile, while aggregators such as Uber and Ola clocking
more than a million rides a month.
The obvious question facing MLDL is: if this is happening to cars now, how long will it be
before it happens to living and work spaces? Historically, the Indian Dream has been
defined by Roti, Kapda & Makaan - owning a home, being an important aspirational
value. Indians of the past have been delighted to own a piece of land below their feet,
and worked for years towards that goal. Yet, internationally, new ideas like Wework is
gaining good acceptance, offering shared offices for start-ups. Emboldened by the
response, Wework is now trying WeLive - that offers a private space of 200 square feet
with a bed and bath, with the rest of the house being shared with 6-8 co-occupants. For
the young millennial migrant, the value proposition is compelling - would you rather live
in 600 sq. ft home that is a 1.5 hour commute from work, or co-live in a 200 sq. feet
home with other living spaces shared with more people? Would you like to live alone in
a traditional apartment or in a space that offers you the opportunity to interact and
exchange ideas with a diverse group of people. Would you like to live in the same
house or have the flexibility to move to new cities and towns without worrying about
where you live?
How will the new generation think and decide on their living spaces? Would they
like to actually own homes, or would they prefer to rent or co-live? How is the

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Realty & Infrastructure Business Caselet

market likely to shape up 10 years from now? The Auto Industry was caught unaware of
the disruption that the Ubers and Olas would bring. How can the Mahindra Lifespaces
plan proactively for this potential disruption in living? Can the current informal
arrangements by young millennials to find homes be formalised into a large,
profitable market? How are people likely to own and use living spaces in the
future? How will living change from the financial perspective and utilitarian quotient?
How are the patterns changing, and what opportunities arise from them? Is there
a business model for a demand aggregator solution in real estate? Would Indians
shift from ownership to co-sharing models? If so, up to what age or level? What
is the co-sharing business opportunity and how to make it work? Should Mahindra
create a platform where entire homes can be put into co-sharing? How will the
Ownership Vs. Rental Vs. Co-sharing scenarios play out? How should the living space
product be built keeping co-sharing in mind? What are private spaces, what are public
spaces, and how do people use both? Can Mahindra have a start-up which would
create a special market place for millennials to find a co-shared living spaces in
cities? What should the business model and brand of such a start-up be, and how
will it work? What can Mahindra learn from the experiences of WeWork and
WeLive in this space, both from their global and Indian initiatives?

Evaluate the Co-shared Living Space Opportunity in India, and evolve a strategy
for Mahindras Realty & Infrastructure Sector to pursue it.

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