(From left) Ankur Gupta, deputy general manager, Godrej Properties, executive director Pirojsha Godrej and vice-president (finance) Rajendra Khetawat in Calcutta on Monday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Dec. 7: The Godrej group has taken a fancy to affordable housing.

Godrej Properties — the realty arm of Godrej Industries Ltd — is planning to build houses in the range of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh per unit.

“We would like to take a shot at prices between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. The demand in the sub Rs 15-lakh (housing category) is unlimited. The opportunity there is very big,” Godrej Properties executive director Pirojsha Godrej said here today.

“We are studying the possibilities and will like to kick off very soon. Yes, it could be next year,” he said.

The project is likely to commence in Mumbai first and spread to tier-I and tier-II cities.

Godrej has a project near Calcutta having a starting price Rs 20 lakh. Its competitors in this segment are Tata Housing and Unitech.

Godrej Properties has developed 23 projects, 60 per cent of which are residential. At present, it is developing 82 million square feet of mixed-use space.

The company also plans to raise up to Rs 500 crore through an initial public offer to fund the projects and retire part of its debt.

The IPO will hit the capital market on Wednesday.

The company, which is present in 10 cities across the country and has around 25 projects, will enter the market with an issue size of 94.29 lakh equity shares, constituting 13.5 per cent of its post-issue paid-up capital.

Godrej has fixed a price band of Rs 490-530 per share and will raise Rs 499.8 crore at the upper end of the band.