Sila Group to expand footprint in India

Keen to strengthen its base in operations, services and fund management businesses in real estate

Hyderabad: Sila Group, which serves 250 corporates with a wide range of real estate and facilities management services in multiple locations across India, is seeing growth opportunities in serving manufacturing, industrial, warehousing, IT, airports, real estate and co-working space sectors.

The company also sees opportunities to get into home financing in a couple of years. It will strengthen its base in operating, services and fund management businesses, going forward. Sila wants to deepen its activities in India before exploring overseas markets.

Rushabh Vora, co-founder and director, Sila, told Telangana Today, “When we established Sila in 2010, our focus was on facilities management. We realised there are a lot of American companies that are operating at scale in India that have global processes and systems, and there was a market gap in terms of facilities management. There was demand in commercial, industrial, residential and warehousing sectors. We wanted to build a fully integrated technology-enabled facilities management company, and gradually established our presence in about 85 cities across India, and built a strong base in the west and south, and are making significant forays into the north region now.”

He added, “We are serving large airports of India, manufacturing companies, large IT and ITeS offices and several gated communities. We are filling RFPs for more airports and there is a good opportunity here. We are seeing new opportunities to cater to ports with robotic sweeping machines and other technologies. We have also built our clientele in Hyderabad, particularly in the IT and e-commerce corporate space.”

Sila ventured into project management and execution, besides building a contracting business unit. Rushabh Vora said, “We have also got into technical due diligence for capital providers be it NBFCs or global real estate funds covering cost schedule, budget, timelines and approvals.”

Sahil Vora, founder and MD, Sila, said, “We see sectors such as co-working will present new opportunities in future. A lot of corporates are drawing their work strategy amid the Covid pandemic, and they are looking for flexible spaces.”

Major milestones

Sila, as a real estate platform, has been managing over 65 million sq ft of assets over the last decade with over 6,500 employees, pan-India. In 2019, the company ventured into real estate development.

“Our brownfield development strategy is to align with NBFCs/funds and provide solutions on stressed situations within their portfolios. SILA’s development arm is currently involved in 6-8 lakh sq ft of real estate, which has seen good traction in the last 1-2 years. The company has enabled over $500 million real estate transactions. Our focus is currently on the Mumbai market. Norwest Venture Partners and Samara Capital Group have invested in the services and development businesses, respectively,” informed Sahil Vora.

Hyderabad market

On Hyderabad potential, Sahil Vora said, “Hyderabad has been a strong growth market in commercial real estate development. Locations such as Gachibowli have a lot of activity. Several large commercial developers will weather the storm despite the pandemic-induced challenges. Telangana government is also ensuring faster clearances, which is a plus for Hyderabad real estate. Cost of living is less in Hyderabad, and this will continue to attract more investments.”

Rushabh added, “Hyderabad has shown exponential growth in the facilities management in the last 12-18 months. We have signed up with large corporate offices and are seeing some momentum in the residential sector as well.”

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