Technology Can Speed Construction, Cut Costs, Make Labour More Efficient and Sustainable: Brigade Reap Propagate’23

Bengaluru, December 6, 2023: The Annual flagship event Propagate by Brigade REAP, real estate accelerator program with a focus on PropTech, echoed the sentiment that technology will play a vital role in the evolving real estate space.  Propagate 2023 seeks to propel innovation in the real estate ecosystem by promoting intelligent solutions that produce tangible results in support of positive climate action. 

Delivering the opening remarks, Nirupa Shankar, JMD, Brigade Group, said, “Over the last seven years, PropTech has grown quite significantly in the Indian market. Today startups in the PropTech space make for 6% of all startups in the country. Since January 2021 PropTech startups have raised around US $2.9 Billion and currently have four unicorns and ten ‘soonicorns’ – soon to become unicorns. PropTech funding has increased 49% with construction tech and sustainability gaining the most traction. In eighteen months prior to March 2023 alone, this space has received funding of   around USD $145 million. The real estate sector accounts for 39% of all global CO2 emissions, 30% of all energy costs and 20% of all water wastage. The focus of PropTech has shifted from B2C pure SaaS companies to B2B solutions moving from online marketplace and listings to shared economy to interior marketplaces, property management, fractional ownership to the current days offering in construction technology.”

A highlight of the day included a freewheeling session with Bengaluru’s real estate pioneers, Irfan Razack, Chairman and Managing Director Prestige Group and M R Jaishankar, Executive Chairman Brigade Group. They were of the opinion that the scope for real estate in India is unlimited as disposable incomes are on the rise and would soon double or triple and technology would play a vital role in speeding up construction, reducing costs and making labour more efficient and sustainable.

“India has got a huge amount of technology power and arbitrage advantage. With the country currently being in a sweet spot, adoption and spend in technology is set to grow faster than the GDP rate. As of now, construction technology is in its nascency. There is an urgent need to triple investments in technology and encourage startups in this segment,” said MR Jaishankar, Executive Chairman Brigade Group.

“We need to be extremely passionate to grow. While technology enables us to increase the scale of work, we should use technology responsibly for the benefit of all. Technology will largely decide the future of the real estate sector as we go forward. We need to use technology effectively with regard to ESG as well and adopt it more aggressively,” said Irfan Razack, Chairman and Managing Director, Prestige Group. 

Deliberating on the technology that startups should focus on going forward, Pavitra Shankar, MD, Brigade Group said, “The real estate scenario has transformed. Transparency reigns, information is abundant, and drone videos guide us through projects. At Brigade we use technology extensively for virtual site visits, we deploy drone technology to monitor project progress, and for sustainability. What would be interesting would be a technology that would revolutionize land records and bring in complete transparency.”

Expressing his view Ashish Puravankara, MD, Puravankara Group said, “Technology can play a crucial role in streamlining multiple applications to estimate true cost of construction and quantities into one application. It can also help immensely in management of air quality, water and various other factors. PropTech is a marathon not a sprint so startups should focus on the long run for desired results.”