India’s Land Market Is Evolving Beyond Speculation, Says Bhaarat Wealth Group CEO Sahil Marshall

New Delhi: India’s land market is undergoing a structural shift as rapid urbanisation, infrastructure expansion and economic activity create new growth corridors across the country. While emerging locations are attracting growing investor interest, identifying genuine opportunities requires a closer look at transaction activity, infrastructure development, master plans and land-use dynamics. In an exclusive interaction, Sahil Marshall, CEO, Bhaarat Wealth Group, discusses how India’s evolving land markets can be assessed through data and on-ground signals, the risks investors need to consider, and why he believes technology and digitised land records could make land investing more systematic and research-driven.

1.⁠ ⁠How do you see India’s land market changing over the next five to ten years? 

Answer - Once in centuries a time comes when a developing nation transitions to a developed nation, this is where Bhaarat is. A simple outcome of this transition is growing infra, growing economic activities and rapid urbanisation in entire length and breadth of the country. As they say, you can grow anything but not land, we believe high-quality land parcels coming up offering great opportunities for value addition and wealth creation

2.⁠ ⁠What makes a piece of land genuinely investible? 

Answer - There is only one equation on which the entire real estate market works - Demand <> Supply, if demand > supply prices increase, if demand <supply prices fall. So any piece of land which is in high momentum area where new demand is coming becomes a quality investment which carries the potential to outperform in a big way.

3.⁠ ⁠Investors often hear about the “next big corridor.” How do you distinguish a genuine emerging opportunity from a location driven mainly by speculation? 

Answer - The secret lies in real time transactions happening + sharp assessment of the master plan. For eg - lets take Ayodhya, there is no reason of why residential market will work as people will not be migrating to Ayodhya however, commercial market will boom as there is shortage of hotels and leisure activities. So while evaluation the “next big corridor’, there has to be clear understanding of where will the new demand come from and why

4.⁠ ⁠You look at signals such as registry velocity, tender movements, master plans, CLU, FAR and actual transactions. Which signals tell you that demand is beginning to move before the broader market notices it? 

Answer - There are many but price velocity is a good starting point which captures how quickly registrations of land in a location and its price is changing. It’s like seeing those spikes in a stock price while investing.  

5.⁠ ⁠What is the biggest mistake investors make when buying land? 

Answer - The investors go on speculation rather than getting into actual data points. Broker wisdom is taken on it’s face value where people fail to realise that broker will sell whatever is at sub par quality since that is where he gets maximum margin/commission from the builder.

6.⁠ ⁠Land can create significant wealth, but it also carries risks around title, regulation, land use and development. What should an investor verify before entering an emerging location? 

Answer - It’s like asking what all an investor should read about the company before buying heavy it’s equity stock. The answer is EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS which include but not limited to land coming under future acquisition, encumbrance, hidden dues or restrictions on land, soil testing, topography, applicability of development level approvals from local authority. This is where the expertise of a trust worth entity come into play which can play the role of end-to-end checks with precision and accuracy.

7.⁠ ⁠You have spent years building a systems-based approach to land investment. What made you believe that land, traditionally seen as a relationship-driven and fragmented market, could be approached through research, data and repeatable intelligence? 

Answer - I take inspiration from, how stock markets in 90s evolved when stock market shares got digitised. It allowed entry of these new types of experts which could understand the data points and added a layer of wisdom to make money for their investors. This is how we have done for land, thanks to govt for digitising land records and transactions in last 7 years that people like us can for the first time read into deeper level information to bring out the hidden opportunities for our investors.

8.⁠ ⁠What is the bigger vision you have with BWG and what do you ultimately want to change about the way India invests in land? 

Answer - I envision our country to become a developed country very soon. My only goal with BWG is to make land investing a central part the growth of the economic cordons of the country. My mission is to make my investors wealthy by creating a world class destination for them to invest in the future of the country.