Planet Smart City and Kolte-Patil Developers extend partnership

The ‘Universe Planet’ project in India was the first collaboration between Planet Smart City and Kolte-Patil Developers.

Affordable housing provider Planet Smart City (PSC) has extended its partnership with India-based real estate specialist Kolte-Patil Developers.

PSC, which aims to help to address the world’s housing crisis, said the exclusive deal would enable the companies to “focus on a collaborative residential development platform”, following the success of the companies’ first housing project – Universe Planet – in Pune in western India. 

The new development platform will comprise several new affordable housing projects incorporating digital and smart solutions, that PSC said would create a better living experince for residents. 

Giovanni Savio, Global CEO of Planet Smart City, said, “This is an important day for Planet Smart City’s strategic development. India, like many countries across South-East Asia, has huge opportunity across several states and the industry has tremendous potential, especially for viable operators, to offer long-term, future-proof solutions.

According to UK-headquartered PSC, “India currently has one of the top five most pronounced housing shortages in the world”. While roughly 30% of the country’s population lived in urban areas in 2011, the company said this is expected to rise to 40% – or 630 million people – by 2030.

Savio said, “By extending our partnership with Kolte-Patil – a genuine leader in real estate development in India – we are in a strong position to work for a pipeline of 15,000 housing units that help provide an answer to the housing challenge in a full-fledged ESG framework where technology and social innovation will be the main drivers to implement a new concept of urban living.”

Each housing project established through the collaborative platform will utilise Kolte-Patil’s real-estate development expertise and incorporate PSC’s digital infrastructure, smart energy systems and smart technology such as a community app and data analytics.

Planet Smart City’s São Paulo development in Brazil was launched in 2020.

The new communities, which are anticipated to be similar to PSC’s Smart Cities in São Paulo and Natal in Brazil, will also have a dedicated community manager that will lead and implement changes to “continually improve the quality of life for residents”.

Yash Patil, Group CEO at Kolte-Patil Developers, said, “Our joint platform will now allow us to expand the portfolio of projects in our focus markets of Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru in line with our capital-efficient land-sourcing philosophy.

“With a focus on sustainability, the aim is to address the evolving needs of urban citizens looking for smart, holistic and socially-inclusive community-centric living in India.”