Excerpts from an interview with S. UMAMAHESHWAR:

Real estate has been in the news for its slowdown. What is your take on the industry?
The real estate market in India is still in its infancy, as a result the pent up demand is huge and growing. Although some investors have left the marketplace, the end users are still in the market. People will never compromise on their dream house. While the sector has witnessed changes in the past few months, with macro economic dynamics undergoing rapid changes impacted by double-digit inflation and imminent liquidity crunch, the fundamentals of the business remain relatively optimistic.

Though there is a perception that perhaps the real estate sector in general is witnessing a short cooling off period, we believe that it is a correction in certain submarkets and such a correction is always good for the industry. Today within the global macro economic context, India still remains an attractive investment destination. In the long run real estate always appreciates and India is still an underpriced market.

When would you revisit the IPO market?
Certainly not this year, maybe in the next 12 months or 18 months. It would be a function of improved markets sentiments.

How will the company fund its various projects?
EmaarMGF is a well capitalised company and most of our projects are funded through internal accruals. We also look at debt financing and SPV-level funding options constantly.