"We are no more interested in being a developer. Ramprastha will buy our stake and a deal is being worked out," Punj Lloyd chairman Atul Punj said, adding that a bad real estate environment had prompted this decision. Punj Lloyd was supposed to do the entire construction for the Ghaziabad housing project.

Mr Punj said his company will continue to take housing construction orders, but had abandoned its ambition to become a developer. The company is executing some state-promoted housing projects in the Middle East.

On the possibility that a stable UPA government will mean more infrastructure projects and thus more business from India for the company, Mr Punj sounded sceptical: "It will depend on how fast the government moves on the infrastructure projects. Allocation has never been a problem in India, but the implementation has been." India's share in Punj Lloyd's total revenue today stands at 20%.

The company today has a order backlog of $4 billion. It has increased its average ticket size of orders from $25 million three years ago to $225 million now. "We are targeting an average order ticket size of $500 million now," Mr Punj said.