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Informist, Monday, Jun. 22, 2026

 

By Shakshi Jain and Astha Oriel

 

NEW DELHI – Construction costs of realty major Signatureglobal (India) Ltd. are likely to contract 4-5% due to the efficiency gains that artificial intelligence is expected to bring about in building operations, a top company executive told Informist Friday.

 

"We're using AI in sales but haven't yet implemented its use in construction of any project. We're talking about implementing it," the company official said, adding that Signatureglobal has digitised several construction-related processes in recent times, including the standard planning, designing, messaging, and procurement through the use of software.

 

Land acquisition and construction comprise the top two expense items for a real estate company with the order depending on the nature of projects. In a project with relatively larger open space, the land cost may exceed that of construction and the converse would hold true for a high-rise project on a smaller piece of land, especially in the luxury segment. Other big-ticket items in a realty company's expenditure pie include labour wages and securing necessary regulatory approvals.

 

The real estate industry in India has evolved from the traditional ways of operations to increased adoption of technology in recent years. However, the adoption has so far been limited to ancillary areas such as interior design, property valuation, online listings, optimisation of rental pricing, and building management. Among core enterprise functions, AI has penetrated and become a competitive standard for sales and marketing in the industry. Now, a meaningful use of AI in construction, which mandates greater scrutiny and more responsible checks, may mark a turning point for the industry, compressing project timelines and improving overall efficiency.

 

According to a recent report prepared jointly by EY-Parthenon and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India, efficient usage of generative AI can save anywhere between 3% and 10% of cost and schedule optimisation for real estate companies. "By learning from past procurement cycles and real-time project schedules, GenAI can forecast material requirements, auto-generate procurement plans, and flag potential shortages--reducing stockouts, waste, and carrying costs," the report said.

 

In a conversation with Informist, the spokesperson of another listed real estate firm said currently the deployment of AI in construction for the company was limited to the desk, for data insights and analytics, to crunch construction timelines.

 

Signatureglobal's construction costs have risen 10-12% in the last six months, largely due to the supply chain hurdles stemming from the West Asia war, according to the senior company executive. Further, this disruption may lead to a delay in project launches planned for the year, the official said, adding that the company should, however, manage to meet the target timelines for completion of projects. Realty firms usually include a buffer period when finalising the timeline for the different stages of a project, he reasoned.

 

For the March quarter, Signatureglobal's cost of revenue rose 159% on year and almost 343% sequentially to account for more than 77% of its total expenses for the three months. The cost of revenue for a real estate company represents the total direct expenses incurred to build, acquire, and deliver properties to buyers.

 

Amid the recent moderation in prices of select categories of steel and aluminium from their peak levels, and a further fall anticipated for the latter, the company executive believes the real estate industry is likely to see stabilisation in the prices of construction materials in the next 1-2 months. 

 

Signatureglobal operates primarily in the National Capital Region, with a significant majority of the company's residential and commercial projects concentrated at Gurugram and Sohna in Haryana.

 

Commenting on the Gurugram market in the analyst conference call post the March quarter results, the company's Chief Executive Officer Rajat Kathuria had said he expected certain inflationary increase in selling prices in the current year but Signatureglobal will not push up the sale prices. "But yes, I think if market forces help us to price the product at a higher price, then of course, we are going to grab that price increase for the company."

 

The company has a launch pipeline worth INR 150 billion for 2026-27 (Apr-Mar), including a roughly 2 million-square-foot branded residence project for the ongoing quarter, another project of a similar quantum towards the end of the second quarter or the beginning of the third quarter, and a third residential project in the mixed-use development undertaken in partnership with the RMZ Group.

 

Signatureglobal had full approvals for the first project and fairly advanced approvals for the other two projects as of mid-May.

 

The company had posted consolidated net profit of INR 11.52 billion for the March quarter, significantly higher than the INR-610.95-million profit posted a year ago. Revenue for the quarter had surged over twofold to INR 11.07 billion. The company accrued a one-time gain of INR 12.67 billion during the quarter. 

 

In Jan-Mar, the real estate player's total expenditure, including finance cost, was at INR 10.77 billion compared with INR 4.98 billion a year ago. The company's tax outgo for the quarter was at INR 2.33 billion as against INR 115.97 million a year ago.

 

Shares of Signatureglobal closed 0.7% lower at INR 792.90 on the National Stock Exchange Monday.  End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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