Emaar ropes Snapdeal's Jason Kothari as independent director

New Delhi: Realty firm Emaar India has appointed Snapdeal's Chief Strategy and Investment Officer Jason Kothari as independent director to strengthen its board and complete all its ongoing projects.

It has also roped in Khaitan & Co partner Sudip Mullick as independent director on the board.

Dubai-based Emaar Properties, which entered the Indian real estate market in 2005 in partnership with India's MGF Development, had in April last year decided to end the joint venture through demerger. Emaar had invested Rs 8,500 crore through this JV firm Emaar MGF Land.

Emaar India has appointed Kothari and Mullick as company's independent director, sources said. When contacted, Emaar India spokesperson confirmed the development.

"We at Emaar India, under the leadership of Emaar Dubai, believe that good corporate governance is essential for an organisation and leads to value creation for all its stakeholders," a company spokesperson said.

"In order to meet such objective, the company has recently (in May 2017) appointed...Two new independent directors on the board," the spokesperson said.

Snapdeal's Jason Kothari works in partnership with the co-founders and is helping guide the company towards a turnaround. Prior to Snapdeal, Jason was the CEO and a member of the board of Housing.Com.

Mullick heads the Real Estate & Hospitality practice in Khaitan & Co and specialises in construction contracts and disputes.

"We believe that the company will immensely benefit from the expertise and knowledge of Mullick, including in respect of the recently enacted RERA," the spokesperosn said.

The company currently has 11 directors on the board, including 4 independent directors and 5 Emaar nominees.

Emaar Properties' head Mohamed Ali Alabbar is the Chairman of the Emaar India's board, while MGF group's Shravan Gupta and Shilpa Gupta are directors as the demerger process is still in process.

After the announcement of the demerger with Indian partner, Emaar India is focusing on execution of projects and will invest Rs 2,000 crore over the next two years to complete all its ongoing 50 projects across the country.

The company will continue its focus on Haryana and is committed to deliver 11,000 units by 2018-end in the state, beginning with over 3,000 units this year itself.

Post initiation of the demerger process, Emaar Properties has taken control of the management in Emaar India and has expedited construction on its 44 ongoing projects in Haryana.

The parent company has extended a bank guarantee to Emaar India enabling it to raise about Rs 2,500 crore as debt for construction activities.

Emaar India has increased the number of labourers on its various sites to over 14,500 from 1,000 a year ago.