Birla Estates' bookings fall two-thirds in Q2 as a divestment lifts profit

Aditya Birla Real Estate Limited reported a consolidated net profit of ₹918.70 crore for the quarter ended 30 September 2026, in unaudited results announced on 26 October 2026 and filed with the stock exchanges. The company had posted a net loss of ₹17.82 crore in the same quarter a year earlier. Its residential arm, Birla Estates, recorded a sharp fall in new bookings over the period.

Divestment drove the headline profit

Most of the profit did not come from property sales. The company recognised an exceptional gain of ₹868.12 crore from the disposal of its Pulp and Paper business, Century Pulp and Paper, which ITC completed acquiring on 1 August 2026 as a going-concern slump sale. Net profit from discontinued operations was ₹775.39 crore, against ₹55.28 crore a year earlier.

Continuing real estate operations moved into profit. They recorded a profit of ₹143 crore, against a loss of ₹73 crore in Q2 FY26. Real estate EBITDA was ₹195 crore, compared with a loss of ₹55 crore. Sales revenue from continuing operations was ₹824.27 crore, against ₹96.77 crore a year earlier. The company said the completed Birla Tisya project in Bengaluru was the main driver of revenue recognition, contributing ₹181 crore of EBITDA at a 28% operating margin.

Bookings down, collections up

Booking value in the quarter fell 67% year on year to ₹298 crore, from ₹890 crore. For the half year, bookings were ₹627 crore, down 52%. By region, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region accounted for 61% of Q2 booking value, Pune for 22% and Bengaluru for 17%.

Collections moved the other way. Q2 collections rose 47% to ₹752 crore, and half-year collections reached ₹1,465 crore, up 39%. Collections reflect cash received against sales made earlier, while bookings measure new contracted demand, so the two can move apart. The company said cumulative collections across its projects have crossed ₹10,000 crore.

The company linked the booking fall to a redesign of Worli Tower C. The redesign combines plots and optimises floor space index allocation. It raises the tower's gross development value by about ₹3,000 crore to 0.95 million sq ft and moves its launch from FY27 to Q2 FY28. Management said FY27 pre-sales will be lower than FY26, when bookings stood at ₹8,136.3 crore.

What investors will watch

• Whether the ₹15,000 crore annual pre-sales goal by FY29 holds. The company has kept this target, against FY26 bookings of ₹8,136.3 crore and a booking growth rate of 67% a year between FY21 and FY26.
• The launch calendar. Khar is slated for January–February 2027, Worli Tower C for Q2 FY28, Vashi, Taranya and Punya in FY28, and Hinjewadi in Q4 FY28.
• Conversion of the pipeline. The company reported a future pipeline gross development value of ₹41,889 crore, a FY27 pipeline of ₹4,728 crore, unsold launched inventory of ₹6,619 crore and pending collections from sold inventory of ₹15,742 crore.
• Rental income and commercial projects. The company's stated aim is to lift annual rental income from about ₹150 crore to ₹1,500 crore, with no date given. For Birla Niyaara in Worli, it plans a commercial development of about 1 to 1.3 million sq ft, with approvals and start targeted before the end of FY27.

Investors should read the headline profit against the operating numbers. The one-time gain accounts for most of the quarter's profit, while the residential business is still rebuilding its launch calendar. The next test is the Khar launch in early 2027 and whether booking figures start to recover from their current level.