Some men take their passion for sports to the next level and become legends; Ekta World’s Chairman Ashok Mohanani is one of them. In the year 2018, he represented India, globally by winning Silver in the Spanish Open Men’s Double and Bronze in the Mixed Doubles in Pickleball Championships. His determination, perseverance and faith in his abilities has got the best out of him as he has been honoured with the position of the president of the All India Pickleball Association, from the year 2019 to 2023.
Pickleball is already quite popular in the United States of America, but is also gaining the right momentum in India. The good news is that All India Pickleball Association is also a member of International Pickleball Federation, USA. The sport of Pickleball is popular in certain parts of India, but is surely a hit in Maharashtra. In the present scenario, AIPA has membership of 12 states and will soon ensure that schools and colleges too will get access to the sport.
Ashok Mohanani has been an inspiration for the youth of the nation and has played an important role in making the sport of pickleball popular. His main goal is to give the sport a government recognition that it deserves. Also, he wants pickleball to enter in the World of Olympics and raise champions.
Every real estate developer wants to achieve the perfect goal that is to see homebuyers purchase their dream houses. And when that happens, a grand celebration makes its way to honour real-estate developers. Vishwakarma – The Dream Builders is a coffee table book that celebrates real estate developers’ success stories in Maharashtra and Goa. The grand occasion observed the presence of eminent personalities, real estate developers and artists. The event had the gracious presence of Honorable Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis. He spoke about the real estate sector and its importance in playing a crucial role in the development of Maharashtra.
Amongst the top real estate developers, one prominent name was of Ekta World’s Chairman Ashok Mohanani, who was felicitated at the Dream Builders’ Vishwakarma by Lokmat.
He began his career as a real estate agent, selling residential properties. And it was the persistent endeavour that led him to the glorious path of success. It was his honest belief of doing things with passion and bringing out-of-the-box ideas that clicked. What makes his company unique is the ability of his team to connect with homebuyers on an empathetic level, understanding their needs and values and deliver peace of mind. This led to the creation of a strong bond between the homebuyer and the real estate developer.
The ability to bring something different to the table is what sets them apart from the rest. Ekta World always emerges with innovative ideas for its project. From the numerous real estate developments undertaken by the company, Ashok Mohanani and his highly efficient team amongst many more introduced the concept of villas in the sky in Mumbai, where you could have your living unit and parking space on the same floor of the building.
Ekta World strives to bring a unique and welcoming experience for homebuyers that’s the sole reason why they have a gratifying smile while buying a property.
People now-a-days remain so busy in delving into their past and concerning about their future that their ‘today’ almost goes missing from the scene. As rightly said, “the best way to prepare for the future is to concentrate all your intelligence, enthusiasm on doing the present work with best possible efforts.” When a person looks at a challenging task, at first instance everything seems mammoth & unachievable, but when that single large task gets broken down into more manageable and achievable pieces, the chances of getting it done successfully with higher efficacy looms large. Ashok Mohanani, Chairman, EKTA World is one such trailblazing leader of the real estate industry that believes in present and put all his energy into the present day task with a full vigor that ultimately drives him to achieve immense satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment.
Ashok established ‘EKTA World’ in 1987, and prior to that he worked as a real estate agent for a decade. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, he was contributing in fulfilling the biggest dream humans have in their life i.e of purchasing their own home. During that phase of life, Ashok had encountered a bitter experience among one of his clients that touched his soul and that experience proved to be the turning point of his life. Then on he pledged to make the home buying experience a pleasant one for everyone. Even for those who have very limited resources, and that’s how a real estate agent turned into a real estate developer. Since then, he did not turn back and with a customer centric business approach, EKTA World is today standing tall and feeling proud by successfully catering over 14500 families and counting.
Customer delight, peace of mind and empathy are the core values based on which ‘EKTA World’ services its clients. These are tenets which pull customers toward ‘EKTA World’. Before the starting of development process, Ashok asks a single question to himself: “can I live there with my family” and if the answer turns out to be a YES, then only Ashok initiates the development of the project. The organization also, right from the very beginning till possession and thereafter ensures delightful customer experience for its clients.
Ashok is a well-learned person who has completed Bachelors in Commerce and then LLB from the University of Mumbai. He does not believe in competing with others rather than believes in competing with one-self. Therefore, his mantra for success is self-improvement with each passing day. He always works towards improving himself, his team and the company as a whole. This is the belief that makes him successful and happy in his own space in this fast paced competitive world.
Ashok’s journey has been satisfying and rewarding in all spheres of his life till date, be it personal, professional or social. There are many whom he admires but the one person whom he reveres the most and from whom he learnt immensely about real estate is ‘G L Raheja’. Ashok considers him as the Bhishma Pitamah of real estate industry and the person who has been instrumental in nurturing his entrepreneurial career.
EKTA World under the remarkable leadership of Ashok has seen many big transformational successes in the past. In the initial years, the organization was solely focused on developing standalone single tower projects. Later, they move to build making layouts of three to four buildings residential projects. In 2000, they commenced EKTA Bhoomi gardens project which comprised of over 14 buildings and which truly tested their skills and established themselves as an influential player in the real estate sector. Even after tasting many successes the organization was also not untouched with the challenges. Labor and title issues in one of their projects were the biggest bottleneck which Ashok had solved brilliantly with his sheer perseverance and shrewdness. “Integrity is also one of the vital trait that assist delivering the best in class projects, regardless of the commercial viability and P & L of the project” states Ashok. He also feels grateful to his legal attorney Kirit Damania and architect Tarun Motta for walking along in the difficult times and in successfully delivering a landmark project in Borivali that has become a landmark in the construction space.
He has been an advocate for spurring innovation in the organization. He always encourages people to make unrelated connections between business problems with their own lives which help them to synthesize new ideas. He also encourages his colleagues to ask questions and do sharp observation, as observation & questioning are the pillars of creativity & innovation. For him, networking is an opportunity that helps everyone to gain different insights by engaging with the diverse groups of people.
“Stick to basics, it is very easy to get carried away with flamboyance and over promise, but as they say the proof of the pudding is in eating it, similarly timely delivery is the proof of a fulfilled commitment” states Ashok.
Indian Real Estate market went through a lot of ups and downs in 2017, for both developers and the home buyers it was a wait and watch situation. Homebuyers may be placed at various stages of the real estate cycle as home buying is considered a pivotal change in life in our country. And developers are the ones who play a vital role in the growing of any country. Real estate falls under 18% tax bracket of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act with 1/3rd abatement for land. Mr. Ashok Mohanani, Chairman Ekta World & VP NAREDCO West shares his thoughtful insights on budget Feb 2018.
The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) is all set to launch a 33-member MahaRERA Conciliation and Dispute Resolution Forum (MCDRF) to settle disputes between developers and home buyers at faster pace and at a lower cost. The forum comprises of representatives from apex developer bodies like CREDAI and NAREDCO, and consumer bodies like the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat.
MahaRERA has named the following people as MCDRF members: NAREDCO national president NiranjanHiranandani, Raunak Group’s RajanBandelkar, Wadhwa group’s Vijay Wadhwani, Silver Group’s Mukesh Mehta, Ekta World’s Ashok Mohanani, CREDAI Ajmera group’s RajnikantAjmera, Gera Development’s Rohit Gera, Gundecha Builders’ ParasGundecha, Soham Group’s Chaitanya Parekh, and Prajapati Developers’ Rajesh Prajapati, among others
The MCDRF has been set up as per the mandate of Section32(g) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, which states that measures to facilitate amicable conciliation of disputes between promoters and allotters must be taken through dispute settlement forums.
Maharashtra became the first state to set up such a conciliation forum. The idea behind reforming this forum is to rebuild the lost trust between developers and home buyers and also to prevent unnecessary litigation. The fees for approaching the forum is Rs. 1000 only, which can be paid after both the parties, are mutually ready to settle the dispute. In case the parties do not reach a consensus still the home buyer will have option to lodge complaint against the builder via the MahaRERA Complaints Portal. Also if a developer do not responds within seven days, then the developer bodies can intervene and also persuade the developer to come to the conciliation table. MahaRERA has adjudicated more than 500 complaints so far. Henceforth, MahaRERA has proved to be a good mechanism for both the parties so far.