24th August 2026: Sugam Group, marked its presence at CII Realty East 2026 with the participation of Mr. Suhel Saraf, Managing Director, Sugam Group, as one of the panellists at the industry forum held at the Biswa Bangla Exhibition Centre, Kolkata.
Mr. Saraf featured in the panel discussion titled “The Missing Middle: Unlocking India’s Mass & Mid-Income Housing Opportunity”, under the theme “Housing for the Many: Unlocking the Next Wave of Residential Growth” along with other distinguished guests and panellists. The session brought together key voices from the real estate sector to examine how India can unlock scalable, inclusive and resilient growth across mass and mid-income housing segments.
The discussion assumed particular significance at a time when India’s residential real estate market was witnessing a structural shift from volume-led to value-led growth, with premium and luxury housing having driven market value in recent years. However, mid-income housing, particularly in the ₹80 lakh–₹1.5 crore segment, emerged as a pivotal opportunity in 2026 as demand stabilised and affordability improved. At the same time, the affordable and mass housing segment continued to represent one of the country’s largest untapped demand pools.
As part of the panel, Mr. Saraf shared perspectives on the need for development models that balance aspiration, affordability and long-term liveability. Drawing on Sugam’s 40-year journey of building trust-led homes and communities, his participation underscored the company’s continued focus on creating homes that respond to the evolving needs of urban families while contributing to the broader conversation on accessible, quality housing in Eastern India.
Commenting on the occasion, *Mr. Suhel Saraf, Managing Director, Sugam Group* , said, “The definition of affordable housing needs to evolve with the changing realities of India’s middle-income population. A home that was considered affordable five years ago may no longer be so today, given the rise in land, construction and ownership costs. The opportunity, therefore, is not simply to build smaller or lower-priced homes, but to create housing that remains affordable across its entire lifecycle. This calls for greater efficiency in land utilisation, thoughtful design, sustainable construction practices and innovative financial models that reduce both the upfront burden and the long-term cost of ownership. At the same time, supportive land policies and appropriate government incentives will be critical in enabling developers to scale such models. Ultimately, affordable housing must be viewed as an ecosystem; one where developers, policymakers and the wider infrastructure and financial ecosystem work together to make quality, sustainable home ownership genuinely accessible to India’s growing middle class.”
Mr. Saraf’s participation also reinforced Sugam’s role in shaping meaningful dialogue around the future of real estate in the region. With Eastern India poised for accelerated urban growth, improved connectivity and rising demand for organized residential developments, the mass and mid-income housing segment was expected to play a central role in expanding homeownership and supporting sustainable urbanization.
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