India’s housing cooperative management segment set to grow to at least $4 billion by 2030 – Money News

In today’s digital age, home apps, security management systems, and approval platforms are transforming home living, significantly raising the bar for luxury and security. These innovative technologies offer residents a seamless blend of convenience and sophistication, enabling them to manage their homes with unprecedented ease. Home apps streamline various aspects of daily life, from maintenance requests and community announcements to bill payments and event management. Security apps enhance security by integrating advanced features such as real-time surveillance, access control, and emergency response coordination. Approval apps facilitate fast and transparent processing of requests such as guest approvals and maintenance approvals, providing efficient management and timely resolutions. Together, these tools create a cohesive ecosystem that not only simplifies home management but also fosters a safe, luxurious, and well-organized living environment, providing residents with peace of mind and a higher quality of life.

The housing management software market has grown significantly in India over the last few years. While it makes life easier for high-rise dwellers, it sometimes creates hassles due to premium or hidden charges or sub-par services disguised as freebies. To gain insight into this segment and find out how an alternative model benefits residents and AOA or RWA members, we spoke to San Banerjee, Co-Founder and CEO of ADDA, India’s first ERP management ecosystem that didn’t go global. Excerpts from the interview:

How is the housing estate management market structured in India compared to other parts of the world?

The residential community management segment in India is expected to become at least a $4 billion market by 2030. However, it is not exactly an organized and well-managed market as of now. The biggest concern is that some players in the market rely on offering freebies or related benefits to secure the mandate for community management. Like a corporation, an association is accountable to the government for compliance as per the relevant state laws. Lakhs of rupees are lost in penalties or improper taxation by associations that do not have proper processes and software in place.

The association must do everything to minimize the losses and also protect the MC members from the risk of non-compliance. Hence, serious software is the least that an association needs to have. Free tools offer very little liability. We know of several cases where unsuspecting MC members have become victims due to loopholes in these tools, housing societies have lost lakhs of public money in tax/compliance related penalties or financial mismanagement/misappropriation. However, awareness in this segment is growing. Many communities have tried these ad-filled free products and are now migrating their operations to serious ERP software like ADDA. The need to focus on creating spam-free and secure ecosystems that address the basic needs of the society or the concerned community – i.e., provide

How does ADDA differ from other players in this segment such as Mygate and Nobrokerhood?

ADDA is ad-free and spam-free and hence poses no risk to the committee members. With the increasing number of cybercrime cases, there is a risk of the committee members getting entangled in lawsuits filed by aggrieved residents in the case of social media advertising platform applications. There is no such risk in the case of ADDA. Our sole business and focus is the housing cooperative management and accounting software. Due to this focus, we always stay ahead of the competition in terms of product and support. There are several advanced features in ADDA such as smart community support, customizable forms with integrated payments, community guidelines and violation tracking, P2P spending management process, etc. Mygate and Nobrokerhood have multiple businesses such as advertising, insurance aggregation, home services, etc. and their focus is most likely spread out.

Where did the idea for ADDA come from at a time when ERP management systems practically did not exist?

I have lived in housing estates since I was 10 years old. I have walked through housing estates in cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Baton Rouge, Madison and Chicago. I have observed how these housing estates are closely interconnected and the impact they can have on residents, staff, local businesses and also local government. In fact, we can also have a positive impact on the environment. Well-managed and connected housing estates bring about many positive changes in all these aspects. However, housing estates are often inefficiently run, disconnected islands due to lack of affordable technology. ADDA was created with the intention of enabling technology in all such communities and housing estates across the world.

It was born at a time when ERP systems for housing societies were not even a distant possibility. But within a year, we expanded our network to over 20 cities in India, including major residential areas like Mumbai. In 2013, we launched a dedicated ADDA mobile app for housing society owners/residents, followed by the introduction of a unique home services marketplace ADDA Discover and privacy-friendly Gatekeeper software. ADDA initially evolved from a basic communication application to a comprehensive ERP management ecosystem today. Later, when several homegrown Gate Management systems entered the market free of cost, ADDA took a big step and spread its influence abroad to Dubai and UAE.

Tell us about some of the unique residential communities in India and abroad managed by ADDA

ADDA boasts of a portfolio of distinguished clients like DLF, Seawoods Estates, Rustomjee, Oberoi, Prestige, Sobha, Brigade, Embassy Group, AIPL Developers etc. in India and some of the world’s finest property management companies and property owner associations like Knight Frank Singapore, Kingfield OAMS, Stratum, The Sustainable City, Pam Golding, abroad. The communities/businesses that have partnered with ADDA include the tallest towers in India and Dubai, the homes of many celebrities including several members of the 2024 World Cup winning Indian cricket team, the largest senior citizen homes in India, highly privacy conscious residential communities such as Residential Communities for IAS, IPS officers, Judiciary, Active Residential Regiments of Armed Forces/Batalions, some of the world’s largest riverside and beachfront communities, and one of the largest island communities home to the Saudi royal family.

What is the company’s net worth/income? What are the future plans?

ADDA has 2.1 million users worldwide. Around 1 lakh crores of Housing Society related bills are collected in ADDA in a year. 120 crores of maintenance dues are paid through our app every month. Community App handles 4 crores of guest check-ins in various communities across the world, around 4,00,000+ neighbourhood conversations and 20,000+ neighbourhood surveys in a year.