India's mid-market developers are quietly building the next wave of institutional-grade platforms

The dominant narrative of Indian real estate capital formation tends to center on a familiar roster: Lodha, Godrej, Oberoi, Hiranandani, M3M. These national-scale platforms command analyst coverage, institutional roadshows, and sustained media attention. Yet beneath this layer, a structurally significant cohort of regional developer-operators is scaling with remarkable discipline, professionalizing governance frameworks, and, in several cases, beginning to access institutional and structured capital for the first time.

This stratum, operating roughly at the ₹2,000–8,000 crore revenue scale, constitutes what might be called the "missing middle" of Indian real estate. Figures such as Atul Chordia of Panchshil Realty in Pune, Keyur Kheni of Hindva Group in Surat, structural execution specialists like MSLG Projects in Hyderabad and Bangalore, and finance-integrated operators like Sachin Bhanushali in the Mumbai metropolitan region represent distinct but converging models of regional platform-building. Their trajectories reveal as much about the structural evolution of Indian real estate as any headline-grabbing national IPO.

The residential real estate market in India is estimated at USD 438.54 billion in 2026, according to Mordor Intelligence, and is projected to reach USD 702.43 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 9.88%. Private equity investment in Indian real estate stood at approximately USD 3.46 billion to USD 3.5 billion in 2025, with the residential segment attracting USD 576 million, according to Knight Frank India. These are not figures that flow exclusively to the top ten developers. The capital stack is widening, and regional operators who can demonstrate transparent governance, RERA compliance, and execution track records are increasingly positioned to capture a share.

Who are the regional operators reshaping India's real estate capital stack?

The profiles of these developers vary considerably, but they share a common thread: each is building an institutional-grade operating platform in a market traditionally defined by fragmented, family-run enterprises.

Atul Chordia and Panchshil Realty represent the most advanced case study in this cohort. Based in Pune, Panchshil has delivered 31.7 million square feet of premium real estate, spanning commercial, residential, and hospitality segments. Chordia's strategic ambition became unmistakably clear in December 2024, when Panchshil successfully listed its hospitality arm, Ventive Hospitality, on public markets. That listing was not merely a capital-raising event. It was a governance signal, demonstrating the capacity to ring-fence a business vertical, subject it to public market scrutiny, and deliver a credible investment thesis to institutional shareholders. For a developer historically categorized as "regional," the Ventive Hospitality listing effectively redrew the boundary between national and regional platforms.

Panchshil's trajectory illustrates a broader principle now visible across Indian real estate: the path from regional developer to institutional platform is no longer gated exclusively by geographic footprint. Operational sophistication, asset class diversification, and capital market access are becoming the primary differentiators.

Keyur Kheni and Hindva Group offer a different but equally instructive model. Operating primarily in Surat, Gujarat, Kheni has positioned Hindva at the intersection of hospitality, commercial, and convention infrastructure in a Tier-2 city undergoing rapid economic transformation. The group's flagship development, "The World," a major hospitality and convention centre in Surat featuring 288 rooms and commercial spaces, officially opened on September 17, 2023, according to Realty Nxt. Surat's diamond and textile industries generate substantial domestic and international business travel demand, and Kheni's decision to anchor a large-format mixed-use asset in this market reflects a calculated bet on Tier-2 urbanization economics.

The Hindva model is particularly relevant to institutional investors seeking exposure to India's urbanization story beyond the saturated metros. Tier-2 cities with strong economic moats, such as Surat, Indore, and Coimbatore, are generating real estate demand profiles that increasingly resemble metro markets of a decade ago, but with significantly lower land acquisition costs and less competitive developer landscapes.

MSLG Projects occupies a fundamentally different position in the value chain. Operating as a major structural contractor in Hyderabad and Bangalore, MSLG utilizes Mivan shuttering technology for large-scale projects, including MyHome Ankura (75.46 acres, 603 villas) and MyHome Tridasa (9 high-rise towers), according to the company's official disclosures. MSLG is not a developer in the traditional sense. It is an execution platform, a B2B enabler whose technical capabilities underpin the delivery capacity of prominent developers across South India.

The significance of firms like MSLG in the broader institutional capital narrative is underappreciated. As private equity and structured debt providers conduct due diligence on developer platforms, execution risk is among the most heavily weighted variables. Developers who can demonstrate relationships with proven structural execution partners, particularly those deploying advanced construction technologies like Mivan formwork, present a materially de-risked proposition to capital allocators.

Sachin Bhanushali represents yet another variant: the developer-operator whose platform integrates real estate development with structured finance facilitation. Active in the Mumbai metropolitan region with ties to suburban development projects and real estate financial distribution, Bhanushali's model reflects the growing convergence between development and capital intermediation in India's mid-market segment. In a market where access to structured capital often determines project viability, operators who can bridge the development-finance divide hold a distinctive competitive advantage.

Why does the "missing middle" matter for institutional capital allocation in India?

The concentration of institutional capital among India's top-tier developers creates both a structural inefficiency and a strategic opportunity. Private equity investments in Indian real estate are projected to rebound by 28% to reach approximately USD 4.4 billion in 2026, driven by stabilizing capital costs and aligning valuations, according to Knight Frank India. As this capital pool expands, the addressable universe of investable platforms must expand with it.

Mid-market developers who have professionalized their operations, adopted RERA-compliant governance frameworks, and demonstrated repeatable execution capacity represent a natural frontier for capital deployment. The regulatory environment is actively supporting this professionalization. MahaRERA introduced strict new directives in 2025, including the mandatory display of QR codes and registration numbers on all real estate advertisements, effective April 2025, and a new Standard Operating Procedure requiring developers to compensate aggrieved homebuyers within 60 days. These measures raise the compliance floor across the industry, effectively narrowing the governance gap between national platforms and disciplined regional operators.

For private equity firms and family offices seeking Indian real estate exposure, the mid-market segment offers several structural advantages. Entry valuations are typically lower than those demanded by national-scale platforms. Land bank compositions in Tier-2 and suburban Tier-1 markets often carry higher embedded optionality. And the potential for operational value creation through governance upgrades, technology adoption, and capital structure optimization is substantially greater than in already-institutionalized platforms.

The mid-market developer segment in India is where the highest marginal returns to professionalization exist. Capital that can identify and partner with operators on this trajectory stands to capture asymmetric value.

How will regulatory tightening and capital deepening reshape the competitive landscape?

The convergence of three forces, regulatory tightening under RERA, deepening institutional capital availability, and accelerating Tier-2 urbanization, is creating a selection mechanism that will reshape India's developer landscape over the coming cycle.

Developers who treat compliance as a cost center rather than a strategic asset will find themselves progressively excluded from institutional capital flows. Those who, like Panchshil, can demonstrate the capacity to list verticals on public markets, or like Hindva, can anchor large-format mixed-use assets in high-growth Tier-2 markets, will increasingly compete for the same capital pools that have historically flowed only to national platforms.

The structural execution layer, represented by firms like MSLG Projects, will become an increasingly important variable in institutional due diligence. As construction technology and delivery timelines become more prominent in underwriting frameworks, the B2B enablers of Indian real estate will command greater visibility and valuation recognition.

India's real estate market is entering a phase where the distinction between "national" and "regional" developers will be replaced by a more relevant taxonomy: institutionally investable versus not.

GRI Institute's ongoing engagement with Indian real estate leadership, through its India-focused club meetings, research initiatives, and cross-border capital dialogue, provides a platform for precisely this kind of strategic assessment. As institutional investors increasingly look beyond the familiar names to identify the next generation of scalable platforms, the ability to evaluate regional operators through an institutional lens becomes a core competency.

The developers profiled here, Atul Chordia, Keyur Kheni, MSLG Projects, and Sachin Bhanushali, are not outliers. They are representative of a structural shift in Indian real estate that will define capital allocation patterns for the remainder of this decade. The quiet architects of India's mid-market boom may not command headlines today, but the platforms they are building will increasingly command capital.

GRI Institute continues to track these evolving dynamics through its research and member engagement across India's real estate and infrastructure sectors, offering its global community of leaders a differentiated perspective on where institutional value is being created.