Neoliv, Unity Group and the new Faridabad-NCR corridor: India's next residential frontier takes shape

A 62-acre premium plotted township with an estimated gross development value of ₹2,300 crore is rising in Faridabad, signaling a decisive shift in where institutional-grade residential development is taking root across India's National Capital Region. The project, led by Neoliv Group, sits at the centre of a broader transformation along the Faridabad-Gurugram corridor, where a new generation of developers is building platforms designed to attract structured capital rather than simply monetise land.

For years, conversations about NCR real estate gravitated toward Gurugram's commercial towers, Noida's IT corridors, or the branded luxury launches along the Delhi-Jaipur highway. Faridabad, despite its proximity to the capital, remained an afterthought for institutional investors. That calculus is changing, driven by converging infrastructure commitments, streamlined licensing rules, and developers who are repositioning themselves from regional operators into scalable residential platforms.

What is driving capital formation in the Faridabad-NCR corridor?

Three structural forces are converging to redefine Faridabad's position within the NCR hierarchy: connectivity infrastructure, regulatory reform, and developer professionalisation.

On connectivity, the pipeline is substantial. The FNG Expressway linking Faridabad, Noida, and Gurugram, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and the Faridabad Metro extension are collectively expected to drive property value appreciation of 35–50% by 2030, according to Land and Homes NCR. Separately, the upcoming Jewar Airport Expressway is predicted to generate 25–40% appreciation in Greater Faridabad property values once operational, according to Property Mishra Show. These are corridor-level catalysts, the kind that shift buyer and investor attention from established micro-markets to emerging ones.

The proposed ₹15,000 crore Namo Bharat RRTS corridor connecting Gurugram, Faridabad, and Noida adds a further dimension. By compressing travel times across the three NCR satellite cities, the rapid transit system is expected to shift buyer decision-making from distance-based calculations to lifestyle and affordability considerations. For developers positioning product in Faridabad, this recalibration of buyer psychology is as significant as any physical infrastructure upgrade.

On the regulatory front, Haryana's Town and Country Planning Department amended its licensing rules in January 2025, streamlining the process for granting development licences. Under the revised framework, builders must demonstrate financial capacity exceeding the total project cost at the licensing stage, but the previous dual-scrutiny system has been eliminated. This is a meaningful reduction in approval friction for developers scaling project pipelines across Haryana.

The Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA), operating under Section 3 of RERA Act 2016, continues to mandate that every project exceeding 500 square metres or comprising more than eight apartments must register before any marketing or sales activity begins. This compliance architecture, while adding process overhead, serves as an institutional filter that benefits organised developers capable of meeting disclosure and escrow requirements.

Who are the emerging developers reshaping this corridor?

Neoliv Group's Faridabad township, with its ₹2,300 crore estimated GDV across 62 acres, represents the scale at which new entrants are operating (source: Neoliv Group, 2025). Premium plotted development at this scale requires not only land aggregation capability but also the financial structuring and project management discipline that institutional co-investors demand. The project typifies a broader shift: developers in the Faridabad belt are designing products and corporate structures from inception with an eye toward institutional capital compatibility.

Unity Group brings a different profile to the NCR landscape. With over 10 million square feet of delivered retail, commercial, institutional, and hospitality space across more than 100 projects in Delhi, Unity Group has an operational track record that few emerging developers can match (source: Unity Group, 2025). The group's ₹3,000 crore housing project in Karol Bagh, central Delhi, developed as a joint venture with DCM Group, demonstrates its capacity to structure large-format residential transactions in complex urban environments (source: ET Realty, 2018). Unity Group's pivot toward residential development at scale positions it as a potential platform for institutional partnerships in the NCR corridor.

The broader NCR developer ecosystem also includes the M3M Group, founded by Basant Bansal, which has delivered approximately 30 million square feet of saleable space across luxury residential and commercial projects (source: M3M India, 2025). M3M's presence in Gurugram has anchored institutional investor interest in the western NCR corridor for over a decade. The question now is whether similar momentum can be replicated in the southern and eastern NCR corridors, particularly in Faridabad, where land economics and connectivity improvements create a different risk-return proposition.

The 'missing middle' of Indian real estate

A structural feature of India's real estate market is the gap between listed national developers and small local builders. Regional developers operating at the ₹2,000–8,000 crore revenue scale represent what industry participants increasingly call the "missing middle," a cohort that is building institutional-grade platforms without yet accessing public capital markets. These developers are large enough to execute township-scale projects and structured joint ventures, yet small enough to remain below the radar of most foreign institutional investors.

This pattern extends beyond NCR. Hindva Group, led by Managing Partner Keyur Kheni, exemplifies the phenomenon in Tier-2 markets. Hindva developed "The World," a major hospitality and convention centre in Surat featuring 288 rooms and commercial spaces (source: Realty Nxt, 2026). Surat, like Faridabad, is a city where rapid economic growth and infrastructure investment are creating conditions for developer professionalisation, yet institutional capital penetration remains limited relative to gateway cities.

The trajectory from regional operator to institutional platform is neither automatic nor uniform. It requires RERA compliance infrastructure, auditable financial reporting, project-level escrow discipline, and the governance frameworks that private equity and sovereign wealth investors demand during due diligence. Developers who build these systems early gain a structural advantage in attracting capital as it moves down the city-tier hierarchy.

As discussions at GRI Institute events have consistently highlighted, the next wave of institutional real estate investment in India will be defined less by geography and more by developer capability. Capital is increasingly willing to follow well-structured platforms into secondary markets, provided the governance, regulatory, and infrastructure prerequisites are in place. The Faridabad-Gurugram corridor, with its combination of connectivity megaprojects, licensing reform, and developer scaling, meets many of these prerequisites simultaneously.

Infrastructure as a value catalyst

The infrastructure commitments surrounding Faridabad deserve careful scrutiny because they represent layered, multi-modal connectivity rather than a single catalytic project. The FNG Expressway creates lateral connectivity across NCR's three major satellite cities. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway provides national arterial access. The Faridabad Metro extension links the corridor to Delhi's mass transit network. And the Namo Bharat RRTS promises regional rapid transit integration.

Each of these projects, independently, would represent a moderate catalyst. Their simultaneous development creates a compounding effect on land values and buyer demand that distinguishes Faridabad from other emerging NCR micro-markets. The 35–50% property value appreciation forecast through 2030 reflects this convergence.

For institutional investors evaluating NCR exposure, the Faridabad corridor presents a differentiated entry point. Land values remain meaningfully below Gurugram levels, connectivity is converging rapidly, and the developer ecosystem is maturing toward institutional compatibility. The corridor's appeal lies in the combination of these factors rather than any single variable.

What does this mean for institutional capital flows?

While specific private equity deal volumes exclusively targeting the Faridabad micro-market remain difficult to isolate in public data, the structural conditions for institutional capital entry are aligning. Developer platforms with HRERA-compliant project portfolios, township-scale land positions, and joint venture structuring capability represent the natural counterparties for institutional residential strategies in the corridor.

The licensing reform introduced by Haryana in January 2025 reduces a key friction point in the capital deployment cycle. By eliminating dual scrutiny and requiring financial capacity demonstration at a single stage, the amended rules accelerate the timeline from licence acquisition to project launch. For investors underwriting development-stage risk, shorter pre-construction timelines directly improve return profiles.

India's residential real estate market is entering a phase where the most compelling risk-adjusted opportunities may exist outside the gateway cities that have traditionally dominated institutional portfolios. The Faridabad-Gurugram corridor, with its convergence of infrastructure investment, regulatory modernisation, and developer professionalisation, exemplifies this shift.

GRI Institute will continue to track capital formation and developer scaling in emerging NCR corridors as institutional interest in India's residential sector deepens across city tiers and risk profiles.