What 26 Years of Listening to Customers Taught Ceratec About Building Homes
Anand Agarwal, MD of Ceratec Group explains how customer insights drove a 2011 construction pivot and why community living, green homes define the company's future
Thursday, 11 Jun, 2026
For most businesses, staying in your lane is sound strategy. Anand Agarwal had a different idea. After more than two decades selling construction materials, like, marble, sanitaryware, CPVC fittings, the Managing Director of Pune-based real estate developer Ceratec Group watched thousands of customers walk through his showrooms, running their hands along stone surfaces, debating tile finishes, and voicing their frustrations with what was and wasn't available in the market. That accumulated intelligence, he says, became the foundation for something far larger.
"We came to know what the customer liked," Agarwal said in a recent interview. "From that point, we thought - why can't we go into construction?"
In 2011, Ceratec acted on that question. The company acquired a plot and broke ground on its first residential project. It was, by Agarwal's own telling, a success from the start — and it set the group on a trajectory that has seen it become a recognised name in Pune's fast-expanding residential market.
Reading the Room and the City
The timing, it turned out, was fortuitous. Pune has spent the last decade absorbing wave after wave of migration from across Maharashtra and beyond, fuelled by its reputation as a liveable, relatively affordable alternative to Mumbai.
Agarwal points to figures that underscore the scale of the opportunity: across Gridiron and radical members of Pune's developer community, approximately 90,000 flats are sold in the city every year. "Pune has a requirement," he says plainly. "It's a nice city to live in, prices are still in control, and it's community living, all together."
That phrase, ‘community living’ surfaces repeatedly in conversation with Agarwal, and it is clearly more than marketing language. When asked to describe the home of the future in a single sentence, he does not reach for smart home technology or bespoke finishes. He reaches for people. "A good community house is very important for everyone," he says. "Future-ready homes — everyone likes community."
Building Green Without Breaking the Budget
Ceratec's recent projects carry green certifications, and the company has made sustainability a stated priority under its Ceratec Green banner. In a market where eco-conscious construction is frequently dismissed as a premium-tier luxury, Agarwal's perspective is more pragmatic.
The fundamentals work in the developer's favour, he argues. Land prices in the areas where Ceratec currently builds remain manageable — a structural advantage that creates room to absorb the costs of greener construction. And increasingly, sustainability is not a choice but a compliance requirement: rainwater harvesting, solar backup infrastructure, and organic waste converters are now mandated under prevailing regulations.
"Because of rainwater harvesting, it is going more and more to the greener side," Agarwal notes, suggesting that regulatory pressure and cost efficiency are together pushing the sector in a direction the company has already embraced.
26 Years, No Regrets
Building a diversified real estate and construction materials group over more than two decades is rarely a frictionless journey. Asked what he sacrificed along the way, Agarwal pauses - not to reflect on loss, but seemingly because the question's premise does not quite fit his experience.
"I don't think I had to sacrifice anything," he says. "I always focused on work, and it was fun. I feel I enjoyed my 26 years, and I'm looking forward."
It is the answer of someone who found the work itself to be the reward and who, by the look of Ceratec's current project pipeline, is not done yet.
