Abhishek Lodha, CEO and MD of Lodha Developers, has said the impact of the Middle East crisis on construction costs is currently around 3–5% of overall costs. He noted that gas-dependent material categories have been the most affected, while the overall impact on margins remains ‘very nominal.’
Lodha said there was a sales shortfall in March from NRIs based in the Middle East, along with some moderation in deal closures in the luxury segment, as homebuyers reacted to the sudden developments.
Speaking during the Q4FY26 earnings call, Lodha said the impact is likely to be temporary, driven by the immediate shock of the event, and he does not expect any sustained segment-wise slowdown unless there is a prolonged energy shock.
“In the month of March, the company had some shortfall in sales from NRIs who are based in the Middle East, followed by some shortfall in closures in the luxury segment because everybody was just grappling with what had suddenly happened. We don’t expect any persistent sort of single segment impact of this war and we think it was just a shock of the event. We expect things to normalise unless there is a persistent energy shock,” he said.
Lodha said the ongoing Middle East crisis has had a limited impact on construction costs, with overall increases currently estimated at around 3–5%.
According to Lodha, while certain input categories have seen cost pressures, the overall impact on margins remains “very, very nominal.” He noted that the most affected materials are those dependent on gas, including tiles, paints, PVC pipes, aluminium formwork, and select waterproofing products.
“Our assessment of the impact of construction cost increases has been approximately currently at about three to five percent of overall construction costs. The highest affected categories are the ones which are gas-dependent. This includes tiles, paints, PVC pipes, aluminium formwork, and certain waterproofing elements,” Lodha said.
“There has been a more moderate impact on windows and facade systems, gypsum and steel. And then there is, you know, sort of a little bit in other categories. This impact of three to five percent on construction costs, if it was to persist through the entire construction cycle of three years, it would give an impact on margin of about 1.7 percent. If it was to run for six months, which is, I would say, probably the more conservative view right now, you are talking about a very modest impact of roughly, you know, 0.35 percent of the sales value for those given projects,” he said.
Delhi-NCR project launch expected next year
According to Lodha, the company expects to launch its project in Delhi-NCR in the last quarter of the ongoing financial year or the first quarter of the next financial year.
Speaking of the launch pipeline for FY27, Lodha said the company’s new launches contributed around one-third of sales.
“We have launches in Pune, we have launches in Bangalore (Bengaluru), and, of course, we have launches in Mumbai. We haven’t included the potential to launch NCR in this launch guidance because we expect to start construction in the next quarter, and we expect to launch either in Q4 of this fiscal or early in fiscal 2028, so we’ve just been conservative in keeping that out,” Lodha said.
Lodha Developers, in December 2025, had partnered with Gurugram-based MRG Group to mark its debut in the Delhi-NCR market. The collaboration involves the development of two marquee projects in prime corridors of Gurugram, with a combined revenue potential exceeding ₹3,600 crore.
According to Lodha, the company entered the Delhi-NCR market in FY26 with the acquisition of two land pieces under the JDA route. “NCR is India’s second largest housing market… We think therefore that there is a large and significant opportunity in the NCR if we can pull off our operational and brand capabilities in the same way that we have done in other markets,” Lodha said.
He said that the company’s approach in Delhi NCR is the same pilot-scale model it had used in Bengaluru and Pune. “We entered Bengaluru in FY23 on a pilot basis. Three years later, Bengaluru in FY26 contributed about 24 billion in pre-sales, about 20 per cent of our total. We have confidence that NCR will follow a similar trajectory,” Lodha said.
Q4FY26 financial results of Lodha Developers
Last week, Lodha Developers reported that its net profit increased to ₹3,430.7 crore from ₹2,766.6 crore in the preceding financial year. The company’s total income grew to ₹17,119.5 crore last fiscal from ₹14,169.8 crore in 2024-25.
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During the full 2025-26 fiscal year, the company’s sales bookings rose 16 per cent to ₹20,530 crore from ₹17,630 crore in the preceding year. The company has given guidance to achieve sales bookings of ₹24,000 crore during the current fiscal 2026-27.