DLF, India’s largest property firm, on Friday said it plans to enter the low-priced home segment, in live with what much of the real estate industry is already doing. A senior executive at DLF said the realtor did not have any immediate plan to mop up capital through equity route or to list DLF assets, a company owned by DLF promoter that purchases assets from the realty firm. DLF plans to launch three to four million sq ft of residential space in the ‘value’ segment in the second half of this fiscal, DLF CFO Ashok Tyagi told analysts on a conference call. The company describes ‘value’ homes as ‘small size units at lower prices’ and expects to work on a margin of 25-30% in this segment. These homes will be launched in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon. “The value segment will be reason ably significant contributor to our revenue in the future,” DLF vice-chairman Rajiv Singh said, denying that it was an attempt at catching up with rivals. Most aggressive real estate players, including Unitech and Jaiprakash Associates, have already launched the so-called ‘value’ or ‘affordable’ homes and reaped the benefit of larger demand at lower prices. These developers reduced sizes of apartments in their projects in orders to bring down the total cost of apartment to levels seemingly attractive to home buyers. DLF’s second –quarter analyst presentation also mentions that the proposed value homes will be launched under a distinct brand. Unitech already has a separate ‘Unihome” brand for its low-priced homes. DLF sold 2.74 m sq ft of residential space in the September quarter, but was seen by many analysts as being a little more cautious than its smaller rivals in launching projects. Mr Tyagi said fewer launches was to avoid ‘getting locked in sub-optimal margins’. With price recovery on its way, DLF would launch more project now, he added. The Delhi-based firm said it was on course to raise Rs. 5,500 cr through sale of non-core assests this fiscal and had raised Rs. 1,064 cr s far. The asset sale transactions have been on a no-profit no-loss basis, Mr Tyagi said. The realty giant also plans to reduce its net debt of Rs 12,135 cr at present to Rs 6,199 cr by fiscal-end through cash generated by asset sale and operational surplus.