Founder & Chairman | Confident Group
Having driven the growth of his thriving multinational conglomerate, Confident Group Founder and Chairman, Dr Roy C. J. has always presented a multinational outlook himself. A Keralite born and raised in Bengaluru, he completed his education in France and Switzerland and worked at Fortune 500 behemoth Hewlett-Packard, before starting his own company in India.
Growing and making it a household name in South India, he later expanded his business to the Middle East. His unconventional decisions and groundbreaking fixes have become the stuff of legend in the real estate industry, while his spirited personality and youthful zeal endear him to those who encounter him. The magnate’s successes have transformed him into a household name, and his unshakable confidence in the face of adversity makes his triumphs all the more warranted.
Positive Success
The dawn of the Confident Group began in 2006 when it burst onto the real estate sector. Spurred by the unique mindset and dynamism of its leader and chairman, Dr Roy, the group has grown over the past 16 years to become a premier property developer in India and the Middle East. From its inception and rise in Bengaluru to its expansion into the Gulf in 2006, the company has earned a reputation for innovation and unconventionality thanks to the powerful moves crafted by the distinctive perception that its leader brings to the table.
Reflective of the varied interests and curiosities of its intelligent and self assured head, the enterprise has diversified to build a stunning portfolio that includes a myriad of connected and stand-alone verticals. It includes the hospitality, entertainment, education, golfing and retail sectors, as well as the international trade of building materials.
A passionate believer in the value of recession, Dr Roy is convinced that it maps the regional market in all its glories and pitfalls. The self possessed captain of industry launched the firm while going against the grain of the time. As the dot-com bubble crashed around the world, wreaking financial havoc, the magnate swam against the tide armed with nothing but his stalwart business acumen and the confidence in himself to keep flourishing even while on rocky terrain.
Undaunted in the face of adversity and by the tough market situation, he not only ventured into a new industry but successfully navigated the tricky stumbling blocks of starting and cultivating a new business from scratch, while successfully and simultaneously exploring the interest loops and debt traps that plague investment-heavy businesses such as real estate. Not one to stop at the already stunning achievements of simply keeping a business afloat in murky financial waters of the time, he even shaped the business to ensure zero debt on any real estate project that he developed, a factor unique in a capital-intensive industry and where debt is the norm.
Building Up A Business
Today, the Confident Group has grown into a multinational conglomerate unmatched in its quality and transparency in the property industry. An unrivaled instinct for knowing where to direct his attention has enabled Dr Roy to ensure a profitable and thriving business that is going strong. This translates to a mammoth 165 projects, with the construction, development and sale of over 43 million sq. ft. of development and over 15,000 satisfied customers.
Every single project has appreciated multi fold from the time of launch, yet another unique feat in the real estate industry and that the group can be proud of having achieved. Famous for making choices that fly in the face of traditional practice, and yet yielding astonishingly good results from the start, the real estate mogul’s intuitive choices defy expectation and cannot be ignored.
An example that comes to mind is the time that the Confident Group was attempting to sell an Indian property with 96 flats in the Dubai market, and their best sales members were returning to their Bengaluru headquarters empty handed.
Dr Roy turned his discerning mind to the matter and unexpectedly decided to celebrate the return of his employees with a small gathering. Naturally, his employees were dumbfounded, as most would be. After hearing them out and grasping the fine details of the matter he astounded them yet again by asking his senior architect to double the number of flats being built to 192.
He then took a meeting with the company bank and went on to create a never-before-seen real estate banking scheme wherein the customer forgoes the traditional 20 percent down payment and pays only 10 per cent, with a O percent interest rate. So effective was this avant-garde plan that it resulted in the sale of the original 96 flats within a remarkable two-day time period.
While Dr Roy thanks the Almighty for his near-clairvoyant flair for selecting the right properties to invest in and build on, the industrialist nurtures his business deeply, spending an average of 16 hours a day on working and fostering its growth. The group’s property portfolio is neatly divided into three subcategories within Kerala, aimed at capturing every real estate market segment.
While Lifestyle Plus projects offer luxurious and picturesque homes at the heart of Kochi, catering to the affluent segment of the region through spacious, premium living spaces, the ever-popular midrange ConfiLuxe Homes delivers top-of-the-line amenities at key locations throughout Kerala. The Smile Hornes Projects focus on bringing compact, modern residential spaces that are located surprisingly close to city hotspots all across Kerala, making them valuable investments.
While the group has cultivated an extensive number of properties in Dr Roy’s native state of Kerala, with a further 17 projects in its roster, the metropolis of Bengaluru has also received significant attention and interest from the enterprise. Indeed, the city lies at the heart of the company’s inception. In a classic example of the business leader’s innate sense for real estate, he acquired a 300-acre land bank in the city’s Sarjapura town for a steal, while the area was on the cusp of emerging as an IT hub.
Dr Roy is also being credited by one and all for his vision that Sarjapur would in turn become the hottest location in future. As a representative of the private sector, Dr Roy also single handedly made sure Sarjapur turned out to be the hottest development on the Bengaluru map.
The property’s price skyrocketed a hundredfold over the 15 years it took to develop, transforming it into an invaluable asset that paid for itself multiple times over. Not one to limit himself to a single avenue when more remain to be explored, the tycoon has also forayed into commercial real estate, intending to sell as well as rent.
He also branched out into hotels through a gorgeous and sumptuous South Indian style resort, aptly named Natures Luxuri, which caters to those interested in experiencing a blend of extraordinary comfort and the lush greenery of nature. An exclusive residential property that stands out among the Confident Group’s portfolio in Bengaluru is Zion Hills Golf County, a Rs3,000 crore investment project developed with zero debt.
The epitome of opulence, the award- winning golf realty provides elegant condominiums and villas to a community of prosperous professionals across a resplendent and commercially converted single piece of land that covers nearly 300 acres. Home to a golfing academy and resort, the property thrives thanks to the rustic chic environment it has fostered, and the delightful range of outdoor activities it offers, including fishing, bird watching, camping and stargazing, among others.
In The Driver’s Seat
While the business mogul thrives in the real estate world and spends a large portion of his day tending to his property empire, Dr Roy enjoys the remaining portion of his time by spending quality time with his loving family – his wife Liny Roy and two children, Rohit and Ria. Dr Roy’s trust and respect for his wife are evident in the fact that she heads the group’s hospitality ventures and the wholesome family values that they jointly have taught their children.
His son and daughter have learned that the value of a person lies in their character and attitude, and to value the same in themselves. It is a sign of a man who keeps his eyes and ears peeled for opportunities to grow that the interest he shares with his son Rohit, who heads the International Business & Design vertical at Confident Group, and has slowly built up a collection of assets worth reckoning.
That their mutual love of high end sports cars led to the birth of a collection to boggle the minds of conventional car collectors is well documented. However, a lesser known fact about the astute businessman is that Dr Roy approaches the purchases of these iconic, limited edition cars as a business too, with each asset appreciating multifold in value over the years, accentuated by their luxurious exclusivity.
The Power of Diversion
It was inevitable that Dr Roy’s striking and charismatic personality would steer the course of his business towards the entertainment industry. The group ventured into the segment in 2012 through the release of the popular Malayalam film, Casanovva. Believed to have been produced with the largest budget ever in the history of the Kerala film industry at the time, it found production support in the group’s entertainment arm.
The business has since gone on to fund 11 more films in Malayalam and Kannada. Continuing its tryst with high-budget films, the Confident Group also co-produced Marakkar, the Malayalam film with the highest budget ever and that starred veteran Malayali filmstar, Mohanlal. Dr Roy also recently produced the Malayalam film, Mei Hoon Moosa, starring versatile actor, Suresh Gopi.
It feels natural that the founder would turn his attention to the entertainment industry since it was Dr Roy’s brilliant brainchild to market Confident Group through the funding of the now megahit Kerala TV talent show, Idea Star Singer way back in 2006. Dr Roy is also credited with sponsoring over a dozen of the big budget TV reality shows. The fact is, Dr Roy’s hands are gold, and every reality show he has sponsored has become a mega hit.
Connecting Communities, Building Relationships
Over the past quarter of a century, the real estate baron’s achievements have elevated the Confident Group to the very pinnacle of success in the industry, which is also the result of Dr Roy’s long-term strategy of gathering the perfect team for the job and fostering a rich, rewarding relationship between them and the enterprise.
Perhaps, it was this ability to connect hearts with commercial activities that caused the Slovak Republic to appoint Dr Roy as the honorary consul of the nation. He was appointed by the government of the Slovak Republic and dipomatically recognised by the President of India, affording Dr Roy the opportunity to oversee and promote trade and business relations between India and the Slovak Republic. His consulate is based in Bengaluru, with his jurisdiction encompassing the states of Kerala and Karnataka.
Philantrophy and Charity
Dr Roy was at the forefront during the mission to rebuild the houses for the many who lost the same in the floods in Kerala. At last count, close to 100 homes were rebuilt with full cost borne by the Confident Group. The group has also funded more than 100 open heart surgeries, with the only criteria being that the patient be the sole bread winner in the family.
Multiple camps for cataract and eye care for the aged have also been organised by the group, as well as multiple camps for dialysis patients, free donations of dialysis machines to hospitals, and highly discounted medicines for cancer care. The Confident Group also sponsored the fees for dozens of students who lost their parents during the pandemic and also for children of single parents struggling to meet their daily needs.