Author Archives: vishal

Memorandum to Govt. from CREDAI to Take Off Service Tax

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Ministère des Finances QuébecApril 14, 2010

A memorandum has been submitted to the Finance Ministry concerned with the appeal for removal of service tax on housing complexes under construction by CREDAI, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India which is a real estate industry body.

The Chairman of CREDAI, Kumar Gera stated that they have put forth their concerns and suggestions and also discussed the probable impact of the provisions with the Ministry. An understanding of the problem and required corrective steps will be taken is a hope from the government. The list of recommendations was built in consultations with KPMG, its knowledge partner and was submitted to Y G Parande, a Finance Ministry Member (Budget).

According to Gera, the money collected through the imposition of service tax on real estate development will not be big enough; rather it would majorly lead an overall negative sentiment and a net loss of revenue.

In budget 2010, it was announced by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, the Finance Minister that a tax would be imposed on the housing complexes under construction but later it was clarified by the officials that service tax would be imposed on 33 per cent of total selling price. This was interpreted by the real estate players as a 3.5% price escalation for the buyers.

According to CREDAI, it was an impractical proposal to levy service tax on construction of complex since would lead to government giving preference to the secondary market of completed projects.

Realty Sector Urges FM To Revisit Budget

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The urban development ministry aims to seek a review of the proposal to get the service tax duty on sale of housing projects under construction which had been proposed in budget 2010 from April 1, 2010.

Delhi Properties - Real Estate India - Unitech Verve
Photo by nancyarora2020The urban development Minister Mr. S Jaipal Reddy said at the national conference on Indian Real Estate “The urban development ministry feels the proposal of service tax needs review. I am recommending the review of the proposal. I think the real estate sector in India is not in pink of health right now and we cannot afford to add pressure on that,” he said, adding that suggestions would be made to the finance minister in the next few days.

The conference on Indian real estate was held by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India ( ASSOCHAM ) on Friday, March 26.

Realty sector has suffered the most after the global meltdown started in September 2008 and has just started to witness marginal pick up in demand. Real estate players are already pushing the government to withdraw the service tax imposed on the housing sector (at 3.3%, with abatement), as it would dampen the buyers.

“This is not the right time for service tax implementation as the government’s objective is to encourage people to own houses. We have to wait for another month or so to see if the finance ministry listens to our request,” told KP Singh, Chairman, DLF Group.

Mr. Reddy said that the government wants “vertical growth” of cities contrary to urban sprawl due to shortage of land and a more flexible floor-area-ratio (FAR) regime. A high FAR limit will allow more storeys’s to be built in the houses.

He quoted a report from the UN Habitat which showed, by 2050, 1 billion people of India will be living in cities. Reddy said to the reporters “ Urbanization is not only inevitable but also desirable,”  but further added that urban development has been a subject of “benign neglect” over the years as the issue fell in the domain of the state governments.”

Another suitable point that has been an issue for real estate companies is the number of clearances one has to take for the beginning of any project. “Today, there are more than 50 agencies from where we have to take our clearances. We have to ensure that the best way forward is to have a single window system as it would not only save time, but also ensure transparency,” said MD, Raheja Developers Ltd, Mr. Navin M Raheja.

“It is very important to have a single window clearance system in real estate sector,” put forward Anil K. Agarwal, Past President of Assocham.

All we have to wait for is the finance minister’s stand.

Cement Industry Seeks Profit

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There is good news for cement industry as it is expected that the sale of cement is going to witness a rise in demand from realty sector and construction companies by 12 per cent to 20 million tones this month. As compared to the same period last year, the Sales for the building material grew by 11per cent in January and 4.3 per cent in February this year.

Cement Plant V
Photo by xdjioOn the last day of the current financial year, March 31, Cement companies are supposed to announce the sales data. “Our initial estimates show that March sales will be higher compared with the first two months of the current year,” said Mr. Rupesh Sankhe, Angel Securities Cement Analyst. He added that the sales could go up by 12 per cent in March.

The increased sales in March can be accounted to high inventory levels from the month of February, the analysts say. “There was a shortage of wagons last month and many companies were unable to deliver the commodity to retailers,” Sankhe said.

The major players of Cement industry like Aditya Birla, Jaiprakash Associates, Dalmia, JK Lakshmi and Shree Cements, registered high growth last month and are expected to grow this month too keeping in mind the higher consumption. It is interesting to note that these 5 companies together account for almost half of India’s total cement capacity of 240 million tones.
“Demand for cement is robust and the industry will see healthy growth in March, said Mr. Hari Mohan Bangur, Managing Director of Shree Cement. He added that the growth rate will continue as long as there are no dampening factors.
Apart from the recovery in realty sector, analysts say a sharp increase in sale of cement can also be due to the government’s focus on infrastructure in the five year plan.

Thus the cement industry can only expect profits in the near future.

Comeback Of Realty

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Halifax's Version Of 'Repent Sinner' and 'Riot 2010'
March 26, 2010

Towards the end of 2009, remarkable appreciation in values has been observed by the residential markets across big cities of India. Report by Wakefield and Cushman informed that in the two key residential markets in India, Mumbai and NCR, this trend is most prominent. In these areas, as compared to the same period of last year, values in Oct-Dec 2009 were appreciated.

Since Mumbai and NCR are one of the high demanded markets, both from the investors and consumers, it witnessed a faster recovery than other cities. As a result of economic slowdown, these investors were backing out their requisites which had brought a kind of uncertainty in the job markets. But on the other hand, this slowdown brought affordable housing to the consumers which in turn led to sharp upward correction in the capital values and strong recovery in the economy.

Since in NCR, a large number of projects were sold out as soon as they were launched, it can be concluded that the demand for the housing which seems to be affordable, i.e., ranging from 20 to 40 lakhs was quite high. Recently, 500 flats offered by Supertech in Noida at a cost of 9.75 lakhs are sold out just after its launch. Due to the new trend, volume of transactions has been aggrandized.

However, this trend can continue only if the government takes back the extra burden of the 10.3 percent service tax which was announced in the budget 2010 on the sale of flats before there completion. This may make the projects under construction more attractive.

Need to Monitor Realty Sector

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When Developers Attack
Photo by bec

In India there is no qualified consumer movement supported by thorough research conducted by voluntary research organisations to recommend the avenues for investment in property. The

The present enhancement in realty prices throughout India has given a new outlook to the investment in realty. The resources in real estate have slided from need oriented to profit based.  Last five years advancements have brought 300% to 400% returns in finance in realty sector.

The legal system in India is so over hindered and costly that the investors are considering surrendering their money as a good option than to knock the law doors which is benefitting the estate agents.

The enforcement of Consumer Protection Act 1986 acted as the turning point in the Indian history. The common educated man is enlightened now but what is the immediate need is the a Ralph Nadar who makes the mass awareness.

A step forward was initiated by the voluntary organisation, Common Cause, headed by of HD Shourie towards promoting an organisation to infuse discipline among various participants of the industry.

1) This organisation demanded a National Real Estate Development Council, which aims at administrating various actions related to realty.

2) Another method included allocation of ratings to builders.

The activities of guiding these authorities should cover all sectors concerning real estate development. There should be similar authorities in all big cities enforced by Central Government. The concerned delegation should maintain the records for the past projects including purchases and deposits of individuals.

With the proposal of any new project there should be strict instructions to get the details registered with the related authority for the property developers. All transactions related to finance should be governed by authority to avoid misuse of investor’s values by developers.

There should be regular inspection by the authority by visiting sites to supervise the construction schedule given by builders. The authority should also have the power to increase the deadline of the project completion.

If in case any builder fails to complete the project within the predetermined period even after the extension of the deadline, then the project should be given to a new builder in the same condition as it is keeping in mind that the investors should not suffer. Such builders should be discarded and should be charged a heavy penalty.

SBI May Give Reason to Cheer

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Bank to every Indian
Photo by RamNMarch 25, 2010

After the budget 2010, SBI brings a gleam of hope for home loan borrowers as it plans an extension in the home loan relief plan.

SBI, the State Bank of India, one of the largest lenders in India, has indicated that although there would be slight changes, but it may still consider continuing its much-talked-about 8 % home loan scheme. One of the top officials of SBI said that even though they bring modifications in their products, which tune with their liquidity position normally they don’t kill any product. However, the banking major have not yet formally announced the extension of the bid whose tenure gets over on March 31.

The corporations like ICICI Bank and mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation which are the major competitors of SBI also copied this scheme of SBI but later withdrew them because the RBI disapproved such products and drying liquidity.

But according to the officials it is one of the best home-loan plans in the market since it assisted other sectors to grow like cement and steel. It is a very successful offer. It also tremendously contributed to the overall economic growth.

However, the ‘teaser’ schemes were not liked by the Reserve Bank since it was related with the ability of customers to pay the rates of interest when it got back to the usual level after the period of this scheme expires.

RBI Deputy Governors, Usha Thorat and K C Chakrabarty, had openly expressed their concerns about the scheme. “Teaser rates…

Indian Hospitality Industry, an Appealing Investment Area

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Raffles Hotel
March 23, 2010

Now-a-days, an interesting investment area for the global hospitality companies is the Indian hospitality industry. Many global hotel chains are now moving towards India for expanding their domain. The limited number of hotel rooms in the country is giving opportunity to these companies for big betting.

Some of the companies that plan to enter India include Thailand’s Amari, Fairmont Raffles Hotels, US-based MGM Mirage Hospitality, Golden Tulip Hotels, Europe’s Corinthia Hotels group, Movenpick Hotels and Resorts etc.

As estimated by industries, approximately 40 international hotels are there, which are likely to be operational in the country in the next 3 years. The entrance points include all the upper scale, middle-scale, economy and budget.

Amari, the Thailand based Hotels, to launch Amari India, has signed up a joint venture with Mandeep S Lamba. It plans to expand into India with the confirmation of its first property deal in Delhi by April 2010, which will be usable in 2011. Amari takes Indian metro and tier-II cities as expansion opportunities and plans to build up seven hotels and resorts within the next 5-7 years. Locations and developers have also been pinpointed in Delhi, Mumbai and Goa.

MGM is also looking ahead to launch many hotels in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kerala, Kolkata, NCR, Rajasthan and Goa. Bringing in Bellagio, Skylofts brands and MGM Grand out of its global portfolio is also one the plan.

Accor and Four Seasons, the existing ones are also upholding presence in the Indian subcontinent. The holder of five hotels already, Accor, is now aggrandizing its network to 50 with 10,000 rooms in 15 cities by 2012.

The Indian Hospitality Industry-An overview

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Indian hospitality industry has emerged as a hotspot destination for investment for the global hospitality companies in the last few years. Many leading global hotel chains aim to enter India in the near future and the ones that are already present in the country as of now are eager to expand. The companies are betting big on dearth of hotel rooms in the nation.

ATTARD - Hôtel Corinthia Palace
Photo by Michel27Industry estimates say, in the next 3 years there will be about 40 international hotels operational in the country. These global chains plan on catering to all the classes—the upper scale, mid-scale, the economy and the budget.

Some of the chains that are set to come to India are MGM Mirage Hospitality a US-based firm, Amari from Thailand, Fairmont Raffles Hotels, Golden Tulip Hotels, Movenpick Hotels and Resorts, Corinthia Hotel group from Europe, Carlson, Starwood, Choice, Marriott, Accor, Hyatt, Intercontinental and Hilton.

Amari Hotels is set to launch Amari India and is searching for expansion opportunities in the Indian metro and tier-II cities to open seven hotels and resorts within the next 5-7 yrs. Likewise, MGM Mirage Hospitality aims to sign management contracts with realty sector developers as joint venture initiatives with local companies to set up hotel properties in the country.

Kaushik Vardharajan of HVS Hospitality Services said that, “India is more profitable for global hospitality firms than the international market. There is huge demand-supply gap which offers opportunities for international firms”. Data gathered by the firm shows that the international and domestic hotel chains had announced in August to build at least 9400 rooms in the country but the actual construction is underway for 3,840 rooms only.

Another hotel chain, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International is in advanced stage of discussions for properties in Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Goa and Chennai.
Golden Tulip is looking to add 10 properties which totals to 800 keys across tier-II towns by the end of the next financial year.

Four Seasons, a luxury hotel brand is in various stages of discussions with developers for constructing properties in Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune and Goa. “There is enough room for several players to enter the market. India will become a major market for our company,” said Director Marketing Four Seasons, Sanjiv Shukla.

Accor, which has five hotels at present, will expand its network to 50 with 10,000 rooms in 15 cities by 2012.

ITC Welcomgroup plans to add 40 hotels to its 113 under four brands out Of which 25 are under the Fortune brand of business hotels. Senior Executive Vice-President at ITC, Pawan Verma said that “We are attached to the ground unlike them (international chains). We excel in Indian hospitality”.

The Taj Group is growing furiously both in the country and abroad. It is looking to roll more than 70 new hotels in 4 categories including its budget brand Ginger to add to the 105 hotels out of which 17 will be abroad.

However, falling rates of up to 18 per cent over last year has become a cause of concern for these hospitality chains. In 2008-09, the average room rate was Rupees 7,800 which has now reduced to Rupees 6,396 per night.

Still it will not be wrong to say that Indian hospitality is in a state of war where hotel rooms are being built like army barracks.

Renaissance of Realty Sector

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Delhi Properties - Real Estate India - Unitech Verve 1

In last few months Indian real estate has undergone a reawakening enforced by a noticeable increase in the level of construction activity of low-budget housing coupled with low home loan rates reached an all time low in the last few years.

As researched by Boston Analytics, the Indian realty sector has undergone an increased supply and pace of development activity which brought an improvement in pessimism associated with the realty prices. A low interest rate on home loans driven by Government’s impetus packages have also catalysed the Indian consumers to buy homes.

“Increased supply, improvement in pessimism related to realty sector rates, and low rates of interest on home loans seems to be encouraging Indian consumers to firm up their home purchase decisions” as said by Shirin Bagga, Economist, Boston Analytics.

The data was collected by conducting a monthly survey that targets 10,000 respondents cross 15 Indian cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Nagpur , Ahmedabad , Kochi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Patna, and Vishakhapatnam.

According to the recent reports the conviction concerned to speed of construction activity conveys more anticipation with regards to observed change in construction activity in Tier II and Tier III cities relative to Tier I cities. The real estate projects which are in different phases of completion in all levels of towns and cities appear to be introducing optimism about the expected change in construction activity among respondents across Tiers,” the report said.

As brought into light by Economic Survey of  FY 2009-10, the need of the construction and real estate sector in creation of both financial and physical assets has been amplifying over the years. The construction sector now accounts for 8 percent of GDP at constant prices, hiked from 7.7% in 2004-05.Equivalently, the share of real estate ownership of dwelling and business services in overall GDP as hiked to 9.2 percent in FY 2008-09 from 8.9 percent in 2004-05.

HNIs Going For Commercial Properties

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Cornhill, Shanghai Commercial Bank
March 20, 2010

You need to give a second thought if you believe that commercial properties are purchased only by companies to aggrandize their business plans. Forthwith, money is put into commercial properties by High Net worth Individuals (HNIs) too.

In the past, the New Age Indians were just confined to investing in residential properties, but it does not goes for now-a-days. The trend is growing fast. According to the CMD of PropEquity, Samir Jasuja ,a large no. of HNIs will look ahead to buy commercial properties if banks do not show aversion to giving loans to individuals in order to invest in commercial properties. He added “the fact that banks do not show any positive response to sanction loans to individuals in order to purchase commercial properties is not a secret anymore. The status is same all over the world. That is why you cannot compel only our banks.”

The reason behind banks avoiding loans disbursal to individuals in investing in commercial properties is that the rate of default is very high in this segment as compared to residential properties. Thus, banks joyfully give loans for residential properties while they are not that interested when it comes to loans for the investment in commercial properties.

The director of Century 21 India, Anu Gupta suggested that HNIs should make investments in commercial properties as investing in them could prove to be highly beneficial as far as their return is concerned. The underlying reason would be that while they could go for bank loans up to 75-80 % for such purchases, the compensation of such loans could be set off against the rental incomes from such commercial properties. Therefore, as the retail/commercial industry grows, by investing a portion of the full price, an investor can gain a high-value asset, which will not only give maximum return (thanks to the set off provision in IT against rentals), but could see a significant appreciation over a period too.

New Courses In Real Estate

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IDS National Institute of Real Estate Management (IDS NIREM) has come with an idea to develop human resources for the Indian realty sector focusing on Real Estate Education, Training, Consulting & Research. Acknowledging the urgent need for specialization in realty management education it recently launched a PG Diploma course in Commercial Real Estate (PGD-CRE).

fresh off the stage
Photo by FoxtongueIt will be a one year distance learning course patterned on MBA in Real Estate. IDS NIREM also proposes the course at diploma and certificate level.

The Diploma course will be offered in two divisions. First is for those who want to commence their career in real estate including the fresh graduates and MBA’s. Second, for already existing real estate professionals who either want to amplify their learning or want to ace in commercial property sector. This course will focus on knowledge as well as practical skills to analyze, acquire, finance, and operate realty sector resources.

NIREM promises to provide PG level degree, diploma and certificate courses along with MDPs, Consulting and Research in different fields of real estate. In addition to these learning programs, it also plans to develop touchstones for real estate sector, retail & institutional investors and other stakeholders

The courses offered are:

Post Graduate Diploma Courses

  • Post-Graduate Diploma in Commercial Real Estate
  • Post-Graduate Diploma in Real Estate Sales & Agency Management

Diploma courses

  • Diploma in Commercial Real Estate
  • Diploma in Real Estate Sales

Certificate Courses

  • Certificate in Real Estate Management
  • Certificate in Commercial Real Estate

TCI Consolidates

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401_3076
Leading interracial supply chain and logistics solutions provider firm Transport Corporation of India Ltd declared this week that its board advisory  have approved the consolidation of its real estate & warehousing undertaking into a new company named TCI Developers Limited (TDL).

The company sent a press statement via email saying that the demerged entity would have properties and investments with a book value of Rs 50 crore. The company presently has realty properties in major cities including Delhi, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Nagpur and many more.

The management conceives that the company’s Real Estate & Warehousing undertaking has the capability to expand the company’s existing real estate into commercial ventures and create a focused entity to develop large scale logistics infrastructure projects like  truck terminals,multi-modal logistics parks,  free trade warehousing zones and a lot others.

By developing a separate entity like this, the management determines to provide strategic direction and raise adequate funds for its development plans on the strength of its future profitability and growth plans in the Real Estate and warehouse construction sector.

The company’s Executive Director Vineet Agarwal said in the press statement, “Investment in realty  & warehousing is more capital intensive and yields return over a longer period of time in comparison to the services model of the logistics business. Going forward, on a long term basis we would look at raising funds from strategic investors and financial institution”.

GGP Hearing Likely to Defer

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US Bankruptcy Court
March 19, 2010

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Allan Gropper was told by General Growth on Thursday that because of the complications and size of more than 6.5 billion dollars of amendments from its associates Fairholme Capital Management and Brookfield Asset Management, the company needs extension of time to finalize its accords for its plan to say goodbye to bankruptcy.

A lawyer for General Growth told that by Friday, the scheme was to be filed with the court, and instead by the end of next week it would be ready to file. It would impel the hearing date on the scheme back from its scheduled April 13 date to a date not yet finalized, although the judge raised the chances of April 15.

According to a recent Morningstar report, the Simon Property Group’s offer is $10 billion which averages to a share of about $9. The offer from Fairholme and Pershing gives GGP 10 dollars per share for the restructured firm and a share of 5 dollars for General Growth Opportunities a new annex. The Simon and Fairholme offers can’t be equated because they are grouping different pools of estates are the words of Raymond James analyst, R.J. Milligan.

On Thursday, Shares of General Growth in the New York Stock Exchange were up 2.5 %, or 40 cents, at 16.24 dollars. Simon shares were down 1 % at 84.79 dollar.

Metro Mall

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One of India’s Major Real Estate Firms Mantri Developers based in Bangalore announced the opening of one of India’s largest malls Mantri Square. The main attraction of the project is metro connectivity in the mall itself.

Mantra Square was inaugurated on Tuesday by B S Yeddyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka. The mall will be located at Malleswaram, north Bangalore and spread over 1.7 million square feet which will be built with an investment of over Rs 500 cr. It will boasts of 252 retail outlets) offering 10,000 brands; said Mr. Sushil Mantri the Chairman and Managing Director of Mantri Developers. Mantri square will generate direct employment for about 4,600 people.Mayakovskaya

The  connectivity of the mall to railway station is being jointly developed by the metro rail authorities and Mantri developers. Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) has signed first-of-its-kind joint venture with this realty firm to develop the commercial hub-cum-metro station. It will be the first station to be constructed on a public-private participation model. According to the, Sources Mantri and BMRCL have entered into a revenue-sharing agreement for the proposed station. BMRCL will get 1per cent of the revenue earned annually for 30 years, and the percentage will go up to 5 after that. The land will belong to BMRCL but Mantri will spend Rs 35 cr to develop the station, and then construct a commercial tower over the station. According to the agreement, BMRCL will lease the space above the station for 99 years and after the 5-acre property is developed, it will be transferred to BMRCL.

The station becomes operational in two years time frame and is expected to provide an additional footfall of 20, 000. The footfall is expected to go up to one lac a day once the station gets started. The station area would cover around 80,000 sq feet and a third party will be involved to maintain it.
The mall would be responsible for introducing some leading international brands first time in the country and many national brands launching their outlets for the first time in the city.

Mr. Mantri said, “Mantri Square is going to be the largest mall in India. It will undoubtedly be the most sought after destination amongst discerning shoppers and for brands of repute as well. The sheer scale of offerings at the mall came only second to the detailing that has gone into ensuring a world class shopping, leisure and entertainment destination.”

Shopping in this mall will be one of its kind experience for sure.

Realty Promises a more Cautious 2010

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pinnacle@duxton.jpg
Indian developers are looking forward to more feasible studies of any project before actually launching them so that they can avoid the excesses that resulted in the real estate downturn in 2009.

They are sending out a message that antagonism in the market will not be accepted any more and gigantic projects will be replaced by developments that buyers want rather than speculators.

Some fairly new measures will be taken in such a sector dominated by family-run businesses. According to property consultants they are entering into strategic alliance for labour and raw material, appointing project management consultants, and outsourcing construction work for faster delivery.

Aditi Vijaykar, executive director (residential) at Cushman and Wakefield India said,‘Builders are back with a bang but not an aggressive one. They want to try out new locations for projects and are trying to test a product before launching it’.

India’s largest developer by market value, DLF, will not buy land in current year and the next neither it will launch any new projects until and unless it has regulatory approvals. Presently the working capital model of DLF will depend on cash flow from pre-sales, customer advances and bank debt. Though it is not that easy to stop abstract buying, but a system like one home per family is required.

The realty sector is now conducting feasibility studies on the sizes and pricing of homes to ensure the right profile for its projects which was rarely done in previous years. Developers are also looking at special purpose vehicles or joint ventures instead of purchasing land outright. The real estate firms are also raising money though initial public offerings are aiming to use the funds for ongoing and proposed projects or to retire debt. This is extremely different from what it was done in 2006 and 2007 when everybody was interested in making money.

Parsvnath Developers wants to construct around 45 million square feet of space in the next 24 months and build around 1.25 million square feet in the last quarter. There is a need for the developers to ensure a rational profile for their projects.
Ramesh Jogani, managing director and chief executive of Indiareit Fund Advisors recommended that there is no need to build a 30 to 40 storey tower but just offer a mid-range quality product.

Oracle Brigade Deal couldn’t Get Through

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Northstar Brigade, Bangalore
Brigade NorthstarMarch 17, 2010

Oracle India lost the deal it was planing with Brigade, a  Bangalore-based Group, for a 1.2-million square feet trade space in its project.
In order to consolidate its numerous leased spaces in Bangalore, the IT major, Oracle, had planned an office space in Brigade Northstar,a tower complex with  30 floors within Brigade Gateway.
Oracle informed its employees through an email that the deal couldn’t get through, so pursuing this location is not the plan now. Around 8000 employees were supposed to be transfered to the facilities of Northstar.
Northstar is a part of Brigade Group’s 40-acre township called Brigade Gateway and includes apartments, Sheraton Hotel, malls and Columbia Asia Hospital.

It could have been proved one of the major deals if it could get through. Also, this deal could bring a profit of Rs. 600 cr. to the brigade. Oracle was after Brigade since last six months but the deal could not get through since the differences over in the prices could not be settled.
In around 12 months from November 2009, the first team will be shifted to the new location was the upcoming plan of Oracle. Centralising its administrative functions and common operations and common operations was another plan.

Paid Advertisement Models

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Cost Per Mille (CPM)

•    The price of 1000 banner impressions in dollar currency is reflected by CPM.
•    The no. of impressions solely act as the measure of payment.

Advantages
•    Exactly how many times the banner will be shown and his daily / total costs are known to the advertiser.
•    When buying media against a specific site / ad spot / URL, it is a common model.
•    Since the publisher knows exactly what the expected credit per impression is, it is prioritized first by ad-networks.

Disadvantages
•    Very weak correlation with sales or leads.
•    No indications for the advertiser on campaign, media or banner quality.
•    When dealing with multiple sites or ad spots, advertiser might receive cheap media instead of effective media.

Pay Per Click (PPC)

•    The host receives revenue from advertiser only when his ad is clicked.
•    The two ways of determining the payments to be made:

Flat Rate PPC

In this model, the publisher and advertiser agree upon an amount that is fixed and will be paid for each click.

Bid Based PPC

In this model, the host is informed by the advertiser about the max. amount that he or she is willing to pay for a given ad spot (often based on a keyword).
NOTE:
•    Precautions to be taken in order to avoid CLICK FRAUD.

Cost Per Click (CPC)

•    It can also be referred as pay-per-click (PPC) from the publisher’s point of view since the advertiser pays only when a click is made on a banner impression.

Advantages
•    The daily / total costs would be known to the advertiser since he would already know exactly how many times his landing page / site will be clicked.
•    Until enough clicks are being generated, the banner will be shown.
•    When looking for exposure with no direct lead or sale goals, it is a common model.
•    By optimizing ad-networks, CPC is optimized quiet fast to generate high CTR.
•    Good pointer for banner quality.

Disadvantages
•    Weak correlation with Leads or Sales.
•    Depends on the click tracking technology.
•    Weak performance matrix, exposed to click frauds.
•    No pointer for campaign quality (only banner quality).
•    Cheap media instead of effective media might be received.

Cost per Acquisition (CPA) / Cost per Sale (CPS) / Cost per Lead (CPL)

•    The payment is made explicitly per transaction type made by end user.
•    Payment depends either on the cost of sale, cost of lead or a % of the sale’s credit.

Advantages
•    The payment is made in accordance with results only.
•    Advertiser prefers this model since he has zero risk in it.
•    Low possibility of frauds.
•    The banner will be shown for unlimited time period.
Disadvantages
•    Premium media will not be allocated by the publisher.
•    Not a favorable model for publisher.
•    Depends on conversion tracking technology.

Dynamic Cost per Mille (dCPM)

•    For the advertiser and the publisher, dCPM is the most appropriate model.
•    As long as advertiser’s eCPA is under his CPA goal, he abides to advertise.
•    As long as the CPM received by publisher is higher than the competing advertisers, he abides to advertise.

Advantages
•    Payment made by advertiser is in accordance with the results only.
•    Advertiser is required to pay a minimal price as an advance.
•    Balance between publisher’s profit and advertiser’s risk is good.
•    Low possibility of frauds.

Disadvantages
•    An advance amount of advertiser is on stake.
•    Depends on conversion tracking technology.

Emaar MGF Launches New Project in NCR

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Photo by paul goyetteIndia`s one of the leading Real Estate Developers, Emaar MGF Land, recently announced the launch of a new mid-income family housing project `Palm Hills` in NCR.

It will be located on NH-8 at a prime location in Sector 77, Gurgaon. The total investment will be Rs 500 cr on an area spread over 29 acres with the scenic view of the Aravalli Hills.Palm Hills are located at only a 20 min drive from Delhi`s International Airport and surrounded with green landscaped areas with Spanish styling architecture.

Palm Hills offers to house about 1250 units with an expectation to rise up to Rs 3,850 cr. With a starting price of Rs 48 lacs the company has already sold 650 units in the first phase. These apartments will give a feeling of a villa with unique features that no other developer serves. These will include 3BHK and 4BHK apartments with 1450sq ft to 1950 sq ft per villa. The villas have efficient floor plans and offer the choice to make amendments to maximize living space.

“The launch of Palm Hills marks the obligation of Emaar MGF to continuously develop properties with modern design concepts and gives the experience of living in a gated master planned community a new definition.”  Said Mr. Shravan Gupta, Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Emaar MGF. He further added that “The exhilarating response on the very first day of the project launch is an indication to the predominating huge demand for quality housing in the mid-market segment”.

The rocketing success of Emaar MGF can be guessed by taking a look at their reserves. They have a land bank of 11,340 acres including the Commonwealth Games Village. They are currently working on 29 projects.

Emaar MGF which is a joint venture between domestic firm MGF and Dubai-based Emaar Properties is planning to utilize Rs 1,972 cr for part re-payment of debt of over Rs 5,800 cr. It will also be investing Rs 276.8 cr in paying development and license renewal charges in the coming year.

Truth Behind Declining Realty

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Pranab Mukherjee

FINANCE MINISTER MR.PRANAB MUKHERJEE


Few days after the budget is announced the Realty Industry started showing discontent in concern with the service tax policy announced by the union finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee. The Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) with the Surat Builders association wrote a letter dated March 5 to the finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee asking to withdraw service tax imposed on sales and renting of commercial and residential spaces.

In the letter to the Centre, the association has also said that a inclusive action plan for urban housing is necessary as there is a shortage of 27 million houses in the country presently.
President of Surat Builders’ Association and the vice-president of Gujarat chapter of CREDAI Tarun Rawal said that if we look at the population explosion in the city the figure has gone up to 46 lacs very fast but there is a shortage of about 5 lacs shelters in the city itself. He added that the need for sustainable housing in most of the big cities is huge and to fulfill that we must have a central policy and plan to guide it.

The association compels the Union finance minister to look into the matter of service tax imposed on housing sector as the sector is crucial for growth to create affordable housing. Slum re-development and integrated township incentives are also required. “Only if this is provided the sector will be able to fulfill the need of a growing nation,” said Rawal.

It is argued by real estate developers that the imposition of service tax will eventually make buying houses more difficult for the middle and lower classes. Similarly, service tax on rented property will adversely affect sectors like IT sector since they are already showing declining trend when the US restrictions have affected them.

What the finance minister decides is what should be looked for now.

SEO Link Building

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Iced link
Link Building

Link building is one of the first tasks thrust upon marketers new to the web. It is critical to the success of businesses of all sizes. The marketer’s focus must be to improve their ability to drive the traffic. Links create credibility, visibility & direction for the www’s audience.

Importance of Links

Link building efforts in the SEO world are done to improve a site’s search engine rankings. Some methods are:-

Gaining Direct Traffic

Spiderability is not the only focus of our website. Web users visiting sites can and (hopefully) do click on those links, generating direct traffic

Visibility, Branding & Influence

By participating in the community around our niche and building content worthy of links and discussion within said community,

Improves Trust from Search Engines

Trusted domains have proven over time (ironically, through the acquisition of thousands of trusted links) to be worthwhile and reliable sources of quality information about their given subject matter.

Links as Votes

A link to a particular page is equivalent to a vote by the linking page for the linked-to page. Links from web pages with high PageRank would be more valuable than links from low PageRank pages.

Properties of Link Building

Structural characteristics of links that can help make them most effective:

  • Anchor text

Anchor text is the actual text that visitors click on to follow a link

  • Link location

Where in a site’s page structure our link is found: shallow or deep.Shallow links are links to your site’s homepage or top-level category pages. Deep links, on the other hand, are links to more specific pages such as individual articles, blog posts, tools or other content.

  • Link intention

Engines have gotten better and more efficient at measuring the  quality and intention of link patterns.

Art & Science of Direct Link Acquisition

Asking for Links: As with any human interaction, spending some time participating in blogs and forums on sites that could help us.

Offering Compensation: Sometimes we may ask for a link and may receive a convoluted set of conditions, reciprocations and other such hullabaloo in response.

Targeting Content: create some content on our site that we think would be of interest to the site we want a link from.

Social Media Link Building

Sites where you build a profile, page, comment in forums or otherwise interact in a way that allows for inclusion of information about your site and (more importantly) links to yourself are sprouting up like weeds all over the web. They can provide good exposure and even the occasional, valuable link.

Link Baiting

Link baiting is the concept of creating content primarily for the purpose of gaining links. Large social media are widely read by tech-savvy audiences that tend to be more than willing to give out links to content they find valuable, interesting or amusing. Any potentially viral content can make for good link bait.

Some other Relevant Methods

  • Spin Articles: Practice of using the same article multiple times, but swapping out keywords or sentences to make unique articles
  • Submit articles to article syndication sites
  • Content building for links
  • Content Sharing
  • Press Release
  • Pay-Per-Click (PCC)

All about SMM and SMO

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Media is a source in which people gain Information, Education, News.

Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. It is “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”

Examples of social media software applications are:-Blogs: (Blogger, WordPress), Micro-blogging: (Twitter), Social networking: (Facebook, LinkedIn, Orkut), Wikis: (Wikipedia), Social bookmarking: (Delicious, StumbleUpon), Social news: (Digg, Reddit), Photography and art sharing: (Flickr, Picasa), Video sharing and Music and audio sharing: (YouTube, MySpace Music), Presentation sharing: (slideshare), Community Q&A: (Yahoo! Answers, WikiAnswers).

SMMLibros
Photo by grunge

Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. According to Lloyd Salmons, first chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau social media council “Social media isn’t just about big networks like Facebook and MySpace, it’s about brands having conversations.”

SMO

Social Media Optimization (SMO), a new term that was recently coined by Rohit Bhargava, is the methodization of social media activity with the intent of attracting unique visitors to website content. SMO is one of two online methods of website optimization, the other method is search engine optimization or SEO. With SEO the goals are clearly defined, you’re trying to make a website visible in the search engines. But Rohit defines the goals of SMO as “The concept behind SMO is simple: implement changes to optimize a site so that it is more easily linked to, more highly visible in social media searches on custom search engines (such as Technorati), and more frequently included in relevant posts on blogs, podcasts and vlogs.”

He lays out 5 rules for SMO:

  1. Increase Your Linkability
  2. Make Tagging and Bookmarking easy
  3. Reward Inbound Links
  4. Help Your Content Travel
  5. Encourage the Mashup

The Importance of Social Media Marketing– Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.

There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again.The tangible benefits for a website:
1. Links = Better Search Engine Rankings.
2. Primary + Secondary Traffic = Community/Supporters.

Social media has modernized the business community. It has become the new “tool” for effective business marketing and sales. Social mediums are not only a way for businesses to interact with consumers but also a source of networking and communication between people and this is the reason for its popularity.