Textile company Raymond plans to move towards realty sector. The initial project would be to develop the surplus land of 15-20 acres in Thane, where its factory is located. Mr Gautam Singhania, Chairman and Managing Director, Raymond, said in a press conference that the primary focus would be in the residential segment and funding would be from internal accruals. He further said, “This proposal is in line with the strategy of the company to unlock value of the land.” Further he added that it was subject to shareholders’ approval.
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India’s FDI increases
India’s FDI inflows reached to 41.5 billion dollars last year, constituting 9.6% of its gross fixed capital formation, against just 1.9% annual average in 90s.
India attracted 41.5 billion dollars in FDI last year, its outward flows or overseas investments amounted to 17.7 billion dollars, roughly 4.1% of its gross fixed capital formation. This is in sharp contrast to its meager annual average overseas investments of 110 million dollars for last decade, when such outward investments comprised 0.1% of its gross capital formation.
The FDI stocks of India, which were just 1.6 billion dollars in 1990, zoomed to 123.3 billion dollar in 2008, constituting 9.9% of GDP, against a paltry 0.5% of GDP in 1990. In the case of China, such FDI flows, which were 20.7 billion dollars in 1990, leapt to a whopping 378 billion dollars last year.
In the case of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, Indian companies’ net sales surged from an annual average of 282 million dollars during 90s to 4.4 billion dollars in 2007 and to 9.5 billion dollars in 2008. Against this, Indian companies’ purchases of overseas firms which averaged 104 million dollars annually between 90s rose to a peak of 29 billion dollars in 2007 and came down to 11.6 billion dollars last year in the wake of the onset of the global economic and financial crisis.
Two Indian companies, Tata Steel and ONGC, found a place among the top hundred non-financial transnational companies from developing countries, ranked by foreign assets in 2007.
Realty co plans separate account for lavish project
To bring in more transparency to its accounting procedure, Bangalore-based real estate developer Lalith Gangadhar Constructions will maintain an exclusive construction escrow account with Kotak Bank for the LGCL-Ashlar project it is developing in Garden City.
The Rs 150-crore project comprises 63 villas on 7.75 acres, each carrying a minimum price tag of Rs 2 crore.
The developer plans to launch two more luxury format projects. The company will keep the budgeted construction cost for the project in a separate construction escrow account from payments received from the home-buyers. The funds here will be used solely for project construction.
El Forge to sell Chennai property
The Chennai-based El Forge Ltd is selling its land at Thuraipakkam for ten crore rupees as part of its restructuring plan. The company, which made a loss of Rs 18 crore last year on a turnover of Rs 87 crore, will make a substantial profit on the transaction.
Company officials do not want to disclose the profit figure, pending conclusion of the transaction. The transaction is likely to be concluded in October and as such, the profits will be reflected in the accounts of the third-quarter.
The plant and machinery at Thuraipakkam have been moved to Appur, where a new facility has come up at an investment of hundred crore rupees.
Mr K. V. Ramachandran, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, said that the company is also shifting machinery from its leased facility in Gumidipoondi to Appur. It also has plant in Hosur. Across these plants, the company has an installed capacity is 21,600 tones a year.
Shriram Properties and Career Launcher tie up
Shriram Properties and Career Launcher have tied up to open a chain of 25 Indus World Schools in townships developed by Shriram Properties.
According to Career Launcher, a leading education service provider present in 200 locations in India, West Asia and the US, initially, Indus World Schools would come up by 2010 in Shriram Properties townships being developed in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam.
Over the next three years, 25 such schools will come up in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
As per the agreement signed by the two partners, Shriram Properties will provide the infrastructure and Career Launcher will bring in its education expertise.
Indus World Schools are operating in Hyderabad, Indore, Mandi, Bhiwani, Raipur, Ahmednagar, Amritsar, Gurgaon and Noida.
City Corp Launches Apartment Exchange Scheme
City Corporation has started apartment exchange scheme. This exchange scheme meant for its future customers who would exchange their present house with an apartment in the firm’s Amanora Park Town project in Pune. City Corporation would buy old apartments from customers, renovate them and sell-off through an established network of real estate agents.
City Corporation is developing a 400-acre township named Amanora Park Town in Pune, which would have 12,000 apartments in different categories. As per this scheme, a flat owner, who wishes to buy an apartment at Amanora Park Town, would hand-over power of attorney to City Corporation at a mutually agreed price. This amount would then be considered as down payment for the new apartment booked in Amanora Park Town and the flat owner would continue to stay in the old flat till the new flat gets ready.
Companies with land bank turning realtors
The revival of riches in the real estate sector has encouraged textile companies with huge land banks to enter into property development.
Among such companies are textiles major Bombay Dyeing and Century Textiles.
Golden Tobacco, manufacturer of the Panama and Chancellor cigarette brands, is also considering to have its real estate arm to utilize its land assets across the country.
Earlier, groups like Tata, Mahindra and Godrej also entered the realty space. The Tata group has Tata Housing and Tata Realty while Mahindra’s venture is called Mahindra Lifespace Developers. Godrej’s venture goes by the name of Godrej Properties.
Ansal to Invest 20 Billion Rupees on Townships
Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd will invest twenty billion rupees in the this fiscal year as it seeks to capitalize on the demand for low-cost housing in India.
The investment will be the last installment of a total of sixty billion rupees earmarked last year by the company as the main investment to develop nineteen integrated townships over five to seven years. Ansal Properties spent forty billion rupees of the total in the last fiscal year.
Higher borrowing rates and property prices and fear of job losses in a slowing economy had hurt the demand for real estate in India last year. But, a series of stimulus packages and a reduction in loan rates by commercial banks are leading to a gradual recovery in demand this year.
Unitech presents Unihomes
Unitech Developers are now concentrating on Kolkata. They present new stylish affordable residential apartment Unihomes at Kona Expressway Kolkata with lots of modern amenities. Unihomes offers one and two bedroom apartments that are suitable for contemporary urban living. A desirable and contemporary place within the reach of your pocket. Apartments Price is starting at eighteen lakh rupees and above.
Mafatlal puts property on the block
Photo by truedudiMafatlal Industries has put an eighty five thousand sq ft property in central Mumbai on the block hoping to generate between Rs 100 cr and Rs 150 cr. The proceeds will be used to revive the operations of the loss-making company.
A senior company official confirmed the decision to sell the property and said the bidding process could start within a couple of days.
Located at Lower Parel, the building called Mafatlal Chambers B, is one of the many properties in the city owned by the group.
Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), the international property consultant, is advising Mafatlal Industries on the deal. Industry trackers said the prevailing rate for commercial property in central Mumbai is in the range of Rs 15,000-20,000 per square feet. The minimum bid price for this property has been set at Rs 11,000 per square feet.
Omaxe to develop Hi-Tech Township in Lucknow
Omaxe Ltd. is going to develop a Hi-tech township spread over about 2700 acres in Lucknow the city of nawabs. Garv Buildtech Private Ltd, a subsidiary of Omaxe, has entered into a MoU to develop the said Hi-tech Township in Lucknow.
The Hi-Tech Township which is expected to yield estimated revenue of over Rs 2800 crores will be executed over a period of 5-7years and is slated to cater to the growing demand of quality living space in the city. The township is strategically located on the proposed Lucknow Ring Road in close proximity to Lucknow Airport and only half an hour drive from Hazratganj, center of Lucknow city.
Speaking on the announcement, Mr. Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Ltd said, “The hitech township is an attempt to recreate an entirely new living experience in the city of Nawabs. There is already substantial pressure on the existing infrastructure and this township will attempt to ease the demand by providing state of the art facilities in close quarters. This hi-tech township will indeed reinforce the commitment to develop and deliver a world class product to the new aspiring class of local residents and the migrants from other cities.”
HDIL to offer Rs 350 cr as income
Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd stated that it had agreed to offer about three hundred fifty crore rupees as income to be booked in the remaining quarters of this financial year to the Income Tax Department. This follows an Income tax raid on HDIL office premises and promoters’ residences. HDIL said that the income calculated by Income Tax Department was based on initial entries in its books of accounts mostly relating to current fiscal year, which the company would have irrespectively booked during the current financial year on completion of transaction and taxes paid. HDIL said that there was no hidden income, tax evasion, levy of penalty for previous or current year.
Maytas Properties likely to get liquidity
The Government-appointed Director and the promoters of Maytas Properties are near to brokering a deal that will help the unlisted entity address the main problem of liquidity to complete projects.
This infusion of liquidity could be through bringing in another developer into the company as an investor by leveraging the large land bank created over the years.
The Government-appointed Director, Mr Ved Jain, said, “We are at an advanced stage of negotiations with various lending institutions and real estate players and could potentially manage to bring in a developer as a strategic partner.”
Fifteen realty firms waiting to enter market
Fifteen real estate companies are waiting in the wings to tap the capital market to raise upto 6 billion dollars with the housing sector showing signs of recovery. This list includes Lodha Developers, Oberoi Constructions, Emmar MGF and Godrej Properties and many more. These firms wanted to come out with the IPO earlier, but held them back due to bearish market. The success of a real estate IPO would depend upon corporate governance, background of the companies and the right pricing among others. Start-ups and relatively unknown firms would face difficulty to raise funds from the market. Almost USD six billion private equity fund was also likely to come in the six to eight months time to the domestic real estate bazaar.
Big Deals in Real Estate
With a recovery in the residential portion of the real estate sector gaining ground, developers in Mumbai are banking heavily on the premium category. While relatively older apartments in South and central Mumbai continue to command a premium, new properties in these locations have not been left behind. Developers said that the big-ticket deals in the sector are in the range of Rs 5 crore to about Rs 35 crore. The price starts from twenty-five thousand to one lakh rupees per square feet. Among the properties that are bringing in high levels of interest are Mantri Ruby in Walkeshwar, Orbit Arya in Nepean Sea Road and Mittal Grandeur in Cuffe Parade. Adjoining areas like Worli Seaface and Mahalaxmi are also viewing concern from buyers. A deal for the sale of a new apartment in Cuffe Parade was hit at Rs 33 crore, with the transaction expected to be completed in about a month. One more property in Cuffe Parade, Mittal Grandeur, has an asking price of fifty crore rupees per apartment. This is for eight thousand square feet property having six bedrooms.
PE invite into housing sector in the works
The government is preparing guidelines for the participation of PE funds in housing sector under the Rajiv Gandhi Awaas Yojana. The scheme aims to make a slum-free India in five years with construction of over 10 lakh houses. The government wants to connect with private funds to provide affordable housing to millions of households under the scheme. As per IDFC Projects Equity managing director Sachin Johri, a large number of PE’s are willing to take stake in such projects to an extent of 40-50%.
GMADA to start land pooling
The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority will implement a land pooling scheme for three major projects.
Farmers whose land will be acquired for the road linking S.A.S. Nagar international airport with Zirakpur and Patiala, Kharar-Desumajra airport road stretch and Mullanpur Urban Estate will be able to avail benefits like owning a plot. Under the scheme, a farmer will be made owner of 50% of land after GMADA develops it into a residential, commercial or an institutional plot. For 1 acre of land, a farmer will be given a residential plot of 980 square yard and commercial plot of 121 square yard in the developed area. The GMADA will also pay rent to farmers till they are allotted plots. The collector will fix the rent.
GMADA wants to popularise the land pooling scheme and have launched an awareness programme. However, it won’t be binding on the farmers to toe the GMADA line. In case any farmer does not want to opt for the scheme, GMADA will pay him cash fixed by the Land Price Fixation Committee.
The GMADA had decided to acquire 771 acres of land to build 200-metre wide road from the international airport to a site near Chhat village on the National Highway 64. On both sides of the road, some area will be allowed for mixed land use, implying that people can run commercial activities.
The GMADA will acquire 260 acres for KhararDesumajra-airport road stretch and 444 acres for Mullanpur Urban Estate.
Notifications for two projects have been issued while that for Urban Estate will be done soon.
Navi mumbai is good for commercial real estate
Navi Mumbai is the best place to invest in commercial real estate. Commercial options in Navi Mumbai span a huge price band. Growth of the residential segment in Navi Mumbai, before that of the commercial segment, actually works out in favour of the end-user.
Commercial real estate in Navi Mumbai comes at competitive prices along with other options in the Mumbai metropolitan region, with the benefits of being located in a well-planned city.
IT/ ITeS SEZs and businesses that have anything to do with rail/road transport and logistics or shipping, are proving to be the next big segment in Navi Mumbai’s commercial spectrum.
Realty prices unlikely to rise in recent future
Real estate prices are unlikely to go up in the next six-months and the industry may witness huge volumes of sales of residential properties.
According to Mr. Niranjan Hiranandani , MD of Hiranandani Group of Companies, “There is a huge improvement in real estate and prices will not increase, at least for the next six months.
Further he said that in the last two months, they have seen sales of almost eight thousand apartments in the Mumbai region alone, spread in all sectors of the real estate market, but especially focused on the lower segment. But they see across-the-board increase in demand.
Oberoi Constructions plans IPO early next year
Real estate firm Oberoi Constructions plans to launch its IPO early next year.
The IPO may happen in the first quarter of next financial year.
The Mumbai-based developer has “delivered” four million square feet of property and plans to add another four million square feet in the near future.
The share offering would be utilized to “fund growth” in the company. They already have a very decent land bank. They will use the cash for business and further land acquisition.
Mothercare-DLF JV
Mothercare, a UK retailer for kids and expectant mothers, is forming a JV with DLF. While the company would continue its existing franchisee agreement Shoppers Stop, it hopes that the new JV will give it greater control over its Indian operations and ability to expand quickly in one of the fastest growing economies.
Mothercare was committed to its ongoing expansion in the Indian market. The company has twenty-one stores in affiliation with Shoppers Stop. Mothercare had been in discussions with DLF and the Tata Group retailer trent for a possible equity partnership in India.
Tata Housing in talks for fund
Tata Housing is in initial talks with 2 PE funds, Sequoia Capital and Atlanta Equity, to raise funds for its multiple affordable housing projects, signaling that the PE players were willing to return to the real estate projects that offer good customer demand and less risk.
Sequoia and Atlanta have begun talks with the Mumbai-based realty firm to pick up minority stakes into its existing low-priced housing project in Boisar near Mumbai and three other affordable housing projects expected to be launched.
The two PE players want to pick up stake in Tata’s projects because they are low-risk projects with decent returns, the person close to the development said, adding that PE players could expect a return of 20-30% in these projects.
Sequoia Capital had marked around $1.8 billion out of its total ten billion dollars to India. If a deal with Tata Housing goes through, it could perhaps be its first in the real estate. Ditto for Atlanta Equity, an Atlanta-based $109-million fund founded in 2007.
RBI Revised Guidelines
The Reserve Bank of India has issued revised guidelines on banks’ exposure to commercial real estate. The strategies say about the property where repayment of loans solely depends on the property itself and not on its expected profits.
Where repayment mainly depends on other factors such as operating profit from business operations, quality of goods and services, tourist arrivals etc, the exposure would not be counted as Commercial Real Estate.
Banks may extend funds to public agencies for acquirement and development of land, provided it is a part of the complete project. Where land is obtained and developed by state housing boards and other public agencies, banks may extend credit to private builders on commercial terms by the way of loans linked to each specific project. Banks have no right to extend facilities to private builders for purchase of land even as part of a housing project.
Bank finance can also be approved to individuals for purchase of plot, in such case a declaration is needed from the borrower that he intends to construct a house on the said plot.
Plaza Centers to invest three thousand crore
Zuri Group Global is planning to invest about twelve hundred crore rupees for setting up five-star business hotels and luxury residential properties over the coming three years.
The investments would have a debt-equity ratio of 70:30. The company was open to raising funds through the private equity and IPO routes.
The Bangalore-headquartered company plans to open three to four hotels of 150-175 rooms each in Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Nagpur, Delhi (NCR) and Mysore entailing investment of Rs 800 crore over next three years.
Zuri was also planning to start constructing this year its luxury villas and apartments in Goa, which would entail an investment of Rs 400 crore including land cost. Zuri had acquired 300 acres for the project. The approvals for the project are in place and the villas are expected to be ready in 18 months from zero date.
Mumbai flat got record Rs 28 crore
Residential real estate prices are growing in Mumbai very fast. The highest price stands at Rs 97,842 per square feet for a flat at NCPA Apartments. The transaction took place about fifteen days ago in the Maker Tower B building located close to the World Trade Centre at Cuffe Parade.
In November 2007, the largest-ever residential transaction on record was completed when a four-bedroom flat at NCPA Apartments at the Nariman Point end of Marine Drive fetched a price of Rs 34 crore.