Ban on registering the Unapproved plots in Tamil Nadu

The banning on the registration of plots which are still unapproved is back in Tamil Nadu with full force. The Madras Court on Friday clearly ordered to restrain all registrations of plots which are still not approved or those who apply for the re-registration with pending layout approvals. The law has been confirmed for the next three weeks and till no further notice comes.
Adding to the ban, the Justice M Sundar and the Chief Justice Indira Banerjee asked for all the details of the applicants of registration with unapproved plots in the violation of the court dated as on September 9, 2016, ban order.
The legal justice has stated that the decision for these issues will be taken after a special sitting which will be organised either on May 4 or on May 5.
The law has turned sour after the case that held on September 9, 2016, when the Chief Justice Kishan Kaul rapidly approved all the registrations of the plots which were still not approved or of those who tried to convert farmlands into housing plots without following the rules and regulations. Also, the bench held responsible all the officials who were personally liable for the violation of rules and regulations.

Gudi Padwa, a positive occasion for Pune’s low Real estate

With India’s economy finally growing its pace, Pune’s real estate market is now slowly witnessing a move in the forward direction in regard to the residential sector with a high rise in new residential launches. As prices are now stable and cheap after the announcement of the new set of rules in the Union Budget 2017, experts say that the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa will set a right tone in the minds of buyers to set their pace in investing new property in Pune.
With the storm of demonetisation slowly calming and settling down, Pune real estate is again starting to gather its momentum now. Gudi Padwa, according to experts is expected to give the sector a high increase in demands as residents of Maharashtra prefer home investments on the day. After slowly following this upward movement, Pune’s real estate market is expecting the past inquiries to be smoothly translated into sales. It has been noted that Pune has a huge unsold inventory of its real estate has slowed down since the past one and half years. Even those who cannot afford flats are inquiring for cheap 1bhk Flats in Pune in a relief of low-interest rates from banks and affordable schemes carried forward to them.
After the wonderful festive period, the real estate saw an exhausted inquiry inventory and a piled up sales record. This was due to the belief of auspicious occasion and the pocket-friendly schemes as after demonetization, real estate was one of the major sectors among many to be harmed by the cash crunch. Nevertheless, now as the cash flow in the bank is back to normal, the pace of remonetization has grown up faster than it was actually expected. Again, realty market in India has witnessed some big reforms like Benami Transactions Bill, RERA, or GST which are directly aimed at giving the sector of residential spaces transparency and more credibility.
It has been clearly seen in the country that a big investment like gold or property is considered more sentimentally than economically. Therefore the festive occasion added on to the sentiments and increased the sale to next level. Gudi Padwa, which marks a New Year in Maharashtra saw a huge increase in the sales as well as the new launched by reputed builders and developers of the state. Many people book their new homes or host housewarming parties in this occasion. Thus, Maharashtra real estate defines it as its level best on this day.

Regular efforts for affordable housing for all

Metropolises such as Noida are under scrutiny and major comprehensive plans are being drawn to build better infrastructure. The Centre is facilitating adequate amount of funds for urban local bodies in states to make cities more liveable by providing them more and more properties in Noida. “We are taking into account the, roads, water supply etc. and creating a major five-year development plan,” Naidu said while talking about Bengaluru, Pune and Noida cities. He stated that more and more 1bhk flats in Noida will be created so as to provide the urban localities the desired liveable surroundings.

State participation is the major key to achieving adequate infrastructure and it is therefore the essence of realising the ‘Housing for All 2022’ dream. Affordable housing will be a success only when these type of states perform. Around 23,000 houses still lie vacant in Delhi alone because of lack of infrastructure and therefore their buyers. “Where there are people there is a shortage of houses and now there are houses but nobody interested to reside in them. It is proving to be a grave problem,” said Naidu. The main infrastructure concerns that needs to be seriously looked after are drainage, sewage, main roads, byroads, rain water drainage, maintenance of water bodies, etc.
It is now supposed to be joint effort by the Centre, states and local bodies. People only set their keen eyes on better quality and good services. If the states can figure out a method to provide the correct measurements then there’s no going back. “They should try and study the development patterns of several states. Learn from other’s mistakes,” suggested Naidu.

Anand Rathi and Knight Frank Eye the Second Realty Fund

Anand Rathi Financial Services and property consultancy Knight Frank India are planning to launch their second real estate fund by end of this months and looking to raise around Rs 500 crore (~$100 million), sources close to the development told VCCircle. Unlike its peers who are hitting foreign shores to raise new funds, the joint fund rental yield and appreciation portfolio (RYAP) fund will be raised from the domestic market.  Like its predecessor, it will invest in commercial assets in tier I cities which include Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, National Capital Region (NCR) and Chennai.

The fund would be targeting returns of 10-12 per cent from its investments and expects to stay invested in an asset for four-five years. A senior executive of the joint venture fund house who did not wish to be identified, said, “We are waiting for final Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) guidelines as right now there is no clarity on registration of funds and other norms. Once we have clarity on the same which we are expecting by mid-May we will register and start our fund raising process.”

In April 2, markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had unveiled its final norms to regulate AIF’s in the country. Fund managers expect the detailed guidelines to be issued in the next two weeks.

Knight Frank India and Anand Rathi Financial Services had joined hands two years ago to raise Rs 225 crore rental yield fund. It has invested Rs 135 crore from the existing fund in two projects including Hub town Ltd’s commercial project in Mumbai and Cerebrum IT park development by Pune-based Kumar Urban Development Ltd.

India: ICICI Bank eyes growth after strong Q4

ICICI Bank, India’s No. 2 lender, posted on Friday a larger-than-expected 31 percent rise in quarterly profit and forecast a higher growth rate for domestic loans and stable asset quality for the coming year.

Loan demand in India is expected to pick up after the central bank last week cut its benchmark lending rate for the first time in three years to help revive sagging economic growth. The Reserve Bank of India has projected loan growth for Indian banks for fiscal year 2013 at 17 percent against 16 percent in the previous year.

ICICI expects its domestic loans to grow 20 percent in the year that began in April from 17 percent last year, driven by demand from companies for working capital, home and car loans, Chief Executive Chanda Kochhar told reporters.

“These numbers may give us comfort to keep what we have (but) we don’t have any particular plans to increase our stakes. We have concerns about the India story in general,” said Olsson Jan-Olov, portfolio manager of Carnegie Emerging Markets at Sweden, which owns ICICI shares.

“We have been a little hesitant towards increasing positions in India due to the overriding political and macro economic situation.” Earlier this week, Standard & Poor’s cut India’s credit rating outlook to negative from stable on hefty fiscal and current account deficits and political paralysis in Asia’s third-largest economy.

The negative outlook jeopardises India’s long-term rating of BBB-, the lowest investment grade rating. Indian banks are actively easing terms on loans for companies, as high interest rates and an economic slowdown has hurt the ability of some to repay loans on time. Power, textile, aviation, construction and real estate are the hardest hit sectors.

ICICI, which is also listed in New York and competes with State Bank of India and HDFC Bank, sees a “very small” and “minimal” pipeline for corporate debt restructurings, Kochhar said.

Sahara, ICICI, Bhushan Steel in race to buy Parsvnath’s Connaught Place land.

Sahara Group, ICICI Bank, Bhushan Steel, Bharti Realty, Red Fort Capital and Shri Lal Mahal are understood to be in the race among others to acquire Parsvnath Developers’ 1.18 acre of prime commercial land near Connaught Place in the National Capital.

In January, Parsvnath had announced plans to monetise the KG Marg land, which it had bought for Rs 200 crore in 2008. Parsvnath, which is eyeing about Rs 700 crore from sale of this land, got the building plan approved from local authority last week and potential buyer can start construction on the land immediately after the deal, sources said.

“The first round of bidding and due diligence have been already completed. The process will be expedited now as the company was waiting for the building plans approvals before it starts negotiation with potential buyer,” a source, who is involved in the process, said. Sahara Group, ICICI Bank, Bhushan Steel, Bharti Realty, private equity firm Red Fort Capital, rice company Shri Lal Mahal and one leading realty firm from NCR have shown interest in buying this land, sources said, adding that Parsvnath had got bids up to about Rs 700 crore in the first round of bidding.

When contacted, Parsvnath Developers Chairman Pradeep Jain said: “The process for sale of this land is on. We cannot comment any further.” Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle India is helping Parsvnath in this deal. The built-up area allowed on this prime land is about 1.5 lakh sq ft with 300 car parking. Realty consultant said that prime office buildings near CP are currently commanding a monthly rental of 350-400 per sq ft.

Although Jain did not give any timeline for completion of this transaction, sources said that the deal could be closed in this quarter. Parsvnath has a net debt of about Rs 1,200 crore and plans to reduce it to about Rs 500 crore by utilising the proceeds from sale of this prime property. The company has two housing projects and several shopping malls at metro stations in the National Capital. It is setting up an office building near Gole Market here with an investment of Rs 300 crore.

That apart, Parsvnath had bought in 2010 a 38 acre of land near Sarai Rohilla from the Railways for Rs 1,651 crore, making it the second biggest land deal in Delhi. The company, in partnership with Red Fort Capital, plans to provide luxury housing and commercial space in this project. Parsvnath, which has a land bank of about 200 million sq ft across the country, had received private equity funding from Sun Apollo and JP Morgan in some other projects in NCR.

 

 

Piramal Realty Acquires Gulita For 452 Cr From HUL.

Piramal Realty has acquired Gulita – property in south Mumbai from Hindustan Unilever for R452Cr. Piramal Realty is planning to develop high-end luxury apartments on the one-acre land and Ajay Piramal might keep a part of it for his personal use, given the premium location, according to ET.

Gulita is a one-acre property in Worli Seaface, which used to house a training centre and private residences of senior executives of Unilever’s Indian arm.

Gulita was built in 1968 and the land was taken on a perpetual lease from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation–the Mumbai civic authority. The property was put on the block after the company set up a new campus in the suburbs of Andheri and shifted its training facilities there.

Since HUL put the building on block, it has attracted several buyers which included Anil Ambani, Gautam Adani, Oberoi Realty and Sahara.

Last year, Piramal Realty acquired a plot of land in Mumbai from Mafatlal Industries Ltd for about R760Cr. Khushru Jijina – MD of piramal Realty said that the company plans to develop five residential projects in Mumbai at an estimated investment of about R1500Cr. The company will develop about 30 million sq. ft. through land acquisitions funded from its own sources.

Recently in real estate space, Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd sold 2 acre plot in Mumbai to Adani Enterprises for R900Cr to repay its debt. Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Private Limited, the Trustee-Manager of Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) has acquired two operating Buildings in Hitec City 2 Special Economic Zone in Hyderabad, India, from Phoenix Infocity Pvt Ltd for R176.5Cr; while IL&FS Investment Managers bought Logix Group’s four office buildings in Noida for R600Cr.

 

 

HUL sells leasehold rights for Mumbai property

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) on Wednesday said the company has sold its leasehold rights of a property in Mumbai for Rs 452.5 crore to Ajay Piramal Group firm Piramal Realty.

HUL and entities of Piramal Realty have signed an agreement for assignment of HUL’s leasehold rights of the land and building named ‘Gulita’ situated at Mumbai for Rs 452.5 crore, HUL said in a filing to the BSE.

The consideration includes both fixed and variable components, it added.

According to sources, realty consultant Jones Lang LaSalle India negotiated the deal on behalf of Piramal Realty.

The property was taken on lease from Maharashtra government by HUL and used as a training centre, a source said, adding Piramal Realty will use the premises to develop a new residential complex.

In the past few years, HUL has been selling off some of properties it owns, including some in Gurgaon and Mumbai, to unlock value.

Shares of HUL today closed at Rs 399.55 on the BSE, down 1.08 per cent from its previous close.

Real Estate Sector: A look at urban investments in Mumbai.

India’s growth story has many facets; one of the integral parts of growth – and arguably the most important one – is urbanization. In fast-growing economies, cities are significant investment and employment generators, which in turn carry the growth momentum forward. The sustainability and liveability of any city depends largely on the quality of its infrastructure and real estate stocks. Needless to say, cities also require large sums of money to create urban asset stocks, including buildings and infrastructure.

Over last decade, India’s population grew by 18% while its urban population grew at almost double that rate (at 32%). Currently, about 31.2% of India’s population lives in urban areas. The country’s share of urban population has increased by almost 3.5% over the last decade. What is even more astounding is the increase in the built-up real estate stock in its cities and towns.

Data from the 2001 census shows that about 110 million ‘Census Houses’ exist in the urban areas, which indicates an increase of 39 million over the last 10 years. In other words, real estate stock shows a compounding growth of 4.5 % per annum as against the growth rate of 2.8% in urban population. Obviously, such massive growth needs adequate support from infrastructure.

However, the state of affairs with infrastructure in Indian cities is not very encouraging. Most of the cities still have to deal with issues in terms of roads, public transportation, sanitation, storm water drainage, solid waste management systems, etc. on a regular basis. With the volume of real estate stock increasing inexorably in the cities, there is an acute problem with the basic needs like energy and water in the store for urban India.

The private sector contributes most of the development of real estate stock; however, the responsibility of infrastructure development lies squarely with public sector entities such as ULBs and other utility companies – most of which are Government agencies. The investment pattern in our cities shows a similar trend – the private sector invests in the development of real estate stocks, while the public sector invests largely into infrastructure development.

The quantum of investments in most infrastructure projects is huge, and the agencies responsible for its development are seriously under-financed. They depend either on domestic grants like JNNURM or on intercalation financing involving bilateral and multilateral agencies. In some instances, funds are mobilized from private sources in the form of Public Private Partnership. The private sector generally tends to shy away from investments into city-level infrastructure projects, as most of these projects are considered non-remunerative. They prefer to focus on investing into the development of real estate stock.

Mumbai, India’s financial capital attracts massive investments – largely in the real estate sector. The city being the nation’s epitome of high real estate prices and land scarcity, huge sum of money keep chasing land in the city – while infrastructure augmentation lags behind. Way behind.

Study says that MNCs surpass Indian firms in office space uptake.

With bearish sentiment affecting corporate expansion plans in the country’s financial capital, there has been a steep decline in the commercial real estate taken up by Indian companies. In contrast, multinational companies (MNCs) have picked up considerable office space here.

The latest report by property advisor DTZ comparing the trends in the first quarter of 2012 to the same period last year shows a noticeable change in the profile of the commercial real estate occupier in Mumbai. Between January and March 2012, Indian corporate firms account for 29 per cent of occupiers of new commercial realty space in the city. This is a sharp fall from the 71 per cent market share of new space that these corporates picked up in the corresponding period in 2011.

In comparison, US- and Europe-based corporates were responsible for taking up 5 and 18 per cent of the space in the first quarter of 2011 respectively. In the same period this year, their market share has gone up by 32 and 23 per cent respectively.

According to Rohit Kumar, DTZ research head, an analysis of quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year office space take-up highlights the fact that relative market share of MNCs based out of USA and Europe has increased significantly while that of their Indian counterparts has dropped. “Be it IT, ITES or Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BSFI), the MNCs find India relatively cheaper in terms of labour and real estate. On the other hand, despite the positive growth signals from the US and Europe, Indian corporates are more conservative, fearing the return of recession,” said Kumar.

ICICI Bank and Sahara eye Parsvnath’s prime land in Delhi.

Real estate major Parsvnath Developers may soon be able to reduce a significant chunk of its debt, thanks to certain corporate giants showing interest in buying a prime piece of property it owns in the national capital.

The Sahara Group is engaged in discussions with Parsvnath to buy its commercial land near Connaught Place in New Delhi, according to sources. ICICI Bank is also among the contenders for the piece of land, it is learnt.

The 1.18-acre plot at Kasturba Gandhi Marg was bought by Parsvnath in 2008 for about Rs 200 crore, with the aim of constructing a retail-cum-office complex. But the realtor is now looking to sell it to cut mounting debt, currently at Rs 1,300 crore.

Although the Parsvnath management is looking for a price of Rs 700 crore, the interested parties are ready to sign a deal at Rs 600 crore, sources said. Property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle is advising Parsvnath on the deal.

Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers, did not respond to repeated calls and e-mails. Mails to Sahara spokespersons did not elicit any response.

An ICICI Bank spokesperson said, “ICICI Bank has no plans to acquire this property.”

According to sources, ICICI is exploring the possibility of constructing a corporate house in the locality in partnership with Parsvnath, without acquiring the land.

Earlier, as part of its fundraising exercise, the company had entered into various deals with private equity funds.

In January 2011, Parsvnath signed an agreement with SUN-Apollo India Real Estate Fund LLC for an investment of Rs 100 crore in its premium residential project at Ghaziabad—Parsvnath Exotica. SUN-Apollo had acquired 49.9 per cent stake in the project SPV.

Then, the company sold a minority stake in Delhi-based residential project Parsvnath La Tropicana to JP Morgan for about Rs 150 crore. Through the deal, the previous investor, Red Fort Capital, made an exit. The company had plans to construct an office complex at Connaught Place along with the PE firm.

According to realty experts, demand for land at prime localities has risen as corporate houses look to move their headquarters to such locations.

Anuj Nangpal, director-investment advisory, DTZ India, a real estate consultancy, said, “Organisations are increasingly signaling their arrival or resurgence by moving their presence into the centre of metros. The branding benefit of such ownership of prime real estate far outweighs the costs. Further, employees are also increasingly assessing their jobs and future basis of their office infrastructure and the pride in occupying prime real estate clearly impacts long-term retention.”

Earlier, Business Standard had reported on the discussions being held by textiles major Alok Industries with various large corporate groups to sell its property at Peninsula Business Park in central Mumbai. Alok was looking at a deal in the range of Rs 900-1,000 crore.

Chennai leads Indian Realty Sector.

In a recent report, property broking and real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle said the Indian property market is poised to attract about US$3 billion, almost double last year’s US$1.6 billion, from overseas buyers this year.

The Indian property market will see more investment from overseas this year as it still remains an attractive investment destination globally.

Of this, one-third would be from home buyers and the balance from investors. This is despite the fact that property prices in India are at an all-time high.

According to a recent National Housing Bank (NHB) survey, property prices in big Indian cities have increased by as much as 43 per cent to 166 per cent in the last four years.

NHB, wholly owned by the Reserve Bank of India, lends to home-mortgage companies. It also regulates and refinances social housing programmes. In its report, the bank said Chennai had seen the highest rise in prices at 166 per cent. Bhopal was second with a hike of 117 per cent and Mumbai was ranked third with an increase of 87 per cent.

What then brings overseas investment to Indian property, when prices are skyrocketing? The answer is simple: Despite the global turmoil because of the financial crisis, the Indian economy has remained robust, largely due to domestic-driven demand.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, India’s strong economic growth, rapid urbanisation, growing middle-class population, demographic advantage and increased thrust on infrastructure has worked in its favour. Buying property is especially popular among Indians living abroad, who all seem to want a piece of the homeland. That is why Indian property shows are burgeoning around the globe.

Dubai-based Sumansa Exhibitions has been holding Indian property shows across five countries. And every year the number of developers taking part in the shows and the attendees has grown rapidly.

Sumansa Exhibitions’ chief executive officer Sunil Jaiswal says: “We have held shows in the UK, South Africa, Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore. They have been very well received by both exhibitors and visitors alike.”

This year Sumansa will hold the Indian Property Show in Singapore on April 14 and 15. It will be held at the Suntec Exhibition Centre’s hall 401 and nearly 40 developers from across India will be part of the show.

More than 200 properties will be showcased during the two-day exhibition. Sumansa expects the number of footfalls at the event to be much larger than the 4,000 that turned up at its last year’s event.

Realty Sector in Disappointment

The Union Budget 2012-13 on Friday proposed allowing external commercial borrowing for low cost affordable housing projects.

Presenting the Budget in the Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranabh Mukherjee, also proposed setting up of a Credit Guarantee Trust Fund to ensure better flow of institutional credit for housing loans.

The Minister also proposed to enhance provisions under Rural Housing Fund from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 4,000 crore besides extending the scheme of interest subvention of 1 per cent on housing loan up to Rs 15 lakh where the cost of the house does not exceed Rs 25 lakh, for another year.

Meanwhile, real estate players were disappointed with the Budget saying it failed to highlight the role of the housing sector in the economy.

“The proposal of bringing in an umbrella tax structure to the cement industry will increase the cost of housing and will negate the development process. Also providing ECB to affordable housing is a minor respite to the sector. There is an inherent risk of liquidity drying up wherein the exemption of capital gains tax to invest in small and medium enterprises may result in cash out from real estate,” Mr Lalit Jain, President, CREDAI, the industry body of real estate players, said.

The sector also said that the increase in service tax will increase the cost of construction by Rs 50-100 per sq feet.

According to Mr Anurag Mathur, Managing Director, Cushman & Wakefield India, “The increase in allocation in infrastructure implies a clear intent on enhancing the urbanisation process as well as providing a support to the slowing industrial sector. At the same time the increase in the service tax from 10 per cent to 12 per cent would lead to additional burden on the tenants as the service tax on rentals has remained unchanged.”

Realty Sector has no resurgence.

The latest Economic Survey reveals that the share of the housing sector to the overall GDP is likely to rise by one per cent to 6 per cent on increased investment. Currently, about 5 per cent of India’s GDP is contributed by the housing sector. With institutional credit for housing investment growing at a compounded annual growth rate of about 18-20 per cent per annum in the next three-five years, the housing sector’s contribution to GDP is likely to increase to 6 per cent.

As every rupee that is invested in housing and construction, Rs 0.78 gets added to the GDP. Investment in housing and real estate activities can be considered a barometer of growth of the entire economy. Unfortunately, the 2012-13 Budget does not recognise this. Although the finance minister’s speech concludes by reiterating the fact that there is a need to create an “enabling atmosphere” and that India is on the brink of “resurgence”, he has done precious little to make that happen.

India’s GDP has not been growing as it was sometime earlier was the topic of the finance minister before presenting the Budget. His five-point objective does not really lay any emphasis on the housing and real estate industry. While he has tried to restrict central subsidies to fewer than 2 per cent of GDP to improve the quality of public spending, he has failed to provide for measures which will give impetus to the industry at large, housing and real estate in particular.

The finance minister has permitted external commercial borrowings (ECBs) for low cost affordable housing projects. One wonders if this would do any good, since players in this industry are not used to taking the ECB route for affordable housing projects. This provision therefore does not make sense.

Extending the scheme of interest subvention of 1 per cent on housing loans up to Rs 15 lakh (on houses costing up to Rs 25 lakh) for another year also does not make sense, unless and until the limit of Rs 25 lakh is increased.

Home Loan Rate Should Be Restructured.

With speculations about the Union Budget 2012-13 already doing the rounds, city’s real estate industry too has voiced its expectations. Mainly revolving around increased subsidy on interest rate for loans towards affordable housing and industry status for taxation and construction and relaxation of FDI up to 51 per cent into multi-branding, the industry is hopeful of a favourable budget.

Sushil Mantri, president of CREDAI, Bangalore, says that “The Indian real estate industry was riding through highs and lows in 2011. Last year, one per cent interest rate subsidy was offered for loans towards affordable housing. If the subsidy can be broadened, home buyers especially in mid and lower income groups will benefit.”

“Indian real estate, especially housing needs the government’s support for further growth. The government should consider restructuring interest rates on home loans to attract larger base of lower and middle income group to benefit. For loan amounts lesser than Rs 25 lakh, the interest rate should be lower and should scale up as the loan amount goes higher,” said Sankey Prasad, chairman and MD of Synergy Property Developments Services.

Further the Experts demanded that the glaring concerns of the real estate industry be addressed.

“The real estate industry will be looking forward to RBI’s intervention to control inflation which has adversely affected the industry. If FDI is relaxed up to 51 per cent in multi-branding, this will boost the growth path for the Indian retail industry,” Sushil Mantri added.

Sebi’s Refund Order Diverted

The Sahara Group had challenged Supreme Court against market regulator Sebi’s order asking it to return funds collected from investors through a scheme along with 15 pc interest. The matter to be listed for hearing on 04 July 2011, the first day after the vacations. Sahara India has critiqued market regulator’s move to make its order public when the matter is undecided before the Supreme Court. Sebi on 23 June 2011, had directed two Sahara group companies — Sahara India Real Estate Corp and Sahara Housing Investment to refund the money made from investors.

The Sahara group firm want directions to Sebi to remove the order from its website and restrain the market regulator and its officials from publicizing the order which it has challenged. The Sahara’s counsel argued that the company wants Sebi to obliterate the parts of the order directing it to return money with interest to the investors as it has created a panic among the investors.

Shapoorji Pallonji Group Lays Focus On Infrastructure

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The multi million Shapoorji Pallonji Group, India’s one of the oldest and biggest industrial house, is putting major focus on “owned” infrastructure as far as the roads, ports and power are concerned. This has been done as the company approaches 150th year of operations.

Mr. Shapoor Mistry, Group MD said during a function in Mumbai, “We have done a lot of projects under our company Afcons as contractors; now we will give a greater push for ownership-based infrastructure projects. We have already done some work in these areas, but owing projects would be our key focus.”

The group’s interests lie majorly in Real Estate, Construction, Textiles, Apparels, Shipping and Water Purification Appliances.

Shapoor’s father, Mr. Pallonji Mistry, Chairman, Shapoorji Pallonji Group is reportedly one of the largest shareholders in Tata Sons with 18.5% stake in the salt-software corp. house.

RBI Changes Norms Regarding ECBs

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In a recent development the Reserve Bank of India along with the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion are working to streamline and regulate the access and use of Real Estate Firms regarding the External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs). This will be done through a monitoring mechanism which will ensure stricter norms from now on.

RBI took this step in lieu of Real Estate Companies planning to raise ECBs worth Rs.4000 cr in the future and using this money for activities that cannot be funded through ECBs which will eventually adversely affect our economy.

Presently, Real Estate Companies that are only into developing integrated townships of various sizes are allowed to make use of these ECBs provided it is being used only for activities that are related to the construction of the townships. Now even this window will not be available by the end of this year.

Indian Real Estate And It’s Future

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Indian Real Estate Market has grown with time. The main reason for the accelerated growth can be contributed to the fact that the industry is very flexible in nature.

The development has caused higher aspirations for better standards of living and a good quality of life.

The rapid increase has been because of the relaxed policies of our government regarding Foreign Direct Investment which favors economic development of the country as well as easy Home Loan terms and conditions with an increase in the income of people, degree of urbanization, and their purchasing power. All this has helped shape up the Indian realty sector.

Some of the factors that have given a boost to the Indian Real Estate Market are the FDI policies have increased the amount of Foreign Investment in India. Owing to this our country ranks second most preferred location for Real Estate Investment in the world.

After Agriculture Industry, Real Estate has become the second highest employer.

Real estate whether Residential, Commercial, Retail is being developed on full scale in many different cities of the country.

The large number of people getting education in India will demand over 100 million sq feet of office and industrial spaces.

More so, India has been a host to Fortune 500 companies which in turn attract more companies to make this country their operational base which will also require more office space in future.

Thus it is evident that the Real estate Industry in India will see a lot of work in the years to come.

Andhra’s Realty Sector Grows

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The state of Southern India has shown a demand in Real Estate properties over the last few months which is a good news for the people of the trade.

The Realty Sector in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh has shown sudden upsurge after the recent political turmoil it went through. The demand for both, commercial and residential properties have registered an increase.

The trend is more evident in Tier I and tier II areas specifically; making them high demand markets.

Prabhakar, a Real Estate Sales Officer had this to say on the topic, “Market is improving as of now because of these developments happening in the Hyderabad areas like outer ring road area, Infosys campus and many other areas, so this is the right time to invest and to buy a customer.”

Even the prices of the realty sector have improved as the customers feel Hyderabad is the right place for investment thus increasing the sales.

Raj Kumar, Marketing Manager in a Real Estate firm puts forth, “NRIs, Doctors and Information Technology (IT) people are coming forward for the investment and even some of the central government employees are also coming forward. As you know, now a days comparing with the facilities what we are giving on what rates we are giving, people are seeing benefits and on these bases they are coming forward for investments and showing interest.”

The sector is one of the biggest in terms of number of employees working in the country. It is anticipated that in the next decade the realty sector will grow at a rate of 30% every year. This is bound to attract foreign investors with as many as 30 billion US dollars along with a number of IT parks as well as residential townships being constructed across our country.