Vijaya Bank has prepared a blueprint for taking its business from NRI accounts to five thousand crore rupees by 2011.
At present, NRI accounts contribute almost thirteen hundred crore rupees to its consolidated business volume.
Vijaya Bank Chairman and MD Albert Tauro said, “We are working on ‘Mission NRI 5000’ to grow to five thousand crore rupees in the segment by financial next year”.
Further he added, “We plan to grow both in terms of clients and volume in this segment, especially in Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, but it would need some seeding time”.
Besides, the bank has taken lead in financial inclusion and branch-less banking by opening almost a million no-frill accounts.
He added, “We will soon launch mobile banking facility and up our number of branches and ATMs to 1200 and 500, respectively, across India”.
He pointed, “Our CASA stands at 24% and we are targeting CASA level of 28% by the end of current financial year”.
Tauro informed, “The bank has successfully brought down its cost of deposit and raised yield on deposit. This has improved our net interest margin from 1.68% to 2.38%”.
The bank had so far restructured and rescheduled Rs 2,400 crore worth of loans, especially to the MSME, housing and real estate sectors.
The CMD was in town to inaugurate ten new branches in Lucknow region. The branches were opened in Lucknow, Badaun, Fatehpur, Hardoi, Pilibhit, Sultanpur and Hathras districts.
Tag Archives: Real Estate
Developers show anger for new bill
A draft bill on real estate regulator that will protect the interest of home buyers by ensuring a transparent and healthy real estate sector has drawn the anger of developers.
According to Mr. Kumar Gera, Chief-CREDAI, “The government is trying to play nanny to the home purchaser”.
According to the new bill, a builder will have to register a project with the regulator before he does marketting for the properties. For this, the builder will have to submit a documentary proof of land ownership and the mandatory licenses for registration.
After verification only, the entire information about the project will be available on the regulator’s Website that will be accessible to common people. The regulator will also scrutinize the advertisements and names of brokers.
This process will make certain the legitimacy and the viability of the project, ending the current practice of realty firms launching projects without land ownership or mandatory approvals that leads to buyers getting stuck with fake projects.
Property expo in Mumbai from Oct 1
The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI) will organize an exhibition `Property 2009′ at MMRDA Grounds, Bandra Kurla Complex, from October 1st to 4th. Over 75 real estate developers will showcase their projects in Mumbai and suburban areas such as Thane and Navi Mumbai, besides Pune. State Bank of India is the co-organizer of the event. The other partners in the four-day programme include ICICI Home Finance, Axis Bank, LIC Housing Finance, IDBI Bank, and HDFC. Citibank NA, Dewan Housing Finance Corporation, GIC Housing Finance, IDBI Home Finance and Kotak Mahindra Bank will also participate.
‘Real Investment’-The Book For Real Estate
Knight Frank has introduced a real estate guidebook for India. The book provides information needed to invest in real estate market. Mr Pranay Vakil, Chairman-Knight Frank India, said, “We felt the need for a single credible source of information for which we brought together the best minds of the industry in business. This book makes real estate market simpler by offering tips”.
Residential property prices may go down
Knight Frank India said that prices in the residential property segment are likely to decline in a short time. Knight Frank India Chairman Pranay Vakil said, “We feel prices of residential segment may go down over a period of time”. Further he added that the residential segment may see a robust demand in certain markets and it was also a good time for property developers to invest in land.
Real estate demand at this stage is the result of investor-led demand and end-user demand. While investor demand is due to shift in money from equity markets, on the other hand the end-user demand is due to increased consumer confidence and pent-up unmet demand from the recession period. This leads to a rapid increase in demand for real estate and also in property price.
PDL looking torward tier-II cities
Parsvnath Developers Limited is looking toward tier-II cities and following the strategy, PDL announced Parsvnath City at Saharanpur. It will offer plotted development, independent Floors and expandable villas at affordable prices. Spread over more than hundred acres, Parsvnath City, Saharanpur is strategically located on Delhi road. First of its kind project will offer independent floors in affordable range starting from Rs 9.50 lakh. The project will comprise of plots in various sizes of 201, 300, 402 and 502 square yards. The independent floors will have the options of 2 bedroom, 3 bedroom and 3 bedroom with study room units and option of expandable villas are also available.
Parsvnath City will have fully fledged infrastructure wide well lit metaled roads and solid waste management. The township will also have Group Housing, School, Community Center and Mall. The realization from the project will be about three hundred fifty crore rupees spread over 2 years. The development of the township is planned to be completed in 2 years.
Century joins affordable housing bandwagon
Century Real Estate is the latest to join the affordable housing bandwagon. It has come up with ‘Century Indus’ project that offers apartments in the Rs 20-30 lakh category.
Mr P. Ravindra Pai, MD, Century Group said, Acquiring land at historical rates has helped the company make the project affordable.
The company has a land bank of over 3,000 acres, most of them acquired in historical rates, worth about 2 billion dollar. There are plans to make use of some of the land parcels to develop few more affordable projects in the city.
“We propose to develop 6,500 apartments targeted at the affordable segment, approximately seven million sq ft development, with a budgeted outlay of Rs 1,050 crore in the next three years,” said Dr P. Dayanand Pai, Founder and Chairman, Century Group. The projects would be located in North and West Bangalore.
Mr Pai said that the group has now formed ‘Century Real Estate Holdings.’ About 300 acres, valued at Rs 1,200 crore, from the land-bank have been transferred to this company, and about 12 projects would be developed on this land.
The company is looking at raising funds at entity and project levels. At the entity level, it plans to raise Rs 200 crore as bank debt for pre-development of these 12 projects. “We have almost tied up the debt,” said Mr Pai.
Lodha Developers among top 10 Builders
Lodha Developers Ltd. has been selected as one of the India’s top ten builders on the basis of a survey conducted by Construction World, India’s premier magazine for the construction sector.
The survey was conducted over a period of 4 months among a spectrum of handpicked audience comprising industry professionals from across India.
Mr. Abhisheck Lodha, Director, Lodha Developers Ltd. said, “Our selection as one of the top ten builders in India by the Construction World is recognition to our standards of excellence in every aspect of our services and our presence in varied segments like high-rises to mid-income luxury, in the real estate sector”.
Instituted by ASAPP Media, the award is recognition of exceptional work done by architects and builders in various aspects of infrastructure and real estate industry over the years.
Weaving character into homes
Bringing character to a home is the latest mantra, at least in the luxury format.
Designer Mr Sabyasachi Mukherjee will work on six of the two hundred limited edition homes Samira Habitats is developing at Alibagh. These would cost upwards of one crore rupees each.
The designer will work closely with the project architect to ensure structural compliance of the masonry, while filling in with his craft and elements.
The purpose is to lend individuality and embed creativity that the designer exhibits in his apparel on the ground.
Further he said, “When I decided to extend my love for visual aesthetics, form and color to interiors, I chose Samira Habitats because of their offerings of finely crafted homes close to nature. Their eye for opulence and detail is a vision I passionately share”.
Real estate firm sees festival sales
Property firms are launching housing projects and raising pitch for ongoing ones in the hope of making decent sales going into the festive season. The mood among builders may be buoyant, but very few believe price hike is possible as demand is still hesitant and new supplies are hitting the market.
The festive season, which usually begins late September with the Hindu festival of Navratra and continues up to Christmas, often sees higher sales of property, cars and other durables.
Lodha developers is planning to launch two new projects, comprising apartments priced over Rs 1 crore, in Mumbai’s suburbs of Andheri and Thane. So far, the slow return of housing demand was scripted by lower-priced homes. But Lodha’s offerings indicate the builder is confident of getting buyers for high-priced segment as well.
Best time for a deal in real estate
It is the best time to look around for a value buy in real estate. With lower price points in locations which were not within your wallet’s reach, buyers are scouting for good ‘value’ bargains at this time.
And with developers going big on affordable home launches, the timing may just be one of the best for buyers seeking a steal deal.
Anshuman Magazine, CMD of global real estate consultancy CBRE says that value buying is happening mostly in suburban locations as that is where the current supply is.
Dax Properties setting up golf township
Dax Properties is setting up a 18-hole golf course-centric luxury retreat and township at Shadnagar near here which will entail investment of five hundred crore rupees.
The golf course will be spread over 130 acres on a 300-acre site earmarked for the Golf Retreat project, according to Mr Masood, MD of the Bangalore -based Dax Properties, part of Countryside Realtors.
Further he said, “We believe India has potential to serve golf lovers offering golf tourism in a majestic lush green environment where one could also buy luxury villas being developed on the property”.
Best Western opens property
Best Western India, the Indian affiliate of the international Best Western brand, opened its 13th operational property.
Branded as ‘Best Western Classic Avenue’, the 60-room, four-star luxury property is the second in Kerala after Kochi.
Best Western, among the world’s largest chain providing marketing, reservations and operational support to over four thousand independently owned and operated member-hotels in more than 80 countries.
According to Mr Sudhir Sinha, President and COO, Best Western India, occupancy rates have looked up by 20 – 25% to 65 %-plus since the lows registered during the recession period from September last.
Mr K. P. Sahadevan, Managing Director, Best Western Classic Avenue, said that an additional seventy rooms would be added to the property over the next three to four years to raise it to five-star category.
Realty companies may keep rates steady
Raising home prices may anticipating festive season demand.
Mr. Niranjan Hiranandani, MD of Hiranandani Group, said “It is not very wise to increase prices drastically now”. Further he said, “The market has just recovered and buyers are returning back”.
The shortening of supply due to a 45% decline in new projects in tier-I cities has also enhanced the prospects of higher prices.
Mr. Abhisheck Lodha, director of Lodha Developers, said, “We have sold around 2.5 million square feet in the last quarter and are expecting to sell over 1.5 million square feet during the last quarter of this year”. Further he added, “Normally, the festive season is when there are a lot of bookings in the real estate sector”.
Dharwad simplifies norms for land conversion
In a move that could have implications for the process of land acquisition for industry, the Dharwad district administration has introduced a system to prevent delay in processing applications linked to land conversion.
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Darpan Jain said that though according to Section 95 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, permission for conversion of land use had to be granted within 45 days, the current method was causing unnecessary delay and there was no means for the applicant to know the status of his application.
Mr. jain further said, “We have decided to re-engineer the process of land use conversion so that the process is simple and on the spot”.
Under the new system, applications for land conversion from applicants in Hubli and Dharwad would be collected at a counter established on the premises of the Deputy Commissioner’s office. In the remaining three taluks of the district, applications would be accepted at the counters established in the offices of tahsildars, he added.
He said that a single counter for Hubli and Dharwad would save the time lost in forwarding applications from the tahsildar’s office to the Deputy Commissioner’s office.
Under the system, details of applications would be entered into a computer system and application would be verified taking into account the enclosed documents, the number of which had already been reduced.
Various Industrial Projects Look Out for Orissa Govt NOD
The Naveen Patnaik Government’s failure to help companies take possession of land has delayed implementation of 14 mega industrial projects.
Top representatives from Posco-India, Tata Steel, ArcelorMittal India Ltd, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, SSL Energy Ltd, Uttam Galva Steels Ltd, Essar Steel Orissa Ltd, Bhusan Power & Steel Ltd, Aditya Aluminium Ltd, Welspun Power & Steel Ltd, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd, Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd and Bhushan Steel Ltd attended the meeting.
The 14 projects had proposed investments of Rs 2 lakh crore but have invested Rs 21,031.71 crore only. Though 45,607 acres were required for the projects, the State Government had allotted them 14,131.90 acres till date.
Most companies have not been able to take possession of land for their respective projects primarily due to opposition from people living in the area who face displacement. The other issues were availability of water, supply of power, and rehabilitation and resettlement.
The Minister asked senior Government officials to resolve the problems facing the industries and also advised the companies to expedite land acquisition.
Realtors must tell buyers about bank claim
Home buyers will now know if the land on which their building stands is free of outside claims after a recent RBI circular mandating builders mortgaging the land to raise money to disclose it in all advertisements and brochures. RBI has asked lenders to ensure that all publicity material relating to the sale of real estate make a mention of the bank’s lien on the property so that home buyers are not kept in the dark. RBI aims to prevent prospective buyers from being lulled into the belief that the flats they own are on ‘free-hold’ land through this move. In Mumbai flatowner gets rights over his house through membership of a cooperative housing society. The land is not owned by the society unless it is transferred through a conveyance.
Piramals’ Indiareit plans realty fund
Indiareit Fund Advisors is setting up its second real estate fund with a corpus of five hundred crore rupees and expects to raise the money from investors by the end of this year.
The group had earlier floated Indiareit Fund, a $450-million real estate fund in 2006 and the proposed new Rs 500-core fund is over and above this. The Piramal Group has a presence in sectors, such as healthcare, diagnostics, glass manufacturing and real estate.
Said Ramesh Jogani, managing director and CEO, Indiareit Fund Advisors: “The Piramal Group is setting up a new domestic real estate fund and we are in the process of raising an overall corpus of around Rs 500 crore for it. This fund will invest in projects in Mumbai, New Delhi and Alibaug, a tourist town near Mumbai, and will be restricted to the residential segment. The new fund, apart from having a real estate focus, may also invest jointly with the existing fund.”
Bajaj Plans to Liquidate land bank
Bajaj Auto vice chairman Madhur Bajaj, who in his personal capacity owns over 350 acres of land under Emerald Acres, plans to liquidate a large portion of his land-holdings to unlock value as the real estate sector looks up after the downturn.
He said that he has no plans to venture into real estate development in next ten years and would prefer sell outright large parcels of land to developers or sell through plotted schemes.
Further he added “We don’t have any expertise in construction and so we don’t want to get into development at this stage. We are in the process of valuing the land price and would put it for sell soon.”
He further stated that Emerald Acres has nothing to do with the Bajaj group, as he had purchased land in the past four years through his personal money.
Emerald Acres owns land in the stretch between Mumbai and Pune highway and the largest piece of 124 acres is located at Lonavala, a hill station near Mumbai. The rest are in eight other locations including Murbad near Thane and Khandala, another hill station.
Mr. Bajaj further said, “A township can come up at the Lonavala land and all other plots are uniquely located. We are planning to sell these so that we can buy more land maximise the value.
Faults in house property regime
The tax on income from house property has all along been on one’s potential income and not on one’s actual income unless the latter happens to be greater than the former. The Direct Taxes Code strays away from its basic objective by factoring the cost of construction or purchase where rateable value has not been fixed by the municipal authorities.
Briefly, what is proposed by the DTC is income from house property would be deemed to be the actual rent receivable or the presumptive rent, whichever is greater. And the presumptive rent is deemed to be 6% of the rateable value fixed by municipal authorities or if it is not so fixed, then 6% of the cost of acquiring the house.
Under the extant regime, market rent is a significant factor in determining the potential rent. The Government perhaps feels that figuring the market rent is difficult given the various subterfuges adopted, such as camouflaging a part of the rent as interest-free or concessional deposits, etc.
Therefore, it seems to have plumped for the rateable value which to be sure is also premised on the market rent without being property-specific. But then the danger of this approach is the municipal authorities do not bestir to revise the rateable value every year. In the event, what is considered for income-tax purposes may be outdated and inappropriate even though it may be appropriate for levying municipal tax.
Raymond to enter realty
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”