Tag Archives: USD

IOREC: Property Market In Mauritius a Profitable Investment.

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The sluggish global economy has not left the property sector unscathed, but the high-end estate market on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius is showing remarkable resilience.

Murray Adair, CEO of the Indian Ocean Real Estate Company (IOREC) who is developing several luxury resorts in Mauritius in partnership with Flacq United Estates Limited (FUEL), says while there had been a slow-down in the property market, sales transactions in upmarket resorts on the island remain buoyant.

Adair says this is particularly true for resorts developed under the Mauritian Government’s Integrated Resort Schemes (IRS) which aims to encourage foreign direct investment. He pointed out that more foreign ownership approved units were sold in 2011 than in the whole of 2009 and 2010 combined. Under the IRS, foreigners are allowed permanent residence in Mauritius when they invest $500 000 or more in these designated resorts and they keep this status for as long as they own the property.

“We find that the IRS is definitely encouraging investment on the island. For example, over 50% of the properties at Azuri, a luxury beachfront village to be built on the coast about 25 km from Port Louis on the north east coast, have been sold off-plan since it was launched in September 2011,” says Adair.

Adair says while the International Monetary Fund in January cut its 2012 growth forecast for Mauritius from 4.1% to 3.8%, the country remains a sought-after tourist and investment destination. He says the tourism sector contributes 15% to the GDP of Mauritius and remains the biggest foreign exchange earner for the island.

“The Government’s initiatives to further diversify the economy and encourage investments from the Far East, including China, Russia and India will further enhance the long-term growth potential of the island,” concludes Adair.

India loses $210 billion in Coal Scandal.

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The Indian Parliament erupted in hoots and jeers Thursday after a draft report by government auditors estimated that the national treasury lost $210 billion by selling coal fields to private excavation companies in sweetheart deals.

According to the report, leaked to the Times of India newspaper, the primary beneficiaries were about 100 private and state companies that were handed contracts for 155 coal fields between 2004 and 2009 without going through a competitive bidding process. The report said that $210 billion — five times India’s annual defence budget — was a conservative estimate given that it relied on prices for low-grade rather than medium-grade coal.

The report represents the latest in a string of corruption scandals to hit the ruling Congress Party — others have involved the telecommunications, real estate and sports industries — that has left India’s leadership weak and bereft of policy initiatives. Opposition leaders called the latest revelation the “mother of all scams,” accusing the government of looting the country.

But auditors with the comptroller/auditor general’s office countered that the leaked draft is misleading, adding in a letter to the prime minister’s office that the figures publicized were the product of discussions held at a “very preliminary stage.

“We are examining the news report and I have called for records,” Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told journalists, adding that he wasn’t in office at the time of the suspect deals. “After that I will reply.”

The government said it has not received the report yet from comptroller/auditor general’s office.

India, the world’s third-largest coal producer after China and the United States, has seen a series of mining scandals. In August, the top elected official in south western Karnataka state resigned after being implicated in a mining scandal that a watchdog said involved $400 million. Three months later, a report claimed that almost 50% of the iron ore exported from western Goa state was illegally mined.

India is hungry for energy to fuel its fast-growing economy, and coal accounts for 70% of the mix, a percentage expected to grow, given limitations on the further development of power from nuclear reactors and renewable sources. Environmentalists, however, say increased production is ecologically unsustainable.

Real Estate Firm To Raise Funds

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Feeling Rich
Photo by Trilok RanganA Real Estate firm Embassy Developers is expected to generate over 513 million US Dollars as said by their Prospectus which was filed today. This will be done through an initial public offering of shares.

The draft is available on the Edelweiss website. The lead running managers for the issue are Nomura, UBS, Local Investment Bank and Citi.

The prospectus included that Embassy property is looking at pre-IPO placement of around 57 million shares for up to 11.75 billion rupees with certain investors. The retail investors may be offered a 5% discount on the issue price.

Though the time line is not yet been set.

The Indian companies have raised a lot of money through share sales by mid-June of FY10 from 56 issues which is higher than last year, as shown by the data collected by Thomson Reuters.

India has also asked bids to appoint 4 banks for managing a follow-on public offering in state-run Power grid Corp of India.

Indian Realty has Bright Future

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The Future is Bright
The future of Indian Realty market seems to be brighter than ever. Following are the major reasons for the growth of Indian Realty:

  • The policies made by government for the Foreign Direct Investment have brought quite a large number of foreign investors into the Indian real estate market. India now ranks second in the list of most preferred location for real estate investment. In fiscal 2005-06, the FDI turned thrice to that in 2004-05, i.e., it turned from 2.38 billion USD to 7.96 USD.
  • Another reason for the growth of Indian realty sector is the positive reform implemented by the government. The growth of this sector is also evident by the fact that this sector is the largest sector after agriculture providing employment.
  • The education system also has impact on the realty sector. It is estimated that in next 2 or 3 years, there will be around 2 million graduates who would create a demand for 100 million sq ft of industrial space and office.
  • Lastly, the existence of world renowned Fortune 500 companies also other large companies to start operations in India, which in turn would generate huge demand for corporate hubs.

Real Estate Developers Tie-Up With Education Industry

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YorkLanes Mall
Po.Realty sector and Infrastructure firms like GMR and Hindustan Construction Company have announced to set up university campuses and other educational institutes within the country. They mainly aim to ride high on the huge returning education industry.

The education industry in India is worth more than 10 bn US dollars with continuous growth rate. As the Real Estate market is on a low developers are looking at alternate assets such as education.

Partnerships of such kind are increasing day by day in every other township or SEZ as educational institutes bring more revenue.

Chintan Patel, Associate Director, Transaction Advisory Services, E&Y said, “Access to social infrastructure such as schools and colleges serve as attractive features that make it easier for a developer to sell projects.”

Further he had to say that partnerships between a developer and an international institution benefits society and develops retail, office and residential spaces around.

The tie ups usually work on build-and-rent business model. While a developer acquires the land and builds the infrastructure for the educational facility, the institute runs the school or college. It either pays rent or works on a revenue-share model.

The companies which are laying out plans in education are HCC who have bought 500 acres for institutes at Lavasa, its hill city project close to Pune, Maharashtra.It has tied up with Symbiosis, Bangalore-based Christ University, Institute of International Business Relations of Germany, Switzerland-based hospitality Management Institute Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne and Educomp, and more.

Global infrastructure player GMR, too, has collaborated with Canada-based Schulich School of Business to build a campus in Shamsabad, Andhra Pradesh, The Company will construct the physical infrastructure for the institute, and in return, earn management fee on the maintenance of residences and hostel facilities. Also, it is planning an aviation academy on 25 acres in the same region, fueled by its international airport project in Hyderabad.

IL&FS Plan To Invest In Real Estate

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IL&FS private equity is planning to increase its investment in infrastructure and Real Estate sector by the end of FY10.

They announced to increase their investment from 660 million US dollars to 1 billion US dollars in the infrastructure sector. In the realty sector they already have investments of 1.6 billion US dollars. They are planning to take deals in both the sectors as well.

Mr Shahzad Dalal, Vice Chairman of IL&FS Investment Managers Ltd said, “We will invest close to a billion dollars in infrastructure as well by about the end of this financial year.”

Bangalore Properties - Real Estate India - Vaswani Bella Vista 1
Photo by nancyarora2020In the realty sector the firm has spent 1.2 billion US dollars from the total investment on over 30 deals. It is said that they are now looking at 10 more. The left over amount is expected to be deployed by the end of this year mainly in residential space along with commercial.

The company recently bagged a deal in the real-estate segment through IL&FS Milestone Fund in HCC’s Real-Estate project ‘247 Park’ for Rs 575 cr for a 74 per cent stake.

Mr Dalal further added, “The outlook is fairly bullish on both Real Estate and infrastructure. We believe there are a lot of opportunities. There may not be many good projects, but because of our reach and reputation, we do see some really good projects.”

Andhra’s Realty Sector Grows

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Delhi Properties - Real Estate India - Unitech Location
PThe 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.

India’s Silicon Valley- Bangalore

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Photo by dno1967Bangaluru has over the years gained immense popularity as the hub for IT industries in India. With great opportunities like world class education, working environment, living standards it is not wrong to mention it as the “The Silicon Valley of India”.

Many non-Bangaloreans now call the city their home. It is interesting to note that over 10,000 dollar millionaires and about 60,000 super rich people are currently living in the city with huge investments to make. All these have made Bangalore a hot spot for Real Estate Market, both Residential and Commercial.

Residential market has seen some significant action with many developers like Prestige and Sunil Mantri, Sobha, rolling out new projects in micro market segment. Some of the key areas in Bangalore, where the residential demand has picked up, are Sarjapur Road and Whitefield, Doddakanenahalli and, Jayanagar.

The supply is growing in line with the revived commercial real estate demand. Latest report from Cushman & Wakefield implores that the total projected supply for the current year is 12.42 million square feet of office space, more than twice the supply delivered in the year 2009.

Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) conducted a survey among 5 cities, amongst individuals aged between 25-39 yrs, stated that Mumbai and Bangalore are the most preferred places to live as the cities provide the best quality of life as well as the most courteous people. Bangalore is also identified as a city which is in the process of development on multiple counters – numerous projects have been initiated in areas of Infrastructure, Power, Water, and Sanitation.

All this indicates that this will be a good investment destination, hence attracting FDIs and NRIs fund flows as time goes.