Floor Rates for NCR Realty may Rise 30%

Get ready to shell out more stamp duty while buying real estate in the National Capital Region (NCR). The NCR board is likely to hike the minimum floor area rates (circle rates) for property transactions in and around the Capital by 20-30%. The new minimum rates are expected to make it easier for people to buy houses by entitling them to bigger home loans, besides generating more revenues for the government.

A circle rate is the floor price at which property transactions are registered, and quoting a lower price is not allowed. Therefore, higher circle rates mean more transparent transactions. Read More »

Dubai’s Deyaar drops Project with India’s Ansal

Deyaar, a Dubai property developer at the centre of an investigation into alleged embezzlement, said it had agreed to drop plans to develop a real estate project in India. In November, Deyaar, Dubai’s second-largest property developer by market value, said it expected to finalize a $5 billion agreement to build a township near Delhi with India’s Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd.

An initial agreement with Ansal to work together had been cancelled by mutual consent, Deyaar said on Wednesday in a statement on the Dubai bourse website. It did not explain why. Read More »

Ansal’s Husing Pot Sheme under MRTPC Sanner

Ansal Housing & Construction Ltd’s residential plots project in Karnal has come under fair trade practices body MRTPC’s scanner, as advertisements promoting the scheme withhold the true cost of plots while inducing potential buyers to seek loans only from a particular bank.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has directed its investigative unit DGIR to look into the claims made by Ansal Housing and Construction Ltd for its upcoming modern township in Karnal. Read More »

Finolex to Sell Pune SEZ Land for Rs 400 cr

Finolex Industries, part of the diversified Finolex group, has decided to sell off its special economic zone (SEZ) plot at Chinchwad near Pune. It is close to signing a deal with a US-based developer to sell the land for between Rs 350 crore and Rs 400 crore.

For close to a year, the Rs 950 crore maker of PVC pipes and fittings had been weighing two options for the 78-acre plot — either to develop it as an information technology SEZ or dispose it off completely and unlock the value of the land. A source close to the company said: “We were earlier in talks with companies in the Middle East and the United States to jointly develop an IT SEZ there, but the management has finally decided to dispose it of.” Read More »

Mahindras to drive into low-cost housing projects

Mahindra Lifespaces Developers (MLDL), the housing and real estate arm of the $ 7.5 billion (Rs 30,566 crore) Mahindra Group, is planning to enter the business of building low-cost houses for the middle-income group. Low-cost houses have become a fad among young people, as they are available at an affordable cost of Rs 25-30 lakh. The company has tied up with BE Billimoria and Co (BEBL), which specializes in construction technology, to bring down construction costs in the long run.

This means, in a horizon of five years, MLDL might be building flats or apartments targeted at the middle-income group. Though the group’s current focus is firmly on luxury and premium properties, the company is keenly watching these lower segments. “We are currently studying the opportunity, and we believe that is where the growth will come from,” Pawan Malhotra, MD and CEO, MLDL told reporters. Read More »

Lack of Clarity may Hit Realty Funds’ take-off

A week after Sebi announced guidelines for real estate mutual funds, officials at fund houses and real estate developers are awaiting clarity on certain issues before they go ahead with scheme launches. Industry experts point out that taxation, periodic calculation of net asset value (NAV), and absence of any benchmark indices are some of the contentious issues turning out to be stumbling blocks in the design of such products.

Pranay Vakil, chairman, KnightFrank India, says that a quarterly valuation exercise would not be very easy to implement. “Let us assume that an REMF consists of 10 real estate assets and each asset has been acquired at different periods of a year. So, how one can calculate a composite NAV of fund, taking into consideration all these properties purchased?” asks Mr Vakil. Read More »

Hampshire Hotels to Develop 2 New Projects in Kochi

Hampshire Hotels and Resorts (HHR), owned by the NRI Sant Singh Chatwal, is developing two properties in Kochi, one of which is in a privately owned island in the heart of the city. Sources told FE that the island property would be developed jointly with its owners, a Kochi based architect firm, which had forayed unsuccessfully into real estate business way back in 90s.

Spread over 50 acres, the island also has the distinction of having necessary infrastructure connecting it to the mainland. Sources further said that the island hotel could be in the seven star super luxury categories. HHR sources from Bangalore refused to comment on the development but confirmed that they are looking for more than one property in the city. Read More »

Rajarhat Complex in Kolkata to Offer Luxury Condos, Singapore-Style

Realty major from Singapore is setting up luxury condos in New Town, Kolkata, complete with wi-fi connectivity, an aroma garden, an elevated green podium to camouflage the underground parking lot and a mini cricket field.

Elita Garden Vista, a 1,278-unit complex, is being developed on a 25-acre land parcel in Action Area III of the Rajarhat Township by Keppel Land Limited, the property arm of the Keppel Group, one of Singapore’s multinational behemoths with core businesses in offshore and marine infrastructure and property. Read More »

The sub prime crisis and what it means for India

The sub prime mortgage crisis and its potential impact on US economic growth has raised concerns whether growth in India — which averaged over 9% in the last three years — will be adversely affected. The Indian economy showed signs of overheating in mid-2007, with inflation rising above 6%. Although the central bank has pursued a tight monetary policy, inflation has recently risen above 7%. Buoyant capital flows posed challenges for liquidity and macroeconomic management, and the Reserve Bank of India responded effectively by adopting a mix of policy measures including imposing capital controls, allowing the rupee to appreciate, and liberalizing outflows of capital.

India is running a current account deficit (CAD) which is likely to increase to 2.6% of GDP in 2009 from the 1.5% in 2008, driven largely by the sharp increase in international prices of oil and food commodities. So far India’s CAD has been comfortably financed through capital inflows and FDI. In this scenario, the question whether a global credit crunch and significant slowdown in the US economy could undermine India’s growth prospects, becomes pertinent. Read More »

Cartier to set up boutique in Delhi soon

Cartier, an iconic French luxury watches and jewellery brand, will soon set up shop in India to cash in on the growing affluence. “We are in the process of setting up our boutique in the Delhi region as we have got necessary approval from the government,” Richemont FZE Managing Director Patrick Normand told reporters.

The company (owner of Cartier brand) along with the Indian partner Navratna Bharat Retail Pvt Ltd have identified certain locations and finalizing the details, he said. Last month, the government cleared FDI proposal of Richemont Services BV for setting up a joint venture with 51 per cent foreign equity to undertake single brand retail trading business under the brand name ‘Cartier’. The proposal would attract foreign direct investment of Rs 20 lakh. Read More »