Indian Property News on 'September, 2006'

KOLKATA: New High In Manhattan-ish Skyline

A 41-floor residential building is going to be the latest and truly high-priced edifice in the Bengal metropolis, dwarfing such skyscrapers as South City (35 storeys), Hiland Park (28) and Chatterjee International (24). This will be called Diamond Top, a product of the Diamond Group headed by A N Shroff. Construction should take around three years from the starting time.

Going by reports, the 84/86 living units in the proposed super-premium double towers in Gurusaday Road will cost anything between Rs 4.5 crores and Rs 7 crores. The Rs 300-crore towers are being designed like a futuristic spacecraft on a 290-cottah prime plot. Each of the units will be patterned like an exclusive villa, some spread across three levels going up to 10,000 sq. ft., according to the architect. Literally on top of everything, a glass-house, illuminated party lounge on the topmost floor, rightly called The Crown, is the piece de resistance.

Other glittering features? They are — five-star atrium entrance lobby, swimming pool inside apartments, captive capsule lifts opening into lavish living rooms, health club on the 40th floor, double-height terraces, hanging gardens, high-speed elevators and parking plaza for about 300 vehicles. The plan provides for 88% open space on the ground level. This scheme of multiple villas in the sky, to be materialized in the heart of south Kolkata opposite an Army camp, is supposed to add a lot of prestige to the city’s real estate industry and send out the right signals. Moreover, vertical expansion means leaving a lot of room on the ground and is a much better alternative, given the traffic congestion and chaos.

FDI inflows: India among top ten developing nations

NEW DELHI, SEPT 1: India has emerged among the ten major developing country which are recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) but it still lags far behind its neighbour China in terms of FDI inflows received, a UN report has said.FDI inflows to India stood at $5.5 billion in 2004, making it the tenth largest developing economy in terms of overseas investment received, according to United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (Unctad) trade and development report 2006.

China led the pack with $60.6 billion of FDI inflows, followed by Hong Kong with $34 billion and Mexico with $18.7 billion, Unctad said.

Developing countries across the world received $275 billion of FDI in 2004, of which the share of the top ten was $189.8 billion.

However, India did not figure among the top ten developing countries with the largest FDI inward stock. Hong Kong had an FDI stock of $456.8 billion, China $245.5 billion and Mexico, $182.5 billion.

Unctad said the absolute amount of FDI inflows did not give a clear picture of the importance of impact of foreign investment in a country and compared FDI inflows to the GDP.

Inward stock of FDI in India as a percentage of gross domestic product has risen to 5.9% in 2004, from just 0.5% in 1990, indicating the growing importance of overseas investment in the country’s economy. China, on the other hand, saw its FDI stock as a percentage of GDP grow to 14.9% in 2004, as against 5.8% in 1990, the report observed.