Indian Property News on 'November, 2006'

Ashok Piramal Group- Walking on the road of hope for $350 m realty fund

The Peninsula Realty Fund (PRF), launched by Peninsula Land Ltd (PLL), the flagship company of around Rs 3,000-crore, the Ashok Piramal Group is standing in the midst of its dream emerging into reality with seeking the nod from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to set up a realty fund of up to an aggregate of $350 million for investment in units by overseas investors.

“We expect to be in the market in the second week of December,” says Rajesh Jaggi, MD, Peninsula Land. Read More »

Realty firms eye stock market with over5 bln dollar IPO plans

On the heels of huge success of Parsvnath Developers’ public issue that generated demand for over Rs 60,000 crore worth shares, domestic real estate firms are planning to raise nearly Rs 22,500 crore through their public offerings.

The presence of Indian property sector has been negligible on the Dalal Street so far with a handful of listed realty firms accounting for less than 1 per cent of the country’s overall stock market capitalisation. Read More »

RBI Projecting the Banks under Lens

In an attempt to tighten credit flow to the housing sector, Reserve Bank of India has come up with some fresh directives for the banks emphasizing on the need to maintain strictness while issuing the loans regarding new construction home loans and purchase of the property.

However, simple modifications have been made in the existing guidelines that strictly advised the banks not to entertain the loan applications for unauthorized properties. Read More »

NRIs can cash out of Indian real estate

Non-resident Indians with wealth stuck in real estate in India have reason to rejoice. They can now not only cash out on the property they hold in India but have also been provided an incentive to invest in real estate.

This has been made possible by the Reserve Bank of India allowing NRIs to remit the proceeds from the sale of immovable property. The RBI has lifted the 10-year lock-in as a step towards further liberalisation of the capital account. Read More »

Foreign investors eyeing booming realty sector

Foreign investors’ growing appetite for the booming Indian property market will enable the sector to increase its share in total FDI inflow into the country by at least 10 per cent in 2006-07, a study by industry body Assocham said.

The study — Future of Real Estate Investment in India — projects that in 2006-07 the total foreign direct investments into India would be about eight billion dollars, of which the share of the real estate sector is estimated at 26.5 per cent. Read More »

Private equity to invest USD 10 bn in Indian real estate

There have been 150 overseas private equity funds who have lined up their chests to invest in Indian real estate sector, report agency sources.

According to independent estimates, a total of USD 10 billion has already been raised through this route and is expected to be invested in the next two years.

The figure of USD 10 billion is not a surprise at all. On an average, each of these funds has a minimum corpus of atleast USD 150 million running up to a billion Dollars, said property consultants. Read More »

Real Estate is really booming

The huge over-subscription of the recent Parsvnath issue indicates that the Indian real estate is gaining in power. Large investment plans from foreign players like Goldman Sachs, Vancouver-based Royal Indian Raj International Corporation (RIRIC), JP Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup Property Investors and others only serve to reinforce this thought.

Rajesh Jain of Pranav Securities informs that the robust growth in demand, not just in the metros but also tier two towns is a signal that the band is being considered as a goldmine. Read More »

NRIs: Buying a home in India made easy

In recent years, India has been witnessing unprecedented growth in the real estate sector fueled by the increased business activity. Real estate development in India is estimated at USD 12 billion and growing at 30% every year. Though all segments of real estate business such as corporate, retail and residential have been driving this growth, investment in residential property itself constitutes 80% of this sector.

Non-resident Indians (NRIs) are one of the key contributors to the growth of the real estate industry and considering the immense potential in India, they are likely to step-up the investment in future. In this article, senior tax professionals with Ernst & Young - Gaurav Taneja and Rajesh S provide an overview of the key exchange control and tax implications that should be considered by NRIs while investing in house property in India. Read More »

Rs 9,000-cr bad debts due to Delhi demolitions

Banks may lose between Rs 7,200 crore and Rs 9,000 crore as bad assets on housing loans disbursed over the last four years, with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) systematically demolishing illegal property.

Delhi witnesses sales of around 25,000 residential properties in a market of about Rs 12,000-15,000 crore. On an average, about 60% property value is financed by banks. There are around 50 banks operating through 2,000 branches in Delhi. Read More »

Bank fraud up 77%, increase in housing loan frauds: RBI

There’s bad news for Indian banks. According to a Reserve Bank of India report, banking frauds are up 77 % from the previous year and have crossed over Rs 1000 crore, reports CNBC-TV18.

They are not only increasing in number but also getting larger by the day. Banking frauds are making their presence felt.

RBI’s trend and progress report of 2005-06, states that the amount involved in banking frauds has increased to Rs 1,381 crore up from Rs 779 crore last year- an astounding rise of 77%. The number of cases reported have also risen by 33 % to almost 14,000 from just 10,500 last year. Read More »