Indian Property News on 'March, 2008'

Rahejas to enter hospitality sector with Indian Hotels

Delhi-based Raheja Developers will foray into hospitality sector with the Indian Hotels Company. The realty player will develop six hotels in four years.

“While four of these will be business hotels in Four-Five-Star category, two will be budget hotels,” Navin Raheja, MD, Raheja Developers.

Rahejas will develop only one stand-alone hotel in Gurgaon while others will be part of their shopping complexes. The investment in the 300-room stand-alone business hotel will be to the tune of Rs 150 crore (excluding land price) with an additional cost of Rs 50 lakh for furnishing. Read More »

Bombay HC terms 1,000-acre land as forest

The court upholds notices issued by state government in 1956-57 whereby huge tracts of land was declared private forests and subsequently vested with the government Hundreds of residents and leading builders in Mumbai’s eastern and western suburbs may be adversely affected as the Bombay High Court has announced that developments on more than 1,000 acres of land in the region is illegal and falls on the declared forest land.

Dismissing some 19 petitions filed mainly by realty developers, Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari upheld the notices issued by the state government in 1956-57 whereby huge tracts of land was declared to be private forests and subsequently vested with the government. In the year 2006, the Maharashtra Government had taken back nearly 1,000 acres of land in Borivali, Kandivali, Mulund, Thane and Ghatkopar, claiming that it belonged to the state forest department. Read More »

Middle East Realty Giant Emaar Bullish about Indian Real Estate

UAE Property major Emaar Properties has said that it will reconsider its initial public offering (IPO) in India “when the time is right” though the company is bullish about the trend in Indian real estate market.

In February, Emaar MGF withdrew its IPO for lack of adequate response. The company wanted to raise around Rs 6,500 crore on the initial price band of Rs 610-690. This was twice revised to Rs 530-630 and the closing date extended to February 11 from February 6. Read More »

India bulls to Optimize Trumart Operation Through its Realty Play

India bulls are going in for a major restructuring of the Trumart business model barely four months after it acquired an 84 per cent stake in Piramyd Retail. India bulls Director Gagan Banga said the company is applying its real estate skills to tighten the retail business.

“Retail is hardcore real estate business. You need real estate and good supply chain management; it is two businesses (combined) into one. It’s a zero-intellect business,” said Banga. “The largest real estate player in the world is Wal-Mart, that’s why it is the largest retailer.” Read More »

New Airport to Add to Hyderabad’s Brand Image

With the new international airport commencing operations near here, the brand image of Hyderabad is to go up, attracting more investment in IT, biotechnology and other industries.

The swanky Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, which has come up 30 km south of the city, is described as the new icon of this IT hub, home to many software giants. If Hyderabad IT and Consultancy (Hitec) City at the once sleepy Madhapur village placed Hyderabad on the world IT map in 1990s, the new international airport is expected to transform the city, especially the area off the highway linking Bangalore into a business hub and attract huge investments in various sectors.

Though some air passengers are complaining of the long time they take to reach the new airport (the older airport was in the heart of the city), business leaders feel the state-of-the-art and spacious facility would help Hyderabad become a world-class city. The Rs 2500 crore airport, on over 5,000 acres of land, became operational Sunday, shifting all the operations from Begumpet airport. Read More »

More than 300 New Malls by 2010: Retail Report

Some 330 new shopping malls are expected to come up in metros and so-called tier II and III smaller cities over the next two years, forcing developers to find innovative ways to attract stores and maintain foot traffic from shoppers.

A report titled Upcoming malls—2008 and beyond, compiled by real estate consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, says northern India will lead the retail boom, with 136 new malls by 2010. Read More »

Farmers confused as to Land acquisitions for the Jhajjar SEZ

Kishan Kumar was a happy man a year ago, having pocketed more than Rs 4 crore from selling nearly 20 acres of fertile land to Reliance Industries Ltd for its 12,355-acre Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Jhajjar and Gurgaon districts of Haryana.

Today, he is one of the many landowners in the area who look back at the transaction in regret. Read More »

Textile City Bhilwara gets a Realty Weave

Known for its textile units, Bhilwara is attracting real estate developers in a big way. Slowly but steadily, the traditional city of Rajasthan is donning a modern face. The sleepy town, which once had only industrial buildings, is getting ready for high-rise residential structures.

Realty majors like Ansal Group, Manglam and Essel Group fueled the property prices in the city, which were on lower end of the hyperbole, a year back. A leading property consultant said “Developers and investors were concentrating on top three cities of the state - Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur. Now that there is a slowdown property market, smaller cities like Bhilwara are hogging the limelight. Here investment is not that big and prospects are comparatively brighter. People are not minding investing in real estate in this textile hub,” he said. Read More »

Property in newer IT Destinations selling like Hot Cakes

The IT sector in India fuelled the first round of residential real estate boom. Growing salaries, leading to larger disposable incomes and the search for a new lifestyle befitting the new work culture created a boom in the residential real estate sector. But as the products become more and more opulent and expensive, developers are realizing that the IT segment leads the boom and contributes to about 30% of sales. But for long-term sustainability, the market cannot out price itself and expect to survive on premium sales alone. Bangalore, Hyderabad and Gurgaon are facing a slowdown while newer IT destinations such as Kolkata and Chennai are still selling briskly.

Kolkata real estate has witnessed manifold increase in residential capital values in the last couple of years, The areas witnessing maximum volumes of transactions include South Central Kolkata, EM Bypass, Kankurgachi, Phoolbagan, Beliaghata, Garia-Narendrapur in the Southeast, Behala-Joka in the south west, Rajarhat in the northeast, BT Road in the northwest and Howrah in the west, industry sources say. About 30% of this demand is driven by the IT and related sectors. Read More »

Ansal Properties to pay Rs 55 Lakh for delay in Flat delivery

The Delhi Consumer Commission has directed real estate major Ansal Properties and Industries Ltd to pay a flat applicant Rs 55 lakh, including Rs 30 lakh advance received by it, for denying him possession of his dream home for over a decade.

“Ansal Properties and Industries Ltd have unjustifiably retained the amount of Rs 30 lakh or so for a long 10 years without having refunded the same to the complainant,” Commission president Justice J D Kapoor said, holding the construction company guilty for “deficiency in service.” Read More »