Indian Property News on 'July, 2008'

Ranchi: Steeling up for Industrial Push

Ranchi, once the summer capital of unified Bihar, is still a favourite destination of many people, especially those in search of peace of mind. The city, with a population of over 15 lakh, still attracts people because of its comparatively pleasant climate and good schools. It has all the indicators of a modern city but it has not lost its traditional flavour, and that is where lies its charm.

The city has seen a phenomenal growth in real estate sector ever since it became the capital of Jharkhand in 2000. There is huge gap in demand and supply, primarily because of unavailability of land in the city area. “Ranchi witnessed huge influx of people from outside after becoming the capital. Many big companies started setting up offices here. All this resulted in a boom in the real estate sector — both residential and commercial,” says S N Singh, president of Jharkhand unit of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI). Read More »

Private Equity Firms Build up on Indian Realty Firms

Real estate and infrastructure management sector saw Private Equity (PE) deals worth $2.32 billion in the first half of 2008, nearly three per cent higher than the year-ago period, even as the average deal size fell over nine per cent reflecting the sluggishness in the market.

According to Grant Thornton, 33 deals were inked in the first six months of the 2008 compared to 29 deals in the January-June 2007. Read More »

Pradeep Jain to tie up with Sabeer Bhatia

Over a year ago, Pradeep Jain, the 43-year-old chairman of Parsvnath Developers Ltd, was gung-ho about the Indian property market. Asked about the slowdown in the property market, Jain countered by wanting to know a single property whose price had actually fallen. Of course, today things are markedly different and prices have fallen, but that is another debate.

For now, public attention is focused on Jain and his company, due to his latest tie-up with Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia for a hi-tech city spread over nearly 11,200 acres in Panchkula, in the vicinity of the landmark city of Chandigarh. Widely perceived as the white knight for Nanocity Haryana Ltd, Jain has picked up a 38 per cent stake in the firm for Rs 41.5 crore and has promised to invest another Rs 400 crore in equity and debt to develop the city. Read More »

Retail Industry Going Slow on Recruitments

The hiring frenzy that India’s booming retail sector witnessed in the last two years appears to be cooling off, particularly at the middle and senior management levels. Recruitment firms suggest that the April-June quarter has seen a slowdown in hiring at senior levels as most retailers already have their middle and senior management in place and the tepid hiring is seen continuing into the next quarter as well.

A report by staffing company says that growth in retail sector hiring will be flattish in the coming months. “On the managerial side, we have already filled a major part of our requirements. Since the back-end is firmly in place, we do not need to add too many people. But we will continue to hire at the shopfloor level as we are expanding rapidly,” Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive (lifestyle), Reliance Retail, said. Read More »

Retail Industry Going Slow on Recruitments

The hiring frenzy that India’s booming retail sector witnessed in the last two years appears to be cooling off, particularly at the middle and senior management levels. Recruitment firms suggest that the April-June quarter has seen a slowdown in hiring at senior levels as most retailers already have their middle and senior management in place and the tepid hiring is seen continuing into the next quarter as well.

A report by staffing company says that growth in retail sector hiring will be flattish in the coming months. “On the managerial side, we have already filled a major part of our requirements. Since the back-end is firmly in place, we do not need to add too many people. But we will continue to hire at the shopfloor level as we are expanding rapidly,” Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive (lifestyle), Reliance Retail, said. Read More »

India’s Unitech Realty Fund raises $300 mln

A realty fund launched by India’s No. 2 listed developer, Unitech Ltd, has raised $300 million from international investors for the firm’s projects, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

“This is the first tranche. Another $300 million will be raised by September,” the spokesman said. He declined to name the investors.

The Economic Times newspaper, citing an identified senior Unitech executive, said a Japanese bank and some Europe-based wealthy individuals were the investors in the Unitech International Real Estate Fund. Read More »

India’s Beaten Property Sector May Now Offer Some Bargains

Amid the debris of a battered Indian real-estate sector, some analysts say investment bargains may be emerging. Their favorites: blue-chip property companies DLF and Unitech.

This has been a miserable year for Indian property stocks. Rising inflation and interest rates have delivered a double whammy: Capital is more expensive, and consumers are scaling back spending.

“The real-estate sector has been witnessing a cash crunch,” says Shaleen Silori, a real-estate associate at ICICI Securities in Mumbai. Read More »

India’s Beaten Property Sector may Now offer Some Bargains

Amid the debris of a battered Indian real-estate sector, some analysts say investment bargains may be emerging. Their favorites: blue-chip property companies DLF and Unitech.

This has been a miserable year for Indian property stocks. Rising inflation and interest rates have delivered a double whammy: Capital is more expensive, and consumers are scaling back spending.

“The real-estate sector has been witnessing a cash crunch,” says Shaleen Silori, a real-estate associate at ICICI Securities in Mumbai. Read More »

Real Estate TV to air from DTH Platform

Real Estate TV, a 24×7 TV channel dedicated to real estate and infrastructure, on Sunday said it is in talks with leading direct-to-home operators, including Dish TV and TataSky, to beam its signals.

“We are at an initial stages of discussions with DishTV, TataSky and Reliance. Most probably by next week we will be finalising our partner,” Real Estate TV CEO Prem Menon said.

“There are issues to be sorted out over pricing among others with the DTH operators after which we will come to some conclusion,” he added. Read More »

Realty PEs to Execute Real Estate Projects on their own

Private equity (PE) funds in the real estate space are starting to don the developers’ hat. Funds such as Trikona Capital, South Asian Real Estate (SARE) and Yatra Capital have started to create in-house teams that can execute real estate projects on their own.

For some, the opportunity has already arrived. For the funds, the idea is to have better control over their development partners while others are clear that they also want to make the kind of margins that construction offers (25-35%). Apart from the cost advantage, this would also mean a lower dependence on construction companies in a scenario where execution capability bottlenecks are threatening to derail projects. Read More »