Children of OCIs can also be enrolled in any educational institution here, just like NRI children are. Foreign nationals are denied this option, and their children can only study in international schools, or study in approved universities under mutually agreed quota system.

With this, Gurgaon has become one of the select cities to put in place a mechanism that brings some sort of parity in status between OCIs and NRIs.

OCIs are people of Indian extract but are citizens of another country, and hold an OCI card under a special scheme introduced in 2006.

NRIs, also settled abroad, on the other hand may or may not be citizens of the country they are settled in; they definitely do not hold an OCI card.

Now, anyone holding an OCI card in Gurgaon is entitled to both options - enrolment in schools and driving licenses - which the NRIs enjoy during their stay in India, district magistrate Rakesh Gupta said.

The registration booklets they hold will be treated as their identification proof, Gupta added.

Gurgaon is dotted with multinational companies (MNCs) employing both foreign nationals as well as people of Indian origin from various countries who hold OCI cards; their stay could be either for business purpose, or because of the project period of the company they work for.

Under the OCI scheme, persons of Indian origin from any country (except Pakistan and Bangladesh), who were once citizens of India, or were eligible to become citizens of India on January 26, 1950, under the Citizenship Act 1955, are eligible to become OCIs.

OCIs are not required to report to the police or other foreign office for any length of their stay in India, nor do they require employment visa to work in the private sector here. However, OCIs do not have political rights and are not allowed to hold government jobs. Additionally, they cannot acquire agriculture and plantation properties.

Cheaper space? A view of DLF Cyber Greens in Gurgaon “I think there will be an oversupply in the IT office market,” Abhishek Gupta, head of research, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, said. “Rentals will certainly come down. The only question is which micro markets will be able to sustain rentals.”

IT offices, as they are commonly referred to, house firms that process business from overseas clients or design, develop and implement software and systems for these clients.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, the demand for IT office space may come under pressure due to a slowdown in outsourcing from US companies. This could lead to an oversupply in such space in Gurgaon and Noida in NCR.

The US is still the largest market for Indian information technology companies contributing to as much as 45% to the total IT and back office services outsourcing business in India.

“Nobody knows whether there will be a recession in the US or not,” Gupta said. “But assuming US does go into a recession, then there will be a good pressure on the IT business and this will adversely affect demand.”

The US market has been hit by a credit crunch, falling home prices, high job losses in banking, steep oil prices and shrinking business—threatening to push the world’s largest economy into recession.

Demand for IT space may also come down because of the upcoming IT special economic zones (SEZs), says Sunil Malhotra, vice-president, finance, Omaxe Ltd, a real estate developer. Companies located in SEZs are eligible for fiscal and other benefits and incentives.

Several IT companies have moved to these zones are will do so before 2009 because that is when a tax holiday for them was supposed to end (this has since been extended by a year). “If you look at the requirement for IT office space, in future it will be met by SEZs where companies will be given tax benefits. The demand for IT office space outside SEZs will be less.”

Interestingly, while IT office building rentals are expected to come down, non-IT office buildings in Delhi and its suburbs command higher rentals, because of a lack of supply.

Rentals of non-IT office buildings are far higher at Rs 110-160 per sq. ft, because of this. Developers rushed to build IT parks because they found this to be a very lucrative opportunity, given attractive Union and state government policies such as tax benefits and higher Floor Space Index for IT parks, Gupta said. The Floor Space Index regulates the amount of space that can be built on a plot of land.

“People completely ignored the demand for non-IT space though this space was also growing at around 20% every year though not at 100% like the IT industry,” he added. “Right now, there is actually an undersupply in the non-IT office space.”

Even in other cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, non-IT office space rentals are at least 50% more than IT office space rentals. Non-IT office rentals have also been growing at a faster pace than IT office rentals. Over the past six years, rentals have been growing at 9.4% and 16.5% for IT and non-IT office space, respectively.

This is largely on account of the significant increase in IT office space over the past several years. In 2001, IT office space in India was about 7 million sq. ft., while non-IT space was about 16 million sq. ft. But by end-2007, IT office stock in tier I and II cities stood at 85 million sq. ft compared with 35 million sq. ft in the non-IT segment, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle…

The sealing of illegal buildings in Delhi has also created a shortage in the non-IT office space in Delhi and its environs, according to the Jones Lang LaSalle report. Because of the sealing exercise, where commercial properties in residential areas were closed, many tenants were forced to move out. But since most of the Grade A space in Gurgaon is occupied by IT companies, tenants affected by the sealing exercise relocated to other locations, which have helped in the steep rise in rentals for non-IT space.

According to the Jones Lang LaSalle’s report, developers who have gone ahead and built non-IT office space will benefit from the rising rentals and high occupancy rates in the non-IT office market.

In a petition filed through lawyer Nivedita Sharma, the residents demanded urgent intervention of the Haryana government and the Centre to ensure constant supply of power and water.

A two-judge bench of the apex court asked the two governments to respond to the plea. The court also issued notices to the Central Ground Water Board.

In their petition, the associations said malls and other commercial complexes had “adversely affected” the “quality of life and environment” and it was becoming “more acute with each passing day”.

If immediate steps were not taken, Gurgaon, they said, would head for “complete disaster”.

Those who signed the petition included the Qutab Enclave Residents’ Welfare Association, Gurgaon Citizen’s Council, Suncity Resident Welfare Society and the Federation of the Resident Welfare Association.

The four resident bodies claim to represent 80 per cent of Gurgaon’s population residing in Huda (Haryana Urban Development Authority) sectors and in private colonies developed by real estate firms DLF and Unitech.

Gurgaon’s official population is 16 lakh, though unofficial estimates put the figure at 20 lakh. The petition said the Haryana government had, in a span of 10-15 years, converted some 10,000 acres of farmland into a modern township of industrial, commercial and residential complexes.

“Massive development has been carried out without any planning in line with resources available, as a result Gurgaon and its adjoining areas have developed in (an) unsustainable manner,” it said.

The petition said proliferating complexes had created a power crisis and residents had to suffer 12-hour-long power cuts because of the huge gap in supply and demand.

“A trickle of water less than 30 minutes once a day in the name of water supply even during the winter months was causing serious hardship to the petitioners and residents at large,” it added.

The associations said they had a “genuine fear” that the power and water situation would “get worse” and they would not be able to “cope with it financially, environmentally and mentally”.

They alleged that the state government had “deliberately, with mala fide intentions and without due application of mind” developed residential and commercial areas without making sufficient provision for water and power.

The resident bodies said over 70 per cent of the total demand for water was being met from groundwater sources and that the 18,000 borewells in the area was twice the number officially registered.

The state government, the petition added, had taken no steps to recharge groundwater or harvest rainwater. Despite the crisis, the state government, the residents claimed, “continues to grant licences for development of multi-storey commercial complexes, malls, office buildings requiring water to the tune of 2 to 5 lakh litres per day per building”.

The residents also alleged that the developers had furnished wrong details — that their water requirement would be met from the municipal supply — to get clearances from the environment and forests ministry, and urged the court to set aside such licences.

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.

In addition, home loan seekers would get bigger loans from banks as the property price reflected in the document would be higher, closer to the market value.

“The minimum floor area rates for property transactions were increased in different parts of the Capital last year. Still, there is scope for further revision to ensure optimum valuation of real estate. The circle rates in NCR are far below market rates.

Even after the proposed hike, rates would be far lower than market rates,” an NCR board official said. The board feels circle rates should be revised every year to reflect the actual value of land.

The urban development ministry has asked states to follow Delhi’s cue and hike circle rates for better stamp duty collection. In Delhi, circle rates vary from Rs 6,000 to Rs 43,060 per sq metre. Experts feel circle rates in states are much lower than market rates.

“In many cases, there is a huge difference between the actual market price and floor price set by state governments. There is much room to revise rates in NCR as well. States need to follow a calibrated approach in revising rates. Rate hikes from time-to-time do not pinch the buyer and enrich state coffers,” said Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj managing director Anuj Puri.

“Infrastructure work has already started on the 263 acre multi-service SEZ in Gurgaon where we will develop 22 million sq ft in different phases,” said the Uppal CEO (SEZs and Hotels) Gian Bansal.

The project cost of the SEZ, including land, is Rs 5,000 crore, he said, adding that the project would be completed by 2013. The construction work on another SEZ in Gurgaon is expected to start in the next three months.

“We are developing an IT/ITeS SEZ in Gurgaon spread over 87 acre of land with built up area of nine million sq ft. The project cost is about Rs 1,500 crore,” Bansal said, adding that this project would be completed in the next three years.

Uppal is also planning to develop two more SEZs in UP over 26 acre of land each. “We have got the formal approval for two IT SEZs in UP and notification is under process,” he said.

The construction on both the SEZs one in Noida and another in Greater Noida- would start in five months.

On both sides of the eight-lane road (it appears to be four-laned due to the unchecked parking on both sides of it), 21 gigantic towers that span 8 million square feet have changed the skyline of this sleepy town beyond recognition.

Passersby will be forgiven for thinking they are in Hong Kong, so dazzling is the glare of this mega concrete jungle with its innumerable lights at night.

Just behind Cyber city (which by 2010 will comprise 15 million square feet of office space over 150 acres of which 8 million is already built) and touching on one side the “Mall of India” (India’s largest retail mall), there is DLF’s special economic zone. Here there is a cluster of another 15 buildings that will offer close to another 5 million square feet of office space to companies primarily in the IT arena.

Further on the same road, close to the DLF Golf Club on what is called the sector road, new buildings have come up in the last few months for American Express (which has moved its corporate headquarters to Gurgaon in a DLF building that spans over a million square feet), and Ernst and Young (built by Alpha G), consolidating several small offices spread around Delhi.

Hewitt, Dell and Indiatimes are some of the other companies who now find themselves in close proximity of the Golf Course. DLF, which owns large chunks of land in the area, is chalking out grand plans, several of which will be in the commercial space.

If one doesn’t take the left just after crossing the “ship building” and continues straight on the highway to Sohna road, there’s a second range of commercial space on offer — a series of retail-cum-office buildings by smaller developers.

What distinguishes this from the Cyber city-like offices is that office spaces are smaller (5,000-10,000 square feet), cheaper and are usually on top of a mall. There is no exclusive made-to-order office space coming up along this road, which is currently aiming to offer just over a million square feet of combined office space. Developers like Universal and Vatika are offering space ideally suited to smaller businesses.

For companies that don’t primarily care about location or client visits, there is a third option of setting up base at IMT Manesar — at least another 20-25 km further towards Jaipur from the ship building — which is expected to offer close to 1.39 million square feet of office space by 2009-10.

Welcome to Gurgaon, corporate India’s new mecca. Initially when DLF started developing Gurgaon, it was promoted as the cheaper alternative for residents, looking for a reprieve from a crowded, waterless and powerless Delhi. However, over the years (especially since 2003), mainly companies and commercial growth have been shaping the new look of the city.

In 1997, Gurgaon’s leading developer DLF set up its first commercial space on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road — DLF Corporate Park (which was sold to companies), followed by many others staggered across the city. Similarly, developers like Unitech set up buildings like Global Business Park (again on MG road).

However, till 2003, the total commercial construction by developers in Gurgaon was very low. “For instance, we (DLF) built just around 2 million square feet of commercial space till 2003. However, since 2003, the company is delivering around 2 million square feet of commercial space every year,” says DLF Commercial’s chairman A S Minocha.

Since it started development in Gurgaon, DLF has built 17 million square feet in residential high rises (another 9-10 million is under development). But commercial development is already over 10 million in just four years. Rents have kept pace with the rise in demand. Buildings that were earlier (in 1997-98) leased at Rs 6-8 per square foot are now going at Rs 60-80 per square foot.

While Noida — the other satellite city — is also adding to the total commercial supply, its growth is far slower than Gurgaon (by 2009-10, it will supply another 14.5 million square feet of commercial space).

According to Frank Knight, one of the leading real estate consultancy firms, “strong pre-commitment demand is expected to continue in Gurgaon” which has “become the centre of new age office space development in NCR, and is today witnessing the development of some large formats office projects”.

About one third of the population which was fed by tube wells was getting normal water supply during the crisis also but on Wednesday the remaining two third populations also got tap water after four days, according to Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Gupta.

He said that the residents of Gurgaon should learn a lesson from this small water crisis and everyone “should learn that water is precious”.

“The small crisis shook the city but what happens if the crisis aggravates due to overexploitation of underground water and misuse continues,” he said and appealed the people not to waste water and each individual should contribute for recharging the underground water by adopting water harvesting system and work for water conservation.

Gupta said presently there was over exploitation of water resources. Giving the figures from the hydrology Department, the Deputy Commissioner said that during October 2007, the water table in Gurgaon block was at 24.98 meters, in Farrukhnagar block it was 15.96 meters while in Patoudi block the water table was at 25.90 meter and in Sohna block it was 20.19 meters.

“If we see the data of October 2003, in Gurgaon block the water table was at 18.08 meters, in Farrukhnagar it was 12.23 meters, in Patoudi it was 21.92 meters and in Sohna 15.84 meters. On comparing these figures, one can easily make out that the water table declined by about 7 meters in Gurgaon block where as by about 5 meters in Sohna block,” he said. Gupta said that this shows that the rate of decline in water table was more in Gurgaon and Sohna blocks where real estate activities were more during the last four years.

Starting with Indian real estate giant DLF, it is all set to develop another residential project ‘Belaire’. According to Rs 7,500 a square foot, an apartment in the complex will cost around Rs 3 crore.

Close on heels is Emaar MGF which has planned to come up with its mega residential project ‘Palm Spring’ next to the DLF project.  It is priced at Rs 7,200 a square foot and Parsvnath has ‘Exotica’ under construction on this adjacent plot, priced at Rs 6,500 per square foot.

Such luxury apartments, which cost Rs 1.5 crore or more, will include around 30% of residential space in Gurgaon by 2010.

With things planned in such a way, the city will see 10,000 luxury homes, up from 1500 units in 2006. That’s 300 units added each month.

The average absorption will not go over 200 units. Of these, the demand for high end homes over Rs 1 crore is less than 50, says Ankur Srivastava, MD, DTZ.

Gurgaon will see an oversupply of 300% in the next two years. The scenario is likely o push the property prices in the city. There has already been a price correction of up to 25% in the luxury homes segment.