Real estate-focused Private Equity Funds are looking at investing in pre-leased commercial projects, including IT Parks and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), as they look for assured returns from their investments.
With growing urbanisation in India, nearly 85 crore people are estimated to live in cities across the country by 2050, a latest report by industry chamber CII and realty consultant Jones Lang LaSalle said.
The Competition Commission of India has found cement manufacturers in violation of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which deals with anticompetitive agreements including Cartels. The order was passed pursuant to investigation carried out by the Director General upon information filed by Builders Association of India.
Terming the current building rules as cumbersome, realty developers of Assam have called for simplification and rationalisation of norms and reduction in duties. “The real estate players are in a bind over high spiralling taxes and registration duties which are the highest in Guwahati,” Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers Association President P K Sharma told reporters in Guwahati.
DLF, has sold its entire stake in Adone Hotels and Hospitality Limited (Adone) to Kolkata-based Avani Projects and Square Four Housing & Infrastructure for Rs 567 crore. This was in line with its strategy of divesting non-core assets to pare debt, DLF said in a statement.
Indian real estate companies, which borrowed heavily during the peak of the economic cycle and rosy business forecast, are now caught in the vortex of piling debt post-slowdown. Most of the realtors who went on a land bank acquisition with borrowed money are struggling to repay even the interest and banks look reluctant to restructure the debt any more.
SEZ was originally conceived on the premises that it will be like an “Island of Excellence” with world class infrastructure available to the user at globally competitive prices. It was aimed to assist both Indian entrepreneurs as well as global investors wanting to set up their manufacturing and services bases inIndia.
Sahara Infrastructure and Housing, of late being in the news for market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) rap for mopping up Rs 17,400 crore through debentures and delayed project completion has now announced another 68 projects within FY 2012 – 13 across India. A statement issued by Sahara claims to introduce 10 lifestyle township projects, of which 9 will be self sufficient integrated townships under the brand name of ‘Sahara City Homes’ and 1 under the brand name of ‘Sahara Grace’.
The new concept of integrated townships is now more about a single developer taking over a large tract of land. There are benefits too. “The infrastructure is under the developers’ control,” explains Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, JLLI, adding that the developer can plan and use the FSI better, and long-term maintenance is a possibility.
After house tax, the Haryana Cabinet has reportedly targeted real estate sector in the state by approving the proposal of the department of town and country planning to increase the licence fee for residential plots, group housing and industrial colonies. Details of the increased rates shall be notified in the next couple of days, officials in the department of town and country planning said.