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.
Asset management firm ICICI Prudential’s real estate portfolio management service (PMS) today said it has divested investment in KUL Ecoloch, a township project in Pune. ICICI Prudential PMS real estate portfolio, a part of ICICI Prudential AMC, had invested Rs 47.5 crore in the 105-acre integrated township in Pune developed by realty firm Kumar Urban Development (KUL), a company statement said.
There was no holistic planning for SEZs to position them strategically for being complementary to each other and serving their own market niches respectively. The Ministry of Commerce that provides in-principle approvals to new SEZs on the basis of pre-feasibility reports being submitted by the respective state governments, soon seem to have lost its monitoring mechanism. Secondly, the SEZ was not synchronized with other schemes for development of specialized industrial parks.
Once seen as very powerful economic tool for catalyzing the growth process during restructure and liberalization of economy, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India could not replicate the Chinese success story, as assumed. Track2Realty takes a look on the future of SEZs in India as realtors make a beeline to exit or extend the tax haven, and the Government groping for fresh ideas.
Integrated townships can reduce the burden on infrastructure and provide a fulfilling lifestyle for buyers, at a much reduced cost all round. Gulam Zia, National Director – Research & Advisory Services, Knight Frank India points out, “Of late, the planning authorities and Government bodies have realised the importance of integrated townships and are giving special concessions for creation of such townships.
Real Estate is at the epicenter contributing to shape up today’s world. The construction industry is also treated as the backbone in a developing country like ours but in recent times it has been seen slowing down by low margins, negative cash flow from operations, rising interest costs on high working capital , execution delays and poor corporate governance.
If you look the FDI side of the story over the years, initially there was an influx of a lot of foreign funds and in 2007, it was driven by the US. But the 3-4 years that investors have been here, we have seen a lot of selling. So a lot of investors withdrew or reduced their portfolio and even though being a fund, we found ourselves putting our hands into the acquisitions, marketing etc. It was not our comfort zone and we have been playing the role of a developer instead.
Cognizant Technology Solutions has increased its real estate infrastructure expansion in India by nearly $200 million.
The US-based company, which has large offshore presence in India, has revised its investment plan to a total of $700 million in real estate from 2011 through 2015.
Sunil Dahiya: When the meltdown of 2008 and the aftereffects of 2009 rolled in, see the amount of letters sent by developers to the customers and the customer calling back and telling that ‘sorry boss, I am on the verge of losing my job, I don’t have the money’. Not a single developer went to any court or had any power in this judicial system to recover any payment from the consumer, there is no law.
Ravi Sinha: Sachin, if I come back to the topic of consumer redressal, isn’t it true that lack of clarity in policy leads to consumer blackmailing also in cases like CCI against DLF. How do you see that?