Dewan Architects & Engineers, architecture and engineering consultancy firm, has drawn up an ambitious plan to expand its footprints in the Indian realty business. The company recently announced its venture into the burgeoning Indian real estate market, in a move that comes as part of Dewan’s strategic expansion plans to reach out to more markets in South East Asia.
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.
In the wake of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposing a hefty penalty of Rs. 630 crore on DLF, the anti-monopoly regulator has been flooded with a host of real estate related consumer complaints which may not be in the ambit of CCI. CCI should draw a line that bifurcates between what falls in its domain and what is in the consumer protection ambit. However, in the absence of scientific economic analysis of the relevant market, both in product category and geographic category, the two legs of the relevant market, the sector is keeping its fingers crossed as there has been a clear anomaly in defining the relevant market by the CCI.
The government has also given more time to as many as 37 Special Economic Zone developers, including Navi Mumbai SEZ, DLF Commercial Developers and Tata Consultancy Services, to execute their projects. Five SEZ developers were allowed to surrender their projects as well. But the mounting criticism is now forcing the government to eject non-serious players from SEZ.
Over the last year, there has been an unequivocal crystallization of Indian cities that continue to attract serious investment into real estate. This is directly correlated to the economic dynamics now working in the country. If India is to achieve even a conservative GDP growth of 6% per year, it emerges that only three cities – Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore – have the potential to deliver. The reason for this is that close to 2/3rd of the overall development of office space in the country is now taking place in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.
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.
The anti-monopoly regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) has dismissed the plea of two individuals against the realty company Unitech alleging that Unitech failed to fulfill its obligation by not handing over the possession on time and therefore violated section 4 of the Competition Act (2002) by abusing its dominant position.
What goes into the strategic planning of an integrated township to make it a case study in flagship project? One such integrated township in Mumbai is Kohinoor City at Kurla Vidyavihar. Atul Modak, Head of Kohinoor City says, “What we considered was the need to provide plenty of recreational space and all ultra-modern amenities. It truly had to be a ‘city’ where all their needs and luxuries could be met.
Bandra Kurla Complex was created by MMRDA as an alternate CBD to Mumbai, with the express purpose of halting the further growth of offices and commercial activities in South Mumbai. Currently, BKC has a total stock of 8 million square feet of office space. An additional supply of 2.5 million square feet is expected in 2012 with the completion of The Capital, FIFC and TCG Finance Centres.
The government has formed a committee to evolve a workable strategy for reducing the time taken in approval of real estate projects which could ultimately reduce the cost of houses by 25 to 40 per cent, minister of housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja said on Friday, May 11.