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.
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.
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.
“Supertech invites you to invest in a pre-launch project at an attractive discount,” this SMS has been sent at least 5 times within a week. The bulk SMS, however, fails to acknowledge that many of these unsolicited messages are being delivered to the wrong recipients, including media, in front of whom most of the developers deny to pre-launch the projects any more. As a matter of fact, ever since Supreme Court came down heavily on the pre-launch offer of the developers, various states including Haryana have banned such offers.
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.
Sahara India Real Estate Corp has blamed the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for taking up the issue of Sahara group of companies mopping up Rs 17,400 crore through debentures and ordered their refund. Sahara has this plea before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for Sahara India Real Estate Corp, told the apex court bench of Justice KS Radhakrishnan and Justice JS Khehar that the SEBI took up the matter even though there was no complaint from any investor.
Being blamed for being a haven for black money cartel, realty players broke their silence and instead tried to put the blame on the government for not introducing the desired reforms in the sector. However, they did not spell out if reforms are prerequisite to check the cartel of black money in the sector, why are they opposing the realty bill and a regulator.
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.