After a sharp recovery in the first one-and-a-half months of the calendar year — the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Realty Index gained over 50 per cent, real estate stocks seem to have lost steam.
The PE players have expressed concern about difficulty in exits, governance issues in investee companies and certain taxes such as the Dividend Distribution Tax which are excessive and do not conform with global standards.
The world’s housing downturn is gathering momentum, according to the latest world-wide survey of house price indices prepared by the Global Property Guide.
Recently an acquaintance – a fund manager by profession – relocated to India to set-up a domestic PE fund here. He had invested in a Mumbai residential property strategically located close to the primary business district and an international school for his kid.
Come budget and the real estate sector, like any other industry, comes out with its own wish list. Unfortunately, while other organised industry get a patient hearing through their industry bodies, the Finance minister seem to be hardly entertaining the sector representatives till recently.
SARE Homes (South Asian Real Estate) is launching “Green ParC – II”, the fourth phase of its 65-acre integrated township called “Crescent ParC” in sector 92, Gurgaon. This township is strategically located on the Gurgaon growth corridor, on the arterial 60-meter wide road, approximately 40 minutes from the IGI Airport and in close proximity to the Dwarka & KMP expressways, and the industrial hub of IMT, Manesar.
RBI’s latest notification says that stamp duty, registration and other charges should be excluded while calculating the value of a property. This is expected to have a short-term impact and is unlikely to turn out to be a show stopper.
In a bid to boost housing sector credit, the Indian government is contemplating to enhance the income-tax exemption for up to Rs 3 lakh paid as interest on housing loans in a year, from the existing limit of Rs 1.5 lakh.
The Information Technology sector has a special significance for India, because India’s competence in this sector has made it a net exporter of IT services. It was the fastest growing sector of the nineties and continues to fast-track careers, spending power, local economies and real estate growth even today.
India is the ninth largest construction market in the world according to a Global Construction 2020 report by Oxford Economics. Growing at an estimated cumulative annual growth rate of 8.9%, it is expected to become the third largest market by 2020 and is globally acknowledged as an extremely lucrative business opportunity.