Duet India Hotels to invest Rs 2,300 crore to set up 5,000 hotel rooms in India

According to a report in Business Standard by Swaraj Bassonkar, Delhi-based real estate investment company, Duet India Hotels will invest Rs 2,300 crore over four years to build 5,000 hotel rooms in India. The company, which will invest in mid-scale segment and five-star properties, has tied up with New York-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide to develop its hotels, to be run under the brand name of Four Points by Sheraton. Likewise, Duet India Hotels aims to partner with other international hotel players to launch their brands in the country.

To set up the required number of rooms, it will pump in equity of Rs 1,200 crore, while the balance will be raised through debt. So far, it has made an equity investment of Rs 218 crore and almost an equal investment has been raised through debt of around Rs 246 crore. The company currently has five projects under development, which includes 115-room hotel in Jaipur, 223-room hotel in Pune, 124-room hotel in Ahmedabad, 200-room hotel in Indore and 220-room hotel in Hyderabad.

Source:http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/duet-india-hotels-to-invest-rs-2300-crore-to-set-up-5000-hotel-rooms-in-india-8789

Home prices up in 15 cities, shows Residex

The new index of residential price movement – Residex, released by the National Housing (NHB), shows a mixed trend among 15 major cities.

As many as nine out of 15 cities, covered by Residex across the country, have witnessed hardening of residential property prices. Prices of homes have recorded a decline in cities such as Delhi, Bangalore and Bhopal, between December last year and June, but the same went up in cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, among others.

Prices of residential property in Mumbai have increased by 5.98 per cent between December and June, and by 26 per cent and 13 per cent in Chennai and Kolkata respectively. Prices of residential property in Ahmedabad increased by 27 per cent in the same period and during the same time, Faridabad, the neighbouring city of Delhi, reported price hardening to the extent of a whopping 36 per cent.

Other major cities that witnessed price hardening include Lucknow, Pune, Surat and Patna.

On the other hand, the National Capital registered a fall of 7 per cent in prices of residential properties, while Bangalore and Hyderabad witnessed a correction of 24 per cent and 29 per cent respectively. Other cities where prices fell are Bhopal, Jaipur and Kochi.

NHB, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India, comes out with pricing index of residential properties across 15 major cities in the country twice a year.

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/home-prices-15-cities-shows-residex-714

Duet India Hotels Invests $12M In Hyderabad VentureDuet India Hotels Ltd (DIH), the private equity firm of UK-based Duet Group, has invested $12 million in a five- star upscale hotel project in Hyderabad. The project, which comprises 210 rooms, is being developed at Gachibowli suburb, close to the IT district, of the city at a total investment of $26 million. The company will soon invest another $25 million in a hotel project in Bangalore

Duet India Hotels, which is the investor and developer of the project, will infuse the remaining amount through debt. The company has already bought the land from L&T Phoenix Infoparks for the Hyderabad project.

It is yet to finalise a hotel partner for the project, Dilip Puri, CEO of Duet India Hotels, told VCCircle.

Across five projects, the company has invested $47 million so far from its $166.5-million fund. Earlier, it has invested in projects in Jaipur, Pune, Ahmedabad and Indore. The Jaipur project is already operational and is run by Sheraton Hotels & Resorts under the brand name, Four Points. The Pune project will be operational by September 2010 followed by Indore and Ahmedabad projects in January and March 2011, respectively.

The company has also completed due diligence for two more investments, one each in Lucknow and Nashik. “We have completed the due diligence for two other projects, and will bring in equity in the next one month. These are smaller projects having equity of $3 million each for developing 3-star hotels of 100 rooms in each,” added Puri. “We are about to conclude a project at Whitefield in Bangalore, and will invest equity of around $25 million,” he said.

By the end of this calendar year, the fund will complete investments of $78 million equity across eight projects. Duet India Hotels, which has raised the fund from foreign institutional investors, plans to raise more equity for the fund and go for an initial public offering in the next two years. “We plan to raise more equity for the same fund and would be looking to do an IPO in a year-and-a-half or two years,” Puri said.

Apart from DIH, Duet Group runs another fund in India called South Asian Real Estate, which has been investing in residential projects.

Source:http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/duet-india-hotels-invests-12m-in-hyderabad-venture

Guj builders plan permanent property show

Gujarat based builders are planning to replicate the Japanese model of permanent property show to display large number of real estate projects at a single venue near Ahmedabad.

The idea of developing a facility for displaying built sample houses along with layouts has come from a recent study tour of Gujarat chapter of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) to Japan and South Korea. Around 120 real estate developers from across Gujarat visited the two countries earlier this month.

The permanent property show near Osaka drew attention of the entire delegation. “Most of us believe it would make sense to replicate the model somewhere near Ahmedabad instead of holding property shows periodically,” said Jaxay Shah, president CREDAI (Gujarat). Prospective buyers also don’t have to waste time by visiting different construction sites.

Mehsana-based builder Sandeep Sheth, who coordinated the study tour, said, “Under one roof, customers would get an idea about overall realty development across the state and developers will have the advantage of a large platform which would attract a broad base of prospective buyers.”

The Osaka model has excellent landscaping, gardens, restaurants and an entertainment zone for children where families spend considerable time before taking the crucial decision on which residential or commercial space to buy.

Suresh Patel, vice-president of Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED), said if the state government supports the idea, it could generate good revenue out of rentals from developers who book space in the project.

There were other unique schemes which impressed the local realtors. Ahmedabad-based realtor Dushyant Pandya said he was eager to replicate a solar bungalow project. The one he saw had 120 dwelling units running only on solar energy. “Cost-wise, these would be expensive initially but they would be cheaper in the long run,” he said.

Among other projects they visited was one especially developed for artists like painters, sculptors, designers and creative people. The homes offer an ambience which helps creativity blossom.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Guj-builders-plan-permanent-property-show/articleshow/5158544.cms

Micro Housing Finance Corp Gets Rs 25 Cr PE Funding

Micro Housing Finance Corporation is the first such institution to foray into the low-cost housing finance segment.

Micro Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC), the first such institution to foray into the low-cost home segment, has attracted Rs 25 crore in private equity funding from India Financial Inclusion Fund (IFIF) and Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

MHFC is looking at disbursing loans to urban buyers, who may constitute the unbanked population, looking at buying a sub-Rs 5 lakh home. The firm, which started operations in June, is forecasting 1,500 loan sanctions amounting to disbursal of Rs 60 crore in the first year of operations. The firm will look at another round of funding in next one year to expand its equity base. After the current round, the equity base will rise to Rs 33 crore, which could be leveraged 4-5 times, feels Rajnish Dhall, director, MHFC.

The Mumbai-based firm received its license from National Housing Bank (NHB), the housing finance sector regulator, in February. MHFC plans to give loans which will not exceed 80% the cost of the house, typically ranging from Rs 4-6 lakh. The loans carry an interest rate of 12-14%.

The firm provides loans on a project basis, and is not involved in retail loans. “We approve projects and then do lending on those projects,” said Dhall.

For instance, MHFC has tied up with Tata Housings’ Shubh Girbha project in Boisar which has 1,500 flats in the Rs 3.9-6.8 lakh range. The firm has also tied up for five other projects in Ahmedabad and Virar and Karjat in Maharashtra.

MHFC will ideally target developments of around 1,500 flats where it can finance around 20% of the flats. Besides private developers, MHFC is also looking to tie up with state housing boards.

“But that’s just scratching the surface as the demand is very strong,” said Dhall. MHFC has a target of 50,000 homes in five years, which would mean a loan book of Rs 2,000 crore.

Dhall was a senior director with American Express before leaving his job to work for an non-governmental organisation helping street kids in Mumbai. Last year, Dhall resigned from the NGO to set up MHFC, that combines his social sector and banking experience.

The demand for affordable housing in India is huge as Planning Commission has predicted a shortfall of 25 million homes. “This under-served segment is estimated to represent over 90% of the workforce, but has no financial institution catering to its needs,” said MHFC chairmen Madhusudan Menon, in a release.

“Despite the presence of many strong mortgage lenders in India, home loans have have not been easily made available to lower income segments and primary reson for this informal nature of borrowers’ occupations,” said Mona Kachhwaha, Director-Investments of Caspian Advisors, which advises IFIF, a MFI focused fund.

Source : http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/micro-housing-finance-corp-gets-rs-25-cr-pe-funding

Indian Residential property prices rise 15%

Wonder why Indian realty woke up so late when the US realtors started this almost 3-4 months back and are about to wind up their campaigns as there aren’t anymore buyers left for them to lure at these prices. Is RE really getting better in India, let’s see. Residential property prices rise 15%

The upswing has begun. Not only have the sales picked up, but the prices of residential property too have increased 5-15 % in the last couple of months. With a long festive season ahead, realty experts believe property markets could see heightened activity, provided developers desist from increasing prices of residential space any further. “After almost a year-and-a-half, we see a renewed demand in the residential sector.

During the last three months, sales have picked up by almost 100%, and with a long buying season ahead, the property prices will definitely move up the graph,” says Sameer Sinha of Savvy Infrastructures Ltd. “In Ahmedabad, going by conservative estimates, the prices of residential property is expected to rise by another 25-30 % in the next one year”, Mr Sinha said adding that the prices in the city have already risen by about 15% since the markets bottomed out earlier this year.

The fresh demand in the housing sector has boosted the confidence of developers as well. Earlier this month, the city-based body of developers, GIHED (Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers) displayed about 500 projects worth Rs 3,000 crore at property show in Ahmedabad. “As the economy recovers and grows on a pan-India basis, residential demand is expected to grow along side. C&W Research estimated demand to be over 7.5 million units by 2013 across all categories such as Economically Weaker Section, affordable mid segment and luxury segment. The residential demand for NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata is estimated to be 4.5 million units by 2013”, Ms Aditi Vijayakar added.

Has the author actually gone to ground zero. If you walk around Wakefield/IT park in Bangalore, you will see 1000’s of flats in vacant position either to be sold or lent out with NO takers. In fact, you can easily find an apartment that is NOT even ready at this time being sold at a discount of upto 40% to what the builder is quoting.

For example, if the builder is quoting 50L for a 2 BR in wakefield, Blore, you can easily find the same sized flat on some of the RE websites where owners have put up theirs for sale at a whoppingly low price of 30L. Now that’s the kind of demand these analysts who write all “hypothetical stuff” are seeing. Sentiment is improving in Hyderabad is another article. Hindu Business Line article

Referring to the supply situation, Mr Agrawall said that while there is glut in the Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1crore apartment and villa segments, the supply in the affordable segment is inadequate. In the Rs 1 crore and above category too the number of builders and projects are very few, he added.

All these projects costing 1 crore are at least 10-15 Kms away from the city. Traveling within city, from one end to the other takes an easy 2 hours. One can only imagine the pain one would need to take to travel if they buy at these places that too at exorbitant prices. This is a trend that is way too familiar. Stock market rises 100%. Everyone blindly puts money in it. Makes ton of money. They now move to RE. RE picks up for a little bit. Folks start the “cat and mouse” chasing game and force the prices to go up. When the number of such folks are done. RE comes crashing down.

One can write up a program depicting this behavior and pattern in india and put it in a loop. Unfortunately, common man who may not have access to gory stock markets or higher salaires is the one that gets trapped in all this mess. Common man always gets inot the chasing game at the very end. Like folks who have bought stocks in the last month are trapped for a good 6months to 1 year before they could realize a profit. Similar is the case with RE too.

Coming to affordability, with Labor pains growing not many folks are out there who could a) afford to buy a house, b) qualify for a loan to buy a house. If US market is any clue, then Indian RE market too will go down further. At the current juncture the oversupply of units is hurting and NOT the demand. Demand is and will always be there in a country that is growing. However, unrealistic predictions got Realtors into building too many units when they did not need. Another case in example is Raheja builders who are stuck with a multi-crore residential project in Bangalore whose construction has been shut-down after almost 70% of it being complete. What we at SB would like to state is that do NOT get swayed by those analysts articles and get too pumped up.

Always do your own research before jumping into any ship. Internet is a great resource, make the most of it. We have gotten so many feedbacks stating that we are always on the pessimistic side rather than being optimistic. Please do realize that you switch on TV, everyone will say buy stocks, buy houses. There wouldn’t be anyone who would say do NOT buy. Because everyone has a vested interest. We do NOT and hence our analysis is unbiased and true to our knowledge. And truth is always bitter.

Source:http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article14114.html

Despite Slowdown India to Add 40 mn sq ft Office Space This Year

With the economy regaining its momentum slowly, India will add up to 40 million sq ft of office space this year, which will be higher than many other advanced countries, but lesser than China. “Despite the slowdown, India will add highest ever office spaces this year. We will see 30-40 million sq ft of office space coming up in 2009,” global real estate consultant firm CB Richard Ellis Chairman and Managing Director (South Asia) Anshuman Magazine said.

The addition of office space will be more compared to many other advanced countries, except China, he added. Magazine, however, said demand has not picked up yet and the huge supply would lead to correction in rentals. “Prices can further fall in certain pockets depending on how much supply these places can absorb. In other places, prices have almost stagnated,” Magazine said, adding that some locations in Bangalore are likely to see decrease in rentals.

“After 2-3 years when supply will decrease and demand will increase, probably then we will reach at a stage of equilibrium,” replied Magazine when asked about the time by which office-space rentals could stabilise. Although office-space demand has increased in the first two quarters in 2009, Magazine said it would take time for “actual demand to pick up”.

“IT companies are responsible for 80 per cent of the total demand for office locations and these were the most impacted firms during the recession… But next year supply will dip by atleast 20 per cent,” he added. Of the total anticipated supply this year, Mumbai, Bangalore and the National Capital Region will house most of the spaces. “Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad will also see considerable addition of office spaces,” Magazine said.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/property-prices/despite-slowdown-india-to-add-40-mn-sq-ft-office-space-this-year.html

Arvind Ltd plans to churn out four housing projects

While on one hand it plans a 10 per cent expansion in its denim fabric manufacturing capacity by next year, Arvind Limited is also consolidating its other verticals like garments and real estate. According to Sanjay Lalbhai, chairman and managing director of Arvind Ltd., the denim major expects government clearances for its real estate projects in next four months.Most Read

Arvind ends license pact with US-based Hartmarx

“We will monetise our real estate projects once we get permission for lands and zone change which is in process as of now. We should get permissions for townships and zone change for our existing mills in next four months,” said Lalbhai, on the sidelines of ‘International Conference on Steering Mature Business A Leadership Challenge to the Textile Industry’, jointly organised by Fibre2fashion and Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA).

The company is planning low cost as well as mid priced housing in Khatraj, Jetlaj, Santej and Ahmedabad. “We have around 2 million sq yards of properties coming up in areas like Santej, Khatraj, and Jetlaj, and another 3.5 lakh in Ahmedabad city. At today’s prices, we have a land bank of Rs 600-700 crore,” Lalbhai added. Apart from real estate, the company is also bullish on its denim and garment business. By next year, Arvind Ltd. plans to expand its denim fabric manufacturing capacity by 10 per cent to take it to 100 million metres by next year.

Lalbhai also evinced interest in joint ventures with Japanese players as well. “We would love to look at Japanese partnerships but for that we need to improve our managerial capabilities first. We are working on things like ERP implementation, Kaizen, and lean management. We have hired a new lean consultant to transform our managerial processes,” he added.

Source : http://sify.com/finance/equity/fullstory.php?a=jkfb4rbagdd&title=Arvind_Ltd_plans_to_churn_out_four_housing_projects&cid=20753

Juhapura’s first mall-cum-hotel gets second chance

Ahmedabad: As the darkness of recession recedes, Juhapura residents are seeing, more vividly than ever, the shiny promise of their neighbourhood getting its very first mall. The ambitious project to set up a mall-cum-hotel near the Vishala Restaurant circle, which was stalled by the slowdown, has been revived.

As DNA had reported some months back, the project has been conceptualised by Ahmedabad-based Radhe Developers (India) Ltd. “The project, named ‘Olympus mall-cum-Hotel,’ is our longstanding plan,” said the managing director of Radhe Developers, Ashish Patel. “It was cancelled because of recession fear. However, the company will restart the project by December 2009.”

Patel said the new complex would consist of 11 floors, four of which would be dedicated to the mall, a four-screen theatre and restaurants. The rest of the floors will house a three-star hotel, consisting of around 300 rooms.

The company is in talks to bring the KFC, an international brand known for its non-vegetarian food items, to the mall. If KFC does enter Ahmedabad, it would represent its debut in the state.”The population around the prospective mall is dominated by Muslims,” Patel said. “Therefore, we thought of bringing KFC in. The mall will also have three to four restaurants, some of which will serve non-vegetarian food.”

Radhe Developers commissioned a survey on the viability of the project and found that Muslim shoppers formed a substantial chunk of clientele of the city’s malls. Other factors also augur well for the project.

“The hotel project has a great potential because that area has good connectivity,” said the COO of Real Estate Studies and Management Academy, Jigar Pandya. “Also, there is no three-star hotel in the vicinity.”

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_juhapura-s-first-mall-cum-hotel-gets-second-chance_1294870

Duet India Hotels eyes expansion

UK-based investment group Duet’s Indian hospitality arm Duet India Hotels is looking for more land to expand its portfolio and add more than 1,300 rooms by the end of this fiscal.

The group plans to develop 20- 30 mid- scale and upper middle segment hotels with around 5,000 rooms in the next two to three years. The company has recently signed a franchise agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to open the Four Points hotels by Sheraton.

The company, which opened its first property on October 1 in Jaipur, a 115- room four- star hotel, is developing four such properties in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore and Pune.

Dilip Puri, chief executive officer ( CEO), Duet India Hotels, said, ” The five properties including Jaipur is worth around Rs 500 crore. In these, we would have around 882 rooms. We plan to reach to 1,500 rooms by the end of this fiscal.” ” For this kind of expansion, we are looking for more land. As soon as we acquire land, we can start building. We have already acquired land in Hyderabad for developing a property similar to our Jaipur property. We are also looking at other Tier- II cities such as Lucknow, Nasik, Bangalore and Nagpur.

Bangalore would be more of a brownfield development. Among the metros, Chennai is also our target.”

Source : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/64668/Business/Duet+India+Hotels+eyes+expansion.html#

Radhe Developers signs up new projects worth Rs 5 bn

Radhe Developers, has zeroed in on Emerald Park, Radhe Armaan, and Olympus Mall, new residential and commercial projects worth Rs 5 billion, reports Business Standard.

The real estate and construction company had earlier announced that it would be raising funds to the tune of Rs 5 billion by various funds raising routes from domestic and international markets.

While Emerald Park is a residential project consisting of seven different types of units of 1000 square yards and 5000 square yards, Radhe Armaan, a residential colony offering 6210 apartments of 675 square feet space, located in Santej, eight kms away from Ahmedabad. Emerald Park will offer 328 farm houses.

Besides, the company plans to construct Olympus Mall with 280,000 square feet of shopping area and a hotel with 300 rooms.

Source:http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/storyShow.php?fileR=20091001083625203&dir=2009/10/01&secID=livenews

Builders use flexi model to sell homes

Bangalore: Real estate developers are learning the virtues of flexibility as they slow down large residential and commercial projects to assess consumer response and make adjustments accordingly, instead of trying to finish the work as quickly as they can, as was the norm during the real estate boom.

Reducing risk: An artist’s impression of an Indiabulls project in a tier II city. Analysts say that developers are experimenting with the affordable housing model after some projects garnered big sales in recent times.

Reducing risk: An artist’s impression of an Indiabulls project in a tier II city. Analysts say that developers are experimenting with the affordable housing model after some projects garnered big sales in recent times.
This is especially true of the affordable housing projects that have led the real estate revival after the high-end residential property market crashed because of the economic slowdown.

Tata Housing Development Co. Ltd is a case in point. Its low-cost Shubh Griha brand of homes at Rs3.9-6.7 lakh in Boisar, 60km from central Mumbai, was a sell-out, with only 45 units having no takers out of the 1,500 that were opened to buyers.

Buoyed by the response, four months after the launch in May, the developer is now launching more expensive homes in the 67-acre plot, out of which only 15 acres are devoted to low-cost housing. The new set of bigger Boisar apartments, still in the affordable bracket, is priced at Rs12.73-27 lakh. The developer also plans to throw in row houses, smaller offices and retail space in the area, but only at a later stage, when demand picks up.

Brotin Banerjee, managing director and chief executive of Tata Housing, however, puts it differently. “The idea behind this is to do a mixed-income product, so that we can bring different kinds of buyers. But we will launch only when we think it is the right time for a particular product,” Banerjee said in an interview to Mint earlier this month.

As real estate projects passed through a rough patch in the past few months with declining sales and growing delays, many developers had ended up changing project formats from luxury to affordable homes, or office spaces to homes, even after construction had begun.

Developers, with a clear focus on cash flow and quick sales, now want to build what they can sell and thereby cut risk.

Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd, the country’s third largest developer by market value, is planning to launch similar affordable housing projects in tier II cities such as Indore, Madurai, Hyderabad, Navi Mumbai, Vadodra and Ahmedabad at a price band of Rs2,500-3,500 per sq. ft to begin with. The rest of the project will be finalized in tune with demand. The parcels vary from 7 acres to 36 acres each, and are mostly near a city centre.

“What we build will depend on customer preference and on market cycles. If affordable sells well, we’ll do more of that or something else that will perform, depending on demand,” said Vipul Bansal, chief executive and joint managing director of Indiabulls Real Estate, which has targeted nearly 20 million sq. ft of such large developments, with a focus on budget housing.

Bansal stressed that developers can’t just build on their own, and need to react to the market cycle and changes.

Sanjay Puri, principal architect of Sanjay Puri Architects Pvt. Ltd, who has designed many large townships, said that the aim now is to launch partially, see how it fares, and then proceed with the rest of the project.

“Earlier, developers would typically have a uniform format catering to a certain segment of buyers unless it was a 100-acre township. But now, they are introducing different components to cater to customers with different needs,” said Puri.

Puri cited the example of a large township project on the outskirts of Mumbai where the builder started with the one and two BHK, or bedroom-hall-kitchen, format, at entry price points, and then gradually introduced more expensive homes.

Analysts say that affordable housing is still at a nascent stage in the country and developers are experimenting with the model after some projects garnered big sales in recent times. So, once the developers get a good response for affordable homes, they introduce more expensive homes in the same location.

“Developers are using affordable housing as a litmus test for buyers to come into a new project. Once they attain critical mass in a location, they will introduce other products at higher rates,” said Akshaya Kumar, chief executive of Parklane Property Advisors, a property consultancy.

Kumar elaborated that with commercial and retail business plans on the back burner, developers are banking on residential demand. However, they will slowly introduce the other components as and when the project gains momentum.

North India-focused developers such as Parsvnath Developers Ltd are keeping under-construction projects as flexible as possible. Parsvnath prepares a master plan to obtain at least 10 different approvals, after which it tweaks the project details to suit market demand.

“Builders should be able to introduce a new format or change the old one even if it was not included in the conceptual stage if we feel that it will work in favour of us,“ said Pradeep Jain, chairman of Parsvnath Developers.

Source:http://www.livemint.com/2009/09/27211107/Builders-use-flexi-model-to-se.html

Sarovar Hotels to have 60 properties in India by end of next year

With an aim to expand its hotel portfolio in the country, Sarovar Hotels plans to have 60 hotels by end of 2010. The hotel chain currently operates 36 properties across 29 destinations in the country. Plans are in the pipeline to open five properties by end of 2009.

Though the hotel chain has franchise rights to develop Carlson Hotels Worldwide’s Park Inn and Park Plaza brand in India, it is currently focusing on developing its own brands. “Of the 31 properties currently under development, we have nine properties branded as either Park Plaza or Park Inn. The rest will be under the Sarovar Premier, Portico or Hometel brands,” informed Anil Madhok, Managing Director, Sarovar Hotels Pvt. Ltd.

In the first three quarters of 2009, the chain launched 50-room Renaissance Sarovar Portico, Hosur (Bengaluru); 70-room Pak Inn, Jaipur; 50-room Park Inn, Gurgaon (Civil Lines) and 50-room Peerless Sarovar Portico, Port Blair. By March 2010, the hotel will launch 49-room Sarovar Portico in Ludhiana; 65-room Sarovar Premiere in Siliguri; 118-room Hometel in Chandigarh; 134-room Ole Sereni in Nairobi; 80-room Sarovar Premiere in Gurgaon; 90-room Park Plaza in Ahmedabad; 70-room Sarovar Portico in Faridabad; 60-room Park Inn in Shahdara (Delhi); and 85-room Hometel in Hari Nagar (Delhi).

Talking about the marketing strategy of the company, Ajay Bakaya, Executive Director, Sarovar Hotels Pvt. Ltd. informed “Our marketing strategy is hotel and brand specific. This is continuously evolving in view of the prevailing market conditions locally, across India, and globally. We will continue to design and adapt strategies to the changing requirements.”

Source:http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/sarovar-hotels-to-have-60-properties-in-india-by-end-of-next-year-8361

ST Laurn to open four 5-star hotels in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: Pune-based hospitality group, ST Laurn Hotel & Resort (SLHR) is all set to open five-star hotels in the Gujarat by investing Rs 500 crore in the next three years. The move is a part of the groups Rs 3,000-crore investment plans for pan-India presence , especially in tier-II and tier-III cities Lakshman Kariyaa, managing director of SLHR said that of already one five-star hotel has been commissioned in Ahmedabad on Ashram Road and one more green field project is in the pipeline on growing Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Road. We have identified a location near Sagrampura area on Surats Ring Road. Survey is on in Vadodara as after completion of Surat project, we want to establish our presence in the Banyan city. As far as Saurashtra is concerned, there would be a group hotel in either Rajkot or Jamangar as it is still at the survey level, said Kariyaa.

He said that the group has presence in Maharashtra and Gujarat, but there are plans to open 20 new hotels by 2015 across the country in states like Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh among other. The upcoming five-star resort in Shirdi, which will be based on a spiritual theme, will cost Rs 82 crore and would be commissioned in June 2010, he added.

Sourcehttp://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?edlabel=TOIA&pubLabel=TOI&pageid=13&mydateHid=24-09-2009

Godrej Properties plans affordable housing projects

Godrej Properties, a member of the Godrej group, is planning to come out with an initial public offer of equity shares before this year-end. The funds will be utilised for developing properties in different locations.

Addressing presspersons here on Friday, Adi Godrej, Chairman of the group, said the company was developing more than 100 million sq. ft. of land either on its own or through joint ventures. It was promoting a township in Ahmedabad over 30 million sq. ft. The plan was to execute a lot of projects in the affordable housing segment. The property arm of the group was contributing more than 14 per cent of the group’s turnover, Mr. Godrej said.

The FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) business of the group was doing well despite economic slowdown and contributed 25 per cent of the group’s turnover in the last financial year. This was due to a rise in rural demand, he said. The group has four companies engaged in the FMCG business of which Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. (GCPL) is a listed company.

The group, which has 100 manufacturing locations in India and abroad has a turnover of Rs. 10,000 crore.

The plan of the group was to grow considerably through the organic route and through niche acquisitions, Mr. Godrej said.

Source : http://beta.thehindu.com/business/companies/article22234.ece

GIHED develops database to gauge buyer’s needs

AHMEDABAD: Your search for dream home could get less tedious now. And if you are lucky, the realtors will come knocking at your door offering you a
dream house within the desired budget.

For the first time, Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED), a body of the organized real estate developers across the state, has introduced a computerized database for visitors to gauge buyer’s mood and housing need in the state during the three-day realty show.

Every visitor counts for the real estate industry, which witnessed a recent slump owing to slowdown in the market.

The database had more than 1.5 lakh registrations during the show. Event organizer of GIHED Mihir Ranapara said, “The manual process of collecting data at such a mega event was cumbersome and it also sometimes leads to loss of significant feedback of the visitors. This time the whole process has been computerized by putting every minute detail of the visitor. The details include preferred location, price range, type of building – commercial or residential – and loan option.”

“This data will be shared with realtors as it will help them in identifying and locating potential buyers for their pet projects,” he added.

The software has been designed in such a way that if a visitor gives incomplete mobile or telephone number it will automatically reject the feedback.

On its impact, realtor and president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India Jaxay Shah said, “The GIHED property show has given real estate developers a chance to scientifically analyze the consumer’s needs and requirements. The data will help us in understanding the right appetite of Amdavadis of their residential and commercial needs. It will also do away with brokerage charge which consumer has to pay as realtors can pitch in on their own.”

“It will also give an insight into buyers psychic of what kind of houses they are looking for and in what budget. Moreover, it will also reduce time in deciding upon a home as real estate developers can match them according to their desired needs,” adds Shah

The event saw more than three lakh footfalls.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/ahmedabad/GIHED-develops-database-to-gauge-buyers-needs/articleshow/5007029.cms

Property show a huge draw

AHMEDABAD: About 50,000 people thronged Gujarat’s largest property show on Friday where residential and commercial real estate worth a whopping Rs  15,000 crore are on display. City realtors have announced 500 projects, ranging from Rs 3.81 lakh to Rs 1 crore – a majority of them being around Rs 25 lakh, at the event organised by Gujarat Institute of Housing & Estate Developers (GIHED) at University Convention Centre near Helmet Crossroads.

“The response on Day One is very encouraging. People came despite Friday being a working day. We expect the number of visitors to go up substantially in the weekend,” said Shekhar Patel, president of GIHED.

A steady stream of visitors continued to pour in throughout the day forcing the organisers to make alternative parking arrangements.

Nikki Pantvaidya, a banking professional based in Riyadh, flew down especially to attend the show. Pantvaidya, whose parents live in Delhi, wants to buy a property in Ahmedabad.

“My parents belong to Ahmedabad. After retirement, my father wants to settle down in our hometown,” she said. Pantvaidya added property prices in Ahmedabad are very competitive as compared to many other Indian cities. “While my parents would go for a flat, I am planning to buy a farmhouse for investment purpose,” she said.

Like Pantvaidya, Sunil Gambhir, who works with a data management company in New Delhi, too has flown down for the event. “Looking at the infrastructure growth in Gujarat as well as in Ahmedabad, it is worth investing here. The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) makes the investment even better,” he said.

RL Kukreja, a textile trader residing in Maninagar, wants to invest in a property on the outskirts of the city. “Distance is not a problem, but location should be strategic. I plan to sell it off after five years,” he said.

Newly-wed Vijay and Shital Patel are eagerly looking for a house that can fit their budget. “New schemes in the eastern part of the city have provided good options for us. Purchasing a 2 BHK flat in the western part is out of reach for many,” said Vijay, who works with a private firm.

“Apart from prospective buyers, around 40 students from architecture and interior design institutes visited the show for academic interest,” said Mehul Shah, a real estate developer.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/ahmedabad/Property-show-a-huge-draw/articleshow/5000902.cms

Properties worth Rs 15K cr on display at realty show

AHMEDABAD: In the much-awaited property show of Gujarat Institute of Housing & Estate Developers (GIHED) to start from Friday, properties worth  about Rs 15,000 crore will be displayed in around 40 km periphery of Ahmedabad city.

There will be over 500 projects including apartments, row houses, twin bungalows, bungalows, offices, shops and retail spaces – mostly new launches – during the three-day event. A majority of projects are coming at Bopal-Ghuma and Ambli area as well as Ranip, Sabarmati and Motera-Adalaj. Even ester parts of the cities like Naroda, Nikol and Kathawada are poised to offer plenty of affordable options to the customers.

“Of the total projects, 90 per cent are residential and rest are commercial and semi-commercial projects. In the residential category, about 50 per cent housing units are low-rise apartments, another 30 per cent are high-rises and 20 per cent projects to be showcased are aiming to woo high end customers with bungalows and farmhouses schemes,” said Shekhar Patel, president GIHED.

There is everything for everybody in the show under one roof as properties ranging from as low as Rs 3 to 5 lakh to as high as Rs 1 crore will be offered at different locations, across Ahmedabad and on city outskirts, said Jaxay Shah, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI), Gujarat chapter.

To make the event more interesting, arrangements of cultural events in the evenings have also been planned in the evening along with cafeteria and children’s corner, said Deepak Patel, co-ordinator of the fifth GIHED annual property show. The show will be inaugurated at University Convention Centre by urban development minister Nitin Patel.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/ahmedabad/Properties-worth-Rs-15K-cr-on-display-at-realty-show/articleshow/4996597.cms

Hospitality giant on land hunt for city address

KOLKATA: Zuri Hotels & Resorts a multinational conglomerate promoted by a consortium of investors from West Asia is scouting for opportunities in Kolkata. The company is open to contract management opportunities as well as setting up its own hotel in the city. The Zuri Group is into real estate, floriculture and hospitality with resorts and hotels in Kenya, the UK and India.

“The Zuri group sees tremendous potential in Kolkata and rest of the east. We are keen to be present in the hospitality sector here at the earliest. We are in talks with a couple of hotels on a possible management contract and use of the Zuri brand. If something does not work out within six months, we will look at a 1.5-2 acre plot in Kolkata proper to set up a 140-170 room business hotel. The investment will be around Rs 200-225 crore,” said Aditya Mata, general manager of the Zuri group’s flagship property in Kumarakom, Kerala. The group owns two other hotels in Goa and one in Bangalore.

The team currently camping in Kolkata to negotiate with potential partners is looking for a property with large banqueting facility to tap the marriage market. “Since marriages in Kolkata are elaborate, we want to get into the business. It’s a good money-spinner as well,” said Mata.

Incidentally, the company was looking for land in New Town and Rajarhat but developed cold feet after the Vedic land scam. “Land has become a hot potato. The thing that happened in Rajarhat was an eye-opener. We are now looking for a property in the central business district,” company spokesperson Priti Chand said.

Apart from Kolkata, the group is eyeing properties in Ahmedabad, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur, Visakhapatnam and Mysore. While three of the four hotels that the group has in India are resorts, the company is now looking at business hotels that have a shorter return on investment.

Meanwhile, city-based Gama Hospitality (GHPL) on Tuesday signed a master franchisee agreement with Global Franchise Architects (GFA) to launch four international brands Coffee World, Pizza Corner, The Cream & Fudge Factory and The Donut Baker in the eastern region. With an investment of Rs 52 crore, GHPL will focus on Kolkata in the initial phase this year.

“We intend to open 35 outlets in this part of the country in the next 18 to 24 months using up a cumulative floor-space of about 42,000 square feet. All the four brands should be in Kolkata by the end of this year,” Gama’s director Gaurav Agarwala said.

source :http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/kolkata-/Hospitality-giant-on-land-hunt-for-city-address/articleshow/4988332.cms

Realty firms look at PE bailout for hotel projects

Realty majors, left with few avenues to fund their ambitious hotel projects, are now hoping for a private equity (PE) bailout. Developers like Parsvnath, Nitesh Estate and Brigade Group have kicked off negotiations with PE players to bail them out.

New Delhi-based Parsvnath Developers, for instance, recently prepared an information memorandum for the purpose. “We plan to raise money for hospitality projects but currently it is in an early stage of discussion,” said an official on condition of anonymity. The company has expressed its intention to focus on six projects in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Goa, Mohali and Shirdi.

“Banks are still a little averse to lending to the hospitality sector even though signs of economic revival are looking imminent,” said K Ramakrishnan, executive director & head, investment banking, Spark Capital.

Technopak Advisors’ principal consultant (hospitality) Tarandeep Singh said, “PE funds are currently more liquid than bank finance and many funds have past experience of investing in hospitality.” He added that there are around 15-20 PE players who are scouting for good bargains in the budget hotel segment.

PE players like S Sriniwasan, CEO, Kotak Realty Fund, say that the hospitality business in India is promising from a long-term perspective despite the current challenges. “Despite the capital-intensive nature and high cost of land, I think the hospitality business is very promising. The need for hotels is only going to pick up as the Indian economy grows,” Sriniwasan said.

According to data provided by Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on PE and M&A deals, in 2007 there were nine PE deals in hotel projects worth $343 million, and in 2008 there were 11 deals worth $246 million. So far this year, there have been five deals worth $74 million.

Arun Natarajan, founder and CEO of Venture Intelligence, said that its real estate and hospitality focused PE funds are looking at investing mainly in hotel projects. “These funds will try and replicate the global hotel management model in India. Under this strategy, it would either build a new hotel or buy an existing property and then strike a deal with hotel firms for branding,” he added.

Realty companies are looking at joint ventures as well as the special purpose vehicle (SPV) model to partner with PE firms. Some PE firms are also looking to buy out assets of distressed hotel projects. Duet India Hotels, a $166.5 million fund that is a part of Duet Private Equity (DPEL), which acquired Dawnay Day Hotels for $33 million last year, is in the hunt for distressed properties.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_realty-firms-look-at-pe-bailout-for-hotel-projects_1288631

Real estate moves towards industrial hubs in tier 2 & 3 cities

The demand fundamentals of India are now focused around cities that have sufficient economic activity, be it industrial, service sector-driven or  incentive-driven programs by the State Government. In Gujarat, which has seen considerable industrial progress, cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara come readily to mind.

Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and Pantnagar and Rudrapur in Uttaranchal attracted a lot of residential developers, thanks to government policies. In the South, Coimbatore, Vizag and Kochi emerged, either thanks to a large investor segment or as the outcome of sufficient economic activity. Towards the West, Pune, Nasik and Nagpur are noteworthy in this context.

In all cases, developers positioned their development close to industrial hubs, targeting a totally different price segment. While this was a worthy ambition , it was poorly conceived as a plan since many of them did not factor in State Government-level regulatory challenges such as local municipal laws.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/Real-Estate/Realty-Trends/Real-estate-moves-towards-industrial-hubs-in-tier-2-3-cities/articleshow/4970256.cms

Govt plans to make integrated township policy more pragmatic

Gandhinagar The Gujarat Integrated Township Policy, which the state government had announced in 2007 with much fanfare, has been gathering dust in the Sachivalaya files. Though no one knows as to when the policy will be implemented, the government has now decided to revise it and make it more pragmatic to attract private investment in the township development sector.
According to sources in the state Urban Development Department, the policy, though announced at the Vibrant Gujarat Urban Summit in Ahmedabad about two-and-a-half-years ago, could not be implemented due to “some lacunae”. “Now, we have decided to revise the entire policy, making it more comprehensive and practical for its effective implementation,” sources added.

A senior official in the department told Newsline on Monday that the exercise to prepare the revised draft for the policy is on, and it is expected to be over in the next few days.

State Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel could not be contacted, while one of his staff members said the minister would soon convene a meeting of senior department officials to discuss the issue.

The official said the policy has to be revised. Certain key elements relating to FSI, built-up area, and land allotment for setting up integrated townships need to be specified and incorporated suitably in the policy document, he added. “We are also considering the various suggestions made by private developers to make the policy more pragmatic and workable,” he said.

Jakshay Shah, the president of Gujarat Chapter of the Confederation of Real-Estate Developers of India said that the government should allot at least 100 acres of land to the prospective developer to build an integrated township.

In its proposed revised policy, the government should also clarify on some key provisions relating to FSI, built-up area and infrastructure to be created in such townships, he added.

“It is really unfortunate that the government has taken so long to implement the policy. About 40 per cent of the state’s population is living in the urban areas, and the number of nuclear families has been increasing steadily. This has triggered the demand for more and better urban settlements across Gujarat. If implemented earlier, this vital policy can solve this problem,” Shah said.

He added that the concept of integrated township would also reduce the increasing pressure on agricultural land and ease the urban transportation problem.

The government had announced its integrated township policy in 2007. Its main objectives were: facilitating the creation of efficient, equitable and sustainable urban settlements, Public Private Partnership in urban development, and promoting economic development in and around major cities of the state.

The government’s role as mentioned in the policy document would be that of a facilitator, providing support to prospective developers for creating external infrastructure (power, roads, water), land purchase, green channel procedures and monitoring mechanisms. It also aims to give a boost to the real estate sector.

Source :http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/govt-plans-to-make-integrated-township-policy-more-pragmatic/509651/

Soft launches cushion city realtors from slump

Ahmedabad: With the real estate market still in recession, builders in the city have fallen back on the old strategy of ’soft launches’ for their new projects. Experts say this benefits developers as well as buyers. While builders are able to acquire some cash (as advance from buyers) for their upcoming projects, buyers are able to get decent discounts on the property they are purchasing.

In the past one month, more than 10 new residential schemes have been launched in the city. Most of them were soft launches. All the housing schemes launched in the past one month are in areas such as Bopal, Chandkheda, Motera and eastern Ahmedabad.

The real estate sector gets no financial support from the government. For this reason, builders have always resorted to ’soft launches’ to solve their liquidity problem. “Even investors (i.e., customers) benefit from soft launches,” said president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India- Gujarat chapter, Jaxay Shah.

Shah said that a builder planning the soft launch of a project usually informs his loyal clients and investors about his new scheme. “These include people whom the developer has known for long,” he said. “Then there are people who purchase property as a kind of investment for long-term gain. In many cases, new buyers, who have come to know of the soft launch by word-of-mouth publicity, also invest in the new project.”

The real estate company, Safal Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, has ’soft launched’ a housing scheme of two and three-BHK apartments in Bopal. The managing director of Safal Group, Rajesh Brahmbhatt, said “Soft launches are good in every way. On the basis of the response to a soft launch, it is possible to assess the credibility that a builder enjoys among buyers.”

“The buyers are being given various benefits, including ’soft prices’ (discounted prices) for the property they want to purchase,” Brahmbhatt said. “These prices are lower than market rates.”

Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_soft-launches-cushion-city-realtors-from-slump_1285789

Hotel Industry in India witnesses tremendous boom

A touch of tenderness, a helping hand, a welcoming visage… the Indian hospitality sector is certainly the most apt replication of the belief  ‘Atithi devo bhava’. Good quality products and services at affordable prices should be the USP of any successful venture – and hotels in the country boast of exactly this!

According to the world travel and tourism council, the growth in the hospitality industry is pegged at 15% every year, and with 2,00,000 rooms (both luxury and budget) needed in the country, the segment is poised for a stupendous growth.

Travel tales

While the high influx of foreign tourists has ensured huge footfalls for the sector over the years, internal tourism too has, off late, begun offering great potential. With travelers taking new interests in the country, players in the hospitality sector have had to offer the best of services, at affordable prices. Also, with the USD 23 billion software services sector pushing the Indian economy skywards, more and more IT professionals are flocking to Indian metro cities, thus signaling a boomtime for the hotel and hospitality segment. Several other factors such as Commonwealth Games in Delhi are fueling the need further.

The best bet

The Indian hospitality industry is projected to grow at a rate of 8.8% between 2007-16, placing India as the second-fastest growing tourism market in the world. Initiatives like massive investment in hotel infrastructure and open sky policies made by the government are all aimed at propelling growth in the hospitality sector.

“Hotel and hospitality industries are among the biggest employment generators in the country. Towards propelling its growth, while the government should confer infrastructure status to the hotel industries, several taxation issues also need to be rationalised. Further permits and licenses required for the hotel operations need to be rationalised by offering a “single window” mechanism,” says Sanjay Gupta, CMD, Neesa Leisure Ltd – the Group which boasts of providing state-of-the-art facilities and services at its hotels.

Be it Cambay Sapphire – the elegant 3 star business hotel at Ahmedabad or The Cambay Grand – the upcoming 5 star hotel in Ahmedabad that takes contemporary luxury to new heights with opulent rooms and suites, exotic spa, virtual golf, and multi cuisine fine dinning, redefining luxury is the perennial mantra in each of Cambay’s hospitality projects. Some of the Group’s forthcoming ventures include The Cambay Spa & Resort at Neemrana, Rajasthan – a proposed five star business hotel boasting of one of the largest conference and convention facilities, another venture of Neesa Leisure Ltd in Dahej (SEZ) to have 100 rooms including apartment and conference facilities and Cambay Sapphire, Jodhpur – a business hotel. Exclusive and innovative initiatives like the Cambay projects certainly focus on ensuring a bright future for the Indian hotel industry.

The government’s decision to substantially upgrade 28 regional airports in smaller towns and privatization & expansion of Delhi and Mumbai airport has improved the business prospects of hotel industry in India. Also, the upgrading of national highways connecting various parts of India has opened new avenues for the development of budget hotels in India. Couple this with the availability of qualified human resources and the hospitality sector has already got great growth prospects!

The right call

A focus on quality, behaviour-based evaluation, market choice and market response has predominantly shaped the State’s hospitality industry. Increased competition and increase in demand has consolidated the hospitality segment, whilst opening up a plethora of opportunities. Fierce competition has led to innovative ideas by hotel majors, thereby delivering impressive hospitality products and services.

This has, in turn, also prompted them to generate new lines of revenue with creative approaches, be it by reducing transaction costs, increasing productivity or promoting traditional Indian values.

A pioneering initiative, herein, is the concept of mixed-use developments, wherein the real estate typically includes an apartment block of a commercial block along with a hotel. Still in its nascent stages in India, the concept offers inspiring potential. Also, the entry of multinationals and Indian hotel chains expanding internationally only reinforces the segment’s untapped business potential.

Combining unparalleled growth prospects and unlimited business potential, this industry is certainly on the foyer towards being a key player in the nation’s changing face.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Corporate-Trends/Hotel-Industry-in-India-witnesses-tremendous-boom/articleshow/4934663.cms

Changing Real Estate Scenario in Tier 2 and Tier 3 Cities

The demand fundamentals of the India story are now focused around all cities that have sufficient economic activity, be it industrial, service sector-driven or incentive-driven programs by the State Government. In Gujarat, which has seen considerable industrial progress, the key cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara come readily to mind. Baddi in Himachal Pradesh and Pantnagar and Rudrapur in Uttaranchal attracted a lot of residential developers that met with success, thanks to proactive Government policies. In the South, Coimbatore, Vizag and Kochi emerged, either thanks to a large investor segment or as the outcome of sufficient economic activity. Towards the West, Pune, Nasik and Nagpur are noteworthy in this context. In all cases, developers positioned their development close to industrial hubs, targeting a totally different price segment and making the most of it.

This said, every developer was inspired to create a national footprint three to four years back. While this was a worthy ambition, it was poorly conceived as a plan since many of them did not factor in State Government-level regulatory challenges such as local municipal laws. They also did not consider that they may not have had the requisite financial resources, organizational depth and knowledge of the local markets to manage and execute projects in Tier II and Tier III cities. Nor had they accurately gauged the demand fundamentals of these locations. Such developers proceeded to enter into land acquisition on their own equity and were caught short-footed, not realising that the property cycles were then at their peak, and that there was bound to be a correction – if not a fall.

Major players are now going to re-align their positions vis-à-vis unexplored territories. There is now a very clear realisation that it is extremely difficult to become a genuine Pan India player in every geography and real estate segment. Moreover, developers today have woken up to the fact that there is only limited capital available to real estate players today – capital that is earmarked for residential projects, construction funding against achieved leases and signed contracts, or for cities displaying sufficient demand even in subdued market conditions. In the current context, it makes sense for developers to re-strategize and focus on their core geographies. For example, if a certain developer is extremely accomplished as a residential player in the South, having high credibility and sufficient brand recall in this region, such a company would ask itself how wise it is to experiment in the North or the West, and whether it would not make more sense to expand in the South.

Likewise, developers accomplished in IT projects would now concentrate on geographies that feature a healthy IT component, and avoid branching out into cities that lack a sufficient volume of such activity. Such developers would see the virtue of focusing on IT-centric cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Gurgaon and Pune, and re-think on plans to invest in cities that lack Information Technology activity. Tier II and Tier III cities still represent a great story, especially in terms of affordable housing for industrial workforces. However, this story may no longer be suitable for some of the larger developers. These are locations where the strength of regional players will come into play. There is at least one strong developer in every region. For instance, Panchshil Realty, Magarpatta, Paranjape Builders and Kumar Builders are very powerful local brands in Pune, with a company like Pharande Spaces practically spearheading the residential drive in Pune’s PCMC area. These brands have demonstrated that they understand their geographies better than any players who arrive from the outside to experiment on the Tier II / Tier III story.

The success of these local developers will inspire larger developers from beyond a region’s borders after the fundamentals of that area’s demand are captured sufficiently and the markets are sanitised in terms of municipal and financial market stabilisation. In the next one to two years, developers will have realigned their business strategies sufficiently to leverage the potential of Tier II / III cities that have sufficient market drivers or are witnessing considerable investor activity (such as Kochi, Surat, Mohali and Chandigarh).

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/changing-real-estate-scenario-in-tier-2-and-tier-3-cities.html

“Deals Are Picking Up:” Investors At VCC Forum In Ahmedabad

The forum was organised at a time when Indian markets are reviving and the deal making activity is picking up.

VCCircle Investment Forum held in Ahmedabad on August 12 attracted 200 delegates from Ahmedabad and from the other parts of the country. The forum – titled Capital Strategies For A Reviving Economy – saw participation from leading private equity fund managers, venture capitalists, companies, entrepreneurs, bankers, advisors and management consultants. The forum was organised at a time when Indian markets are reviving and the deal making activity is picking up.

The keynote panel included Sid Khanna, Chairman, India Equity Partners; Deepak Shahdadpuri, Managing Director at Baer Capital Partners; Cyrus Driver, Director at Helix Investments; Vikram Nirula, Partner at India Value Fund Advisors; Hetal Gandhi, Managing Director at Tano India Advisors and Paresh Patel, CEO of Sandstone Capital LLC, who was the moderator. The panel discussed the state of the private equity business, and was of the opinion that though the funds are now ready to to deals, they will be very cautious. “Limited partner community has gone through a
turmoil and they would expect more discipline from the funds,” said Nirula.

Khanna said that India Equity Partners has not done any deal since early 2008, and they are keenly looking at water and waste management, infrastructure services, FMCG, among others. “We did nothing since valuations had reached the stratosphere and used the period for introspection, and building relationships.” he added. Some investors have also used the crisis as opportunity. “We are working with two of our portfolio companies for acquisitions,” said Shahdadpuri.

The next panel discussion was on Participating in Building India’s Infrastructure. This panel included SG Shyam Sundar, Managing Director at IDFC Private Equity; Srinivas Chidambaram, Managing Director at Jacob Ballas Capital India; Gaurav Mathur, Managing Director at India Equity Partners; Sunil K. Kolangara, Director at UTI Ventures; Arvind Mathur, who was a senior investment professional with ADB Venture Capital. The panel was moderated by Arijit Burman, Bureau Chief, NDTV Profit.

The panel talked about how private equity vis-a-vis infrastructure has developed in the country. Now infrastructure has become the buzzword for PE investors and they are extremely optimistic on the space. But some challenges remain like environmental clearances, quality of infrastructure being built, land acquisitions, policy changes, etc.

The third panel focused on private equity and small & medium enterprises. The speakers in this panel were Dhiraj Poddar, Director at Standard Chartered Private Equity; Vamesh Chovatia, Director at Kotak Private Equity; Mihir Joshi, Managing Director at GVFL; Ashish Bhargava, Vice President, India Value Fund Advisors, and Vivek Subramanian, Partner at Avigo Capital Partners.

The panelists said that the sectors they were looking to invest in this space include infrastructure ancillaries, domestic consumption linked firms, healthcare and pharma. Avigo’s Subramanian said that the key factor for SME invetsing is that they should be very high growth. He said hat revenues of their portfolio companies grew by 60% in FY09 despite financial crisis.

The final panel was on venture capital investments in India. The panelists were Bejul Somaia, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Rahul Chandra, Director, Helion Venture Partners, Rahul Khanna, Director, Clearstone Venture Advisors; Raj Chinai, Principal, SVB India Capital Partners. The panel was moderated by Shiraz Bugwadia, Director, o3 Capital.

The panel concluded though venture capital firms in India look at opportunities from early to growth, right now the focus is on late stage and non-tech investments. “Technology venture capital investing in India is a shallow pool,” said Clearstone’s Khanna. The panel also discussed that intellectual property (IP) based start-ups are less in India and how early stage ecosystem is different from US in India.

Source : http://www.vccircle.com/500/news/deals-are-picking-up-investors-at-vcc-forum-in-ahmedabad

Ambuja Realty to execute Rs 4,000 cr housing projects

Ambuja Realty Development has planned to execute projects worth Rs 4,000 crore in the next five years. According to Harshvardan Neotia, company’s chairman, all options would be kept open for raising funds for the projects. The company has kept options open for divestment in the closely held company.

He informed, “IPO or any other means to raise funds would depend on several conditions like market response, project schedules, booking, bank credit and capital market conditions. If the situation demands, we are open to raise funds from the market, but there is no plan as of now.”

Gurgaon, Faridabad to be developed as green cities
The Haryana government has planned to develop Gurgaon and Faridabad as green cities.

Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the project meet the energy challenges, reduce dependence on fossil fuel, expensive oil and gas for energy and also to promote increased use of renewable energy. “The state government would be assisted in preparation of a master plan for increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy supply in these cities, besides having in place institutional arrangements for implementation of the master plan,” Hooda said.

These will be the first cities in Haryana to be brought under the development of solar cities programme, launched by the new and renewable energy ministry.

Oakwood plans apartment with five-star facilities
Oakwood Worldwide, a leading player in the service-apartment segment, has announced plans to open 11 five-star temporary housing facilities across the country by 2012. The locations for its facilities would include Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Vikas Kapai, country general manager, Oakwood Worldwide, said “These properties are under construction. Meanwhile, we have also signed 11 deals with real estate developers for the new constructions. It would come up with two more properties in Mumbai, and two in Chennai in the next one year.”

Realtor to develop vaastu-compliant township
Kolkata-based Shristi Infrastructure Development has planned to develop a mega integrated township with the name of Shristinagar at Asansol, West Bengal.

The vaastu-compliant project, with built up area of 6 million sq ft, will offer 2,400 apartments, in addition to plots, group housing structures, bungalows, row housing and premium residential apartments. Keeping options open for people who would prefer community living and yet want to develop a dream home. We will develop vaastu-compliant houses for 5,000 families at Shristinagar, spread over 90 acres,” said Hemant Kanoria, director, Shristi Infrastructure.

RICS to launch professional courses in realty sector
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the UK-headquartered organisation which trains professionals working in the land, property and construction sectors, has decided to start its professional courses in India.

Sachin Sandhir, MD, RICS India, said “We plans to start Centre of Excellence for Real Estate & Construction, for the development of specialised skills for professionals employed in the realty sector.” He said that the specialised courses in realty and construction management with durations of six months to two years.

Source : http://www.expressestates.in/full_story.php?content_id=93873

Premium residential properties again on buyers’ list

There is good news — and it’s coming from above. Across the country, cities are reporting a revival of sales interest in premium residential Land as investment

properties. In many cases, this is happening, even though the values have remained mostly unchanged. A few cities, however, have attributed the revival to a marginal fall in prices.

In the premium segment, most of the interest revolves around main city areas and resale properties. “Yes there is a movement in the premium segment but it still stands lower than in the Rs 30-40 lakh segment. Part of the demand for premium buys is coming from the secondary market and partly from the under-construction properties,” says Anshuman Magazine, CMD of global real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis.

In fact, this time round it is not speculators but end-users who are bargain hunting. An example is the COO of a leading multinational company in Delhi who had been looking for her dream home for three years within a budget of Rs 1.5 cr. But when she found the 3,000 sq ft apartment within her budget, she did not think twice about putting her money in.

Another buyer bought a property for Rs 18 cr in the upmarket Vasant Vihar area of the Capital for use by his family. This trend has kept realtor Ashok Kumar on his toes as he has done brisk sales in the Rs 3 crore per floor in premium South Delhi areas as well as the Rs 6 crore to Rs 30 crore sales in premium residential areas such as Vasant Vihar, Panchsheel Park, Greater Kailash and Defence Colony areas. In the suburban areas of Gurgaon, per sq ft rates of premium property is between Rs 3,000 and Rs 3,500 on Sohna Road to Rs 15,000 on the Golf Course Road.

The asking rates were about 10-15% higher during the boom. Realtor Ravi Pundir says in Noida, Sectors 93, 50 and 62 have apartments of 1000-9000 sq ft each by developers such as Jaypee, Unitech, Amrapali and Mahagun at Rs 4,400-8,000/ sq ft.

Harinder Dhillon, GM, marketing, Raheja Developers, also agrees that demand in this segment has picked up. “Our Atlantis project in Gurgaon is in the range of Rs 1.5-1.6 cr, which has been seeing a good response. The fact is that end-users have realised that the market has already bottomed out and the price movement from here will only be upwards.”

Brix Research, the research arm of magicbricks.com, has been conducting a series of multi-city surveys to assess the demand of premium housing in the country since December 2008. Multiple sources, including developers, realtors and consumers, have been contacted on a sustained basis to arrive at these conclusions. The survey has found that the premium luxury apartments and bungalow market of Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 3.5 crore and above, has witnessed a revival across India since May 2009.

In Mumbai sale of premium property in areas such as Cuffe Parade, Carter Road, Andheri East, Juhu, Film City Road, Bandra, Pali Hills, Four Bungalows and Juhu Road Versova side did take place, though at 10% rate of transactions at values upwards of Rs 25-30 crore each. Row houses in Bandra and Carter Road areas sold during the reported slump at Rs 2- 2.5 crore each and values are unchanged. A few villa projects in the Royal Challenge area by developers such as Oberois and Rahejas are finding takers at Rs 8-9 crore each. Less premium developers are finding buyers at Rs 6-7 crore each, according to Chandan Chowdhary, a leading city realtor.

In Bangalore, the slump in the market continues. Premium localities along the Ring Road such as Cox Town, Indirapuram and Koramangala, have witnessed sale at 10% lower prices. Transactions have risen from the near zero to about 30-40% of peak numbers at Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1.3 crore, according to city-based realtor Nadim Munjawar. However, in peripheral premium localities such as Whitefield, Electronic City and Sarjapur Road, prices have dipped by almost 30-40%.

In Chennai, in premium areas of Aryapuram, Besant Bagar, East Coast Road, Perungudi, Adyar, T Nagar, Ashok Nagar, KK Nagar and Boat Club prices Land as investment

range from Rs 50-60 lakh to Rs 5 crore and demand has dropped 95%. With values down by 10-15%, transactions have started picking up in luxury apartments, bungalows and individual houses. Local realtor Madhusudanan expects the situation to continue till 2010-11.
In Ahmedabad, luxury apartments of around 2,000 sq ft come at Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore. The rate of transactions are rising. Premium localities include Prahlad Nagar, Science City Road, Vastrapur, Satellite, Mani Nagar, Shahi Bagh, in and around Lajpat Club and upcoming localities such as Sanathan. Major developers in this segment include Pacifica Builders, Goyal, Savvi Infrastructure, Bakeri and Saffal groups. Realtor Anand Varani maintains that premium buyers are not impacted by falling interest rates or dropping property values. Only those scouting in the main city areas are looking for bargains.

In Kolkata, premium properties that have been launched 3-4 months ago, are selling since May-June 2009. Transactions are at 75% of peak numbers, says realtor Sandeep Sen. Transactions in the Rs 70 lakh to Rs 3 crore for 2,000-2,500 sq ft, 3 BHK apartments are taking place. Premium projects are coming up in Ballyganj Circular Road, Guru Sadi Road and Maysir Road. The shine is back in the premium real estate market. So this may be just the right time for you to scout for a good deal!

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/The-Sunday-ET/Property/Premium-residential-properties-again-on-buyers-list/articleshow/4794274.cms?curpg=2

Oakwood Worldwide plans 15 operational properties in India by 2012

Planning a major foray into service apartments segment, international player Oakwood Worldwide would launch 11 five-star category temporary housing facilities across India over next three years.While the brand is already operational in Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore with four properties, it will have operations in prominent Indian cities such as Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Thiruananthapuram and Ahmedabad by 2012.

Oakwood Worldwide, which runs resorts and service apartments in United Kingdom, USA, Singapore and a number of Asian countries, plans to run properties in three different categories in India. The Oakwood Premier category provides for a long-term stay in five-star deluxe category rooms while the Oakwood Residence has five-star standard residential flats. The Oakwood Apartments category is meant for tier-two and tie-three cities and has compact service apartments.

The brand has so far launched four properties in the country while 11 new locations are under construction. Speaking to Business Standard , Oakwood’s country general manager Vikas Kapai said, “We have signed 11 new deals with different real estate developers. We expect to have two properties operational in each of New Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad by 2011.”

Oakwood recently launched its largest property in India, the Oakwood Premier in Pune with 202 five-star deluxe studios and suits. It also runs an 84-unit Oakwood Residence property in Pune. The brand already has a property each operational in Mumbai and Bangalore. It plans to have have two new properties in Mumbai while a property each in Ahmedabad and Thiruananthapuram.

“We have seen more than 73 per cent occupancy during the financial year 2008-09 at our three properties. This year as well, we have seen more than 65 per cent occupancy, which is excellent considering the present economic situation,” Kapai added. the firm plans to concentrate on Pune, New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the cities that attract the maximum number of foreign working professionals in India. Kapai however did not disclose the financial details of the company in India.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/oakwood-worldwide-plans-15-operational-properties-in-india-by-2012/67360/on

Times Property Expo a huge draw

AHMEDABAD: The two-day Times Property Expo organised here from Saturday by the real estate developers received an overwhelming response.

Over 3,000 people thronged the exhibition hall at Rajpath Club on the first day of the expo. There were numerous enquiries from people settled in Gujarat from other states about the ongoing and upcoming projects by the real estate developers.

Though the large percentage of participants in the expo was that of local developers, there was also fair representation from national brands like Godrej Properties. The people were particularly keen about the conglomerate’s upcoming residential township near Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway.

According to a Godrej official, “We have showcased our under-construction projects in Mumbai and Thane in Maharashtra and a residential complex in Bangalore. Interestingly, many enquiries for these properties were made by Gujaratis. However, migrants from other states were keen to know about Godrej’s first real estate venture in the state.”

Anand Pal Singh, area sales manager with VF Arvind Brands Pvt Ltd, said he was been living in the city for the last three years and at present stayed in a rented accommodation. He said looking at Gujarat’s progress, he wants to buy a residential property in the city despite having a house in New Delhi.

Amit Shah, a marketing officer with Punjab National Bank, said there were several enquiries for home loans in the range of Rs 30 to 40 lakh from young professionals working with multi-national companies.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-City-Ahmedabad-Times-Property-Expo-a-huge-draw/articleshow/4767386.cms

Real estate survey shows silver lining for market

CHANDIGARH: Presently facing a downward trend, the real estate market is likely to recover by 2010 with increase in demand for residential segment driven by improving affordability, steady economic growth and greater liquidity. These are the findings of a survey carried out in 10 cities, including Chandigarh, by the Crisil Real Estate Research Group.

The report says, “Demand in the residential market is expected to turn positive in 2010 due to these factors, however, a decline in the currently over-priced capital values of all the three real estate segments – residential, commercial and retail would persist through 2009.” “The commercial and retail markets would continue to witness erosion in lease rentals through the next two years,” it states.

The report provided information and analysis of more than 400 acres of land across 88 micre markets in 10 cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

The report indicated that capital values for residential sector and lease rentals for commercial and retail properties have substantially corrected till March this year, due to slowdown in both the domestic and global economies. Cities such as Kochi, Chandigarh and Pune, which have greater investor presence as against end-users, witnessed a greater fall in capital values compared to other cities, the report revealed.

However, Crisil believes that demand for houses would improve in 2010, backed by lower home loan interest rates as well as better job security owing to higher growth in the economy.

Expressing confidence in the report, a leading real estate agent of the city, Sunil Kumar, said, “Apart from the low interest rates on housing, another important factor for the rising demand in 2010 would be the upcoming international airport in Chandigarh. The direct Dubai flight from Chandigarh would also add to arrival of many big business houses here.”

Kumar insisted that these factors would compell more and more tricity tenants to go for owning a property of their budget and choice. “The demand for residential properties would be more in the neighbouring areas like Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur, villages across the city and even far-off areas like Derabassi, Kharar and Kurali,” said Kumar.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-City-Chandigarh-Real-estate-survey-shows-silver-lining-for-market/articleshow/4770363.cms

Decline in Demand of Service Apartments

The demand for service apartments has declined in the last few months due to the slowdown. This apart, real estate experts feel that lack of dedicated players and lower hotel room prices too have impacted the demand in this segment. This, however, was not the scene a year ago. “Last year, the boom had resulted in corporates offering a lot of privileges like frequent travels, which had seen a rise in demand for service apartments. However, lately, with the domestic travel reducing and even hotels offering cheaper prices, the demand has dropped a bit. Nevertheless, the industry expects demand for service apartments to rise again in the next six months,” says Jaxay Shah, director, Savvy Infrastructure Limited.

Real estate analysts agree that the option of service apartment is better than hotels as far as corporates are concerned. “Service apartments carry facilities that support stay with a duration of 15 days as well as over six months. Compared with that, staying in hotels tend to be costlier. Longer stay, however, is being ruled out by corporates as of now. Rather, they are now relying on video conferencing and other cost effective means,” says Ashutosh Limayi, associate director, strategic consulting at John Lang LaSalle Meghraj (JLLM), a real estate consulting firm.

According to SK Sayal, chief executive officer and director of Delhi based Alpha G: Corp Development Private Limited, the segment also lacks seasoned players. “Since service apartments require more facilities that can be offered over a period of time, ranging from 15 days to over six months, there are not many specialists in the industry. As compared with global markets, India still lacks dedicated service apartment providers and hence, hospitality players are complementing it with their hotels. Even our upcoming hotel project in Ahmedabad might complement service apartment need in the market,” points out Sayal.

Ahmedabad-based Neesa Leisure, which operates service apartments in Gurgaon and Jaipur, is also wary of the market. “We have a couple of properties in Ahmedabad and one in Gandhinagar. However, another service apartment is yet to be planned,” says Arvind Gupta, managing director of Neesa Leisure Limited. Industry estimates reveal that the investment in service apartment is over Rs 20 lakh per room.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-trends/decline-in-demand-of-service-apartments.html

Indiabulls to spend $500 mn for new projects

India’s third-largest listed developer, Indiabulls Real Estate has planned to use more than $500 million raised from a recent share sale to launch projects.

According to Gagan Banga, chief executive of the group’s flagship, Indiabulls Financial Services, the company will launch 6-7 residential projects in the financial year ending in March 2010 on the back of an expected recovery in demand.

In the month of May, the company raised $556 million through a share sale to institutions including TPG Capital and Fidelity.

The company, with a market value of $1.7 billion, is targeting housing demands in second-tier Indian cities such as Baroda, Ahmedabad and Indore.

Source : http://www.expressestates.in/full_story.php?content_id=93849

RE/MAX Plans Entry into Gujarat

India, a part of the world’s largest Real Estate franchising network has announced its plans of entering into the state of Gujarat. As the first step, RE/MAX India is organizing a formal meet in the city on June 26th & June 27th, 09 to introduce it’s concept and working pattern. After the recent foray in Chennai, Ahmedabad venture will be another feather in the company’s hat of well listed expansion plans for establishing strong footprints in the Indian real estate market. RE/MAX India is on its way towards organizing and bringing professionalism in this unorganized but compelling market.

Ahmedabad, among the top five famous cities of the country is prospering due to the huge growth in the industrial sector. Seventh largest and one of the most populated cities of the country, it has continuously witnessed a demand for real estate. Since the dawn of the development phase in India, Real Estate in Ahmedabad has been receiving maximum exposure and has witnessed high developments. The real estate sector is also flourishing because of the major developments by builders in Ahmedabad. Majority of the big builders are constructing properties which are not only for residential but also for commercial purposes. It means every kind of property need is being catered for. With 10 new real estate projects in the pipeline, it has witnessed growth despite the slow down.

RE/MAX India has entered this market to meet the potential available and make real estate matters transparent, in order to reduce risk and ensure certainty. Delighted to announce its foray into Gujarat, Mr. Samir Chopra, Chairman & Managing Director, RE/MAX India said that “The biggest impending concern of the real estate sector is the lack of accurate statistics and transparency, and the need of the hour is to place trust amongst investors and buyers. We at RE/MAX India, are really looking forward to building great long term partnerships in the city and help it maximize its growth potential”.

Providing a one-stop solution to all the realty requirements of its customers worldwide, RE/MAX provides access to 74 nations in which the company is operational. RE/MAX strongly believes in the notion that construction is one sector where relationships with the customers are cemented through values like trust, integrity and transparency. RE/MAX franchise network avails numerous benefits which combine maximum commissions and the best support services to attract the top agents of the Real Estate industry.Agents share office overheads and pay management fees, and in return receive a wide variety of traditional real estate franchise services and high commissions apart from benefiting from advertising campaigns, superior training and growing market share. That is why RE/MAX Realtors on an average outstand all competitors nationally, giving competitive edge to the customers. These realtors lead the industry with experienced and advanced professional designations, which indicate excellence in various categories of real estate service and expertise.

In order to empower the real estate brokers and to spread knowledge of its fundamentals, RE/MAX India is organizing a brokers’ meet on 26th & 27th June, 09 at ‘Comfort Inn President’, opposite Municipal market, Navrangpura which indeed will be a must to attend for anyone in the Real Estate market who wants to gain from the new order of things.

Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Indian-Realty-News/~3/Iv6TrZVjlFk/remax-plans-entry-into-gujarat.html

Le Meridien plans to open 5 hotels in India

The French hospitality major, Le Meridien, plans to open five hotels in India in the next three to five years, a top company official said in Mumbai yesterday.
 
 ”We are looking at setting up five new properties of hotels and resorts in India adding around 1,000 rooms capacity over the next three to five years,” Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels regional vice president, Don Elliot, told reporters.

However, he has not revealed the names of the cities in which the company is interested in setting up its properties.
 
”We are negotiating with our partners and these properties will be set up in Tier I and Tier II cities,” Elliot said.
 
Le Meridien currently has eight hotels in India in Ahmedabad, Kochi, Jaipur, New Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.
 
With close to 80 of its properties located in Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and the Asia-Pacific region, Le Meridien provides a strong international complement to Starwood’s primarily North American holdings.
 
Le Meridien recently opened new hotels in Bangkok, Chian Mai, Chiang Rai and Shimei Bay in China, and will open in Dallas and Philadelphia in the coming months.
 
It has also signed new hotel deals in Taipei, Xiamen, Chongqing Nan’an and Qingdao in China.
 
Le Meridien was started as an accommodation option for Air France customers to be used when they travelled to destinations across the world. The first Le Meridien property was setup in Paris in Etoile with 1,000 rooms.

In November 2005, the company, was acquired by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc, one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 940 properties in approximately 97 countries and 145,000 employees.

Starwood ’s internationally renowned brands include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Westin, Le Méridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft, and Element. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts.

 
Source : http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.domain-b.com/industry/Hotels/20090523_hotels.html&ct=ga&cd=oHwoFOHo08Q&usg=AFQjCNHsb8y9_H9ryXaPz_alVqBeKu3WGQ

Indiabulls Plans Eight Residential Projects

Property developer Indiabulls Real Estate (IBREL) plans to build residential projects over 9.8 million square feet in the current fiscal year to generate cash flows. The Mumbai-based developer planned to launch eight projects in six cities as part of the development plan, the company told analysts and investors as part of its preparation for the proposed qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue, through which it aims to raise as much as $600 million (Rs 3,000 crore). The company is already talking to investors to raise at least $150 million (Rs 750 crore) from sale of shares to select investors as part of the plan.

All the projects, mostly in the affordable housing category, to be launched this year are expected to be completed by December 2013, according to a presentation prepared by the company. he proposed residential launches include, Riverside in Ahmedabad, Indiabulls Greens, Navi Mumbai, Lakeview Park, Chennai, Indiabulls Paramount, Indiabulls Metropolitan and Indiabulls Orion, Gurgaon, Indiabulls City, Sonepat (NCR) and Hillside View, Vishakhapatnam.

Indiabulls’ commercial leasable area in Mumbai is expected to go up to 5 million square feet from 3.4 million square feet after the Maharashtra in November 2008 raised the maximum developable area to 4 from 2.66. The company said it also has agreed to sell a part of its One Indiabulls Centre, located at Lower Parel, to a foreign government body for an implied rate of Rs 18,818 square feet. It didn’t name the foreign government body though industry sources said the property was sold to the British Council (BCI) for Rs 30 crore. Indiabulls Retail owns a 45 per cent stake in Indiabulls Property Investment Trust (IPIT), the Singapore-listed entity. IPIT owns two properties at Lower Parel — Indiabulls Centre and Elphistone Mills.

Source : http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Indian-Realty-News/~3/VOtlRbHWpC4/indiabulls-plans-eight-residential-projects.html

Peninsula Delays Hotel Project

Peninsula Land Ltd, a unit of the Ashok Piramal group, is deferring its plans to build business hotels by at least six months to preserve cash, a company official has said. In May last year, Peninsula forayed into the hospitality sector with a joint venture with textile maker and real estate developer, Arrow Webtex. The JV planned to build hotels in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik and Kolhapur in Maharashtra. There were also plans to develop hotels in Ahmedabad, Surat, Jamnagar, Mundra port, Goa and Kerala. “Currently, all outside initiatives are on hold. We do not think it is prudent to diversify rather than executing our current projects. We will look into new projects in the second half of this year when we expect markets to go up. It is more important to preserve cash in the downturn,” said Rajeev Piramal, executive vice-chairman, Peninsula Land.

Real estate developers such as DLF, Parsvnath and Unitech are also going slow on their hotel plans due to tough credit environment and fall in occupancy rates. DLF, the country’s largest property developer, is said to be pushing back its hotel plans by 12-18 months, another Delhi-based realtor Unitech, has sold its Gurgaon hotel to reduce its debt burden. “Land values are not attractive and still there is more scope for correction to launch these projects,” said Piramal. Peninsula and Arrow Webtex were to create a special purpose vehicle (SPV), where they would hold 50 per cent stake each. In the first stage, the JV was to invest Rs 100 crore and build 10 hotels of 100 rooms each, aggregating 1,000 rooms.

Peninsula is also putting its plans to get into new areas such as project management, infrastructure and others on the backburner to save cash even as it is expanding into new cities such as Nasik, Hyderabad and Pune this year, amounting to 8 million square feet. Peninsula is also looking at alternative options such as fund structures wherein capital is pooled in from different parties and invested in real estate projects as it is yet to close its Rs 1,400-crore Paramount offshore fund floated earlier.

The company is expecting nearly Rs 2,000 crore cash flows from its Mumbai projects mainly from the Peninsula Business Park project in Lower Parel area of Central Mumbai and from the Peninsula Technopark project in Kurla, which has been sold to the Essar group wherein it is yet to get full payment due. The company posted 49 per cent increase in its profit after tax to Rs 35.96 crore for the fourth quarter of FY 2009 as compared with Rs 24.06 crore it posted in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-developers/peninsula-delays-hotel-project.html

Mumbai, Ahmedabad see steepest fall in mall rentals

AHMEDABAD: Once buzzing with a lot of business activity, shopping malls too are feeling the pinch of the slowdown. While mall rentals in retail  hotspots like Mumbai and Ahmedabad have seen a correction of 36-42%, other shopping destinations like Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata and the NCR saw a drastic dip since January 2009.

The mall and main street rentals fell as much as 42% in Mumbai and 25% in the NCR in the January-March quarter, compared to preced-ing quarter, according to a report by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield. Ahmedabad saw corrections in the range of 20-36% over the last quarter.

In the past one year, mall rentals in Ahmedabad alone have corrected by a whopping 33-55%. The correction in rental points to a waning retail sector in Ahmedabad. Be it stores of Indiabulls Retail, Spencer’s Retail or Subhiksha, the retail biggies have either shut shop (completely or partially) or have shrunk in size.

In Mumbai, main-street locations also saw rental correction with Colaba Causeway recording the highest correction of 38%.

Hyderabad recorded one of the highest mall rental corrections of 25-29% due to restrained demand from retailers. Main-street rentals also saw corrections in the range of 5-20%, largely due to renegotiations and restrictive demand.

In Kolkata, the Theatre Road and Elgin Road, two prominent street markets of the city, registered 10% correction on the account of exit of some prominent retailers. In Pune, the Bund Garden Road witnessed the steepest correction of 25%. MG Road remained stable on account of lack of supply.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Mumbai-Ahmedabad-see-steepest-fall-in-mall-rentals/articleshow/4488973.cms

Rentals tumble as retailer response dip: C&W

Retail real estate across the country continued to reel under the current economic pressure.

According to a report prepared by Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s largest real estate services firm, most retail micro markets, both mall as well as main streets have seen a further correction in rental values during the first quarter ended March 31, 2009.

Mumbai saw the sharpest decline in rental values for both malls and main street. Suburban Goregaon, witnessed a fall of 42 per cent, while rentals in places like Colaba Causeway corrected by 38 per cent.

In the national capital region (NCR), main street location of Greater Kailash, M Block witnessed a 25 per cent decline in rental values while mall rental values in Noida dropped by 17 per cent.

Ahmedabad saw a downturn in rental values in malls and main street rentals with corrections in the range of 20 per cent to 36 per cent over the last quarter.

Rajneesh Mahajan, executive director, retail services, Cushman & Wakefield India said: “Even while a correction in rental values is recognised as a potential catalyst for retailers to re-enter, receding end user demand has severely curtailed uptake of space across most micro markets.”

“Thus the trend of further correction is likely to continue in short to medium time frame leading to further correction in both mall rentals as well as high street rentals. Only established retail micro locations and successful malls are expected to hold steady largely on account of revenue potential and low vacancy,” he further added.

Furthermore, in the same period only 1.4 million sq.ft. of fresh mall supply was added across seven major cities concentrated only in Mumbai and NCR. The fresh supply was much below initial expectation largely due the slowdown in uptake of space by retailers, which led developers to reduce the speed of construction in already underway projects.

A few other developers, which are yet to start construction of previously announced projects, may be reconsidering their retail mall plans. The slowdown in mall construction is expected to keep the supply low over 2009 and may help in maintaining a healthier supply to demand equation going forward.

The estimated mall supply by end of 2009 is calculated to be 17.66 million sq.ft., about 11 million sq.ft. of the same has been carried forward from 2008.

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/rentals-tumble-as-retailer-response-dip-cushmanwakefield/60560/on

Decline in Office Rentals continues

Office markets across the country continued to show a downward trend as most markets recorded negative growth in rental values after supply across eight major cities in India outstripped absorption by 45 per cent.

Mumbai, the financial capital of India, witnessed the sharpest decline in rental values in the first quarter of 2009 while the National Capital Region witnessed significant decline in rental values in central business district in the first quarter of 2009, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest office market report.

Micro markets of Mumbai including those of Lower Parel and Worli recorded drops of 37 per cent and 29 per cent respectively from a three per cent and 13 per cent drop respectively in the preceding three months. Rentals in central business district of Nariman Point fell by 13 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared to 20 per cent in the previous quarter.

Rentals in NCR’s CBD, mainly Connaught Place dropped by 17 per cent, the highest in the last 3 years, the property consultant said in the report. The drop comes after a 14 per cent decline in the previous quarter. Bangalore rentals fell in the manageable range of three to seven per cent in key markets.

“The first quarter of the year can be termed as the weakest so far in terms of commercial office take up across major cities in India as compared to a similar period for the last 2/3 years,’’ said Kaustuv Roy, Executive Director, Cushman & Wakefield.

Bangalore witnessed the highest new office space supply of approximately 2.81 million square feet and also the highest demand of 1.29 million square feet. NCR and Mumbai witnessed fresh office space supply of 2.6 million square feet and 2.47 million square feet respectively and absorption of 0.8 square feet and 0.9 square feet respectively. Chennai, which had been reeling under over supply pressures saw moderate supply 0.98 square feet and absorption of 0.9 square feet. Hyderabad and Ahmedabad saw no addition to the current stock.

Vacancy levels had remained largely consistent to last quarter with most IT/ITeS destinations witnessing high vacancy levels. Chennai’s peripheral location (Rajiv Gandhi Salai) recorded the highest vacancy of approximately 42% while the city average was at approximately 18%. The lowest vacancy was recorded in Ahmedabad at five to six percent due to limited leasing activities and no new supply in the market.

Mumbai recorded a vacancy of approximately 11-12 per cent while vacancy levels in NCR stayed at a manageable 8 -10 per cent. Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata remained at an average of 16 -18 per cent. Hyderabad saw some slackness in activities and therefore recorded a reasonably high vacancy of 23% of which prime suburban region comprising of Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills recorded a higher 35% vacancy.

‘’Re- negotiations and migration to more cost effective locations has been the norm for the cautiously advancing corporate sector. However going forward we are likely to see supply contraction,’’ said Roy.

‘’Acutely affected areas like IT/ITES and certain corporate office destinations will see deferment of projects to bridge the gap between supply and demand. While rental values are expected to be under pressure in short to medium term, going forward lower rentals are likely to have a more positive impact on the absorption numbers,’’ he added.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/decline-in-office-rentals-continues.html

Ahmedabad rentals down

With property prices in Ahmedabad buckling under recessionary pressures, residential rental rates are also on a downward spiral.

The year 2009 will see consolidation in residential rentals and investors should brace themselves for it, says Mr Pratik Gajjar, Chief Executive Officer, Residential Rental, Space Management.

The residential rentals in the up-market Western part of the city peaked in 2008, and have fallen by nearly 25 per cent in the last six months. Short-term investors are being replaced by players who are in it for the long haul.

A five-to-six year lock-in on a property has become the norm and investors are buying a property with a view to retaining it for some years. This was not the case previously, when investors used to keep a property for an average of two years. This can be seen as an outcome of declining Returns on Investments, which have fallen to as low as 3.5-4 per cent this year, after hovering at 6-8 per cent in 2004-05, according to Mr Gajjar.

More bargaining power

In such a scenario, tenants have the upper hand and more bargaining power. This time, when the leases come up for renewals, the tenants are unwilling to pay hiked rentals and are, in fact, asking for discounts within their existing contracts.

Mr Gajjar and his team at the professional estate agency Space Management have been advising investors to comply with these demands and stick to their existing tenants.

“We are telling our clients to not let go of the existing tenants because it is difficult to find new tenants right now,” he said.

The market in Ahmedabad for rented residential accommodation is highly fragmented with very few one-BHK apartments, double categorised two BHK apartments, ambiguous three BHK ones (of 1,400 sq.ft to 3,600 sq.ft) and the premium four BHK ones (2,500 sq.ft to 4,000 sq.ft and above). The visible residential rental segment of Ahmedabad is largely in Western or new Ahmedabad. The Eastern or old city is mostly run by individual or unorganised brokers with most deals happening through word-of-mouth route, according to Mr Gajjar.

The current rates governing the visible segment in the two BHK space are ranging between Rs 4,500 and Rs 7,000 per month in the lower segment and Rs 6,500 and Rs 17,000 for fully furnished apartments in the upper segment. The two BHK segment has not seen a decline in rentals and is bucking the trend of declining prices. As monthly rentals in other segments are declining, those in two BHK and niche high-end segments are holding firm. The demand in this segment has outstripped supply and hence the rates are holding steady. The main reason for this is that, in the last three years, not many two BHKs were built in the city, according to brokers in Ahmedabad.

“The real-estate business is investment driven. Not too many two BHKs were built and there was a dearth of such properties. There was pressure on rentals but due to the demand-supply gap, rentals in this segment have remained the same and are not falling,” says Mr Gajjar.

He adds that though the rentals in the niche segment have not fallen yet, it is expected that they will fall soon. One BHK flats are considered as a sub-set of the two BHK ones and for an executive, staying in the city for a few years, it can cost anywhere between Rs 7,000 to Rs 9,000. Meanwhile, the three BHK apartments have seen a drop of 10 to 20 per cent in rates in the past six months and have now settled between Rs 12,000 and Rs 15,000 for the first category and up to Rs 1,00,000 in its fully furnished premium category. In this segment, currently, there is an oversupply situation which is threatening to penetrate to the other segments as well. Meanwhile, the four BHK apartments cost anywhere around Rs 20,000 and Rs 1,50,000 per month.

Bungalows upstaged

A notable change in trend here is that Ahmedabad, which attracts a lot of expatriates, used to pride itself on its bungalows which were favoured by visitors who stayed for a couple of months every year. But of late, the expatriates have been choosing apartments over bungalows. Mr Gajjar attributes this trend to the new constructions that are being built in a style catering to the requirements of the NRIs. “When NRIs go to Mumbai or Delhi, they stay in apartments, so the builders thought ‘why not provide them with good and premium quality apartments here too’ and thus has started this trend,” he says.

The recession is playing a spoiler to the real-estate boom that Ahmedabad was beginning to see, admits Mr Gajjar but he does not want to predict beyond a six-month period. “The current rates are dissuading investors from leasing out residential properties but if the situation worsens, rentals will come down and that will further bring down the property rates at a faster pace. It is difficult to predict anything right now,” he says.

As of now, he would only like to advise his clients to look at rentals at a much lower level than last year and wait out the current market situation with older tenants.

Sourc : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/iw/2009/04/19/stories/2009041950551500.htm

Mahindra Retail to invest upto 1 bln rupees in FY10

New Delhi (Reuters) – Mahindra Retail, owned by the Mahindra Group, plans to invest up to 1 billion rupees during the financial year ending March 2010 to open stores for mother and child products, a company official said on Wednesday.

“We plan to invest at least Rs 75-100 crore this year, out of which a portion has already been invested,” K Venkataraman, managing director, Mahindra Retail said.

The group, which also has interests in automobiles and real estate, has a majority stake in the retail venture, while private equity firm ICICI Ventures will hold 26 percent stake, he said.

The company has so far opened speciality stores for mother and children’s products in Ludhiana, Pune and Ahmedabad, said Venkataraman, who inagurated the company’s store in Delhi called ‘Mom and Me’.

” We will shortly open such stories in Mumbai, Bangalore and other major tier I and II cities,” he said.

Apart from distributing toys, games and apparel under licenses from international brands like LEGO, Disney and Mattel, Mom and Me stores will offer products of Mahindra and other Indian companies, he said.

According to industry estimates, India has an organised retail market for mother and child products worth 70 billion rupees, growing at a substantial rate annually, he said.

“There have been some good advantages of the downturn in our segment,” he added, pointing out that economic slowdown, which has pulled down rents and costs of products has benefitted the retail sector. ” Indian market in the long term is very promising. We need to take it by step by step,” he said while declining to provide details about expansion plans or revenue targets for the year.

The company would focus on the Indian market for the time being and has no plans to expand overseas, he said adding that no strategic tie-ups are in the offing either.

Source : http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-38948820090408

Shivalik Group announce emerging business in real estate projects

5 April 2009,  Shivalik Group is an organization in Real Estate in Gujarat,Leading Builders in Gujarat.This ISO: 9001 Group is an esteemed organization that has accomplished many prominent infrastructure as well as real estate projects.The company has a vision to go global envisaged through its current expansion, in different cities of Gujarat and India, starting from Rajkot .

Currently the group consists of 25 companies, with aggressive marketing and efficient operation…the group has forayed in the first five prominent positions among the real estate developers in the city.
Mr.Satish N. Shah is the chairman, who has a vision to diversify from stock broking despite having exceptionally booming business has ventured to enter into realities and has established commanding position in the commercial capital of state of Gujarat. He is the group chairman and basically endeavors towards laying strict norms of policies and also periodically reviewing to the needs of the time.

The organization sternly believes in making and sustaining relationships. It strongly believes that relationship cannot be established on hollow things. It is the quality which has brought the group to such a esteemed platform.
The company follows stringent rules for quality assurance… Never to compromise on quality irrespective of market conditions is a theme of the success…is the motto of the company. The group has been certified and has obtained ISO 2001 Certificate from Bureau Veritas.
Apart from this Company has Dynamic team of Chartered Accountants & Company Secretary who look after all the Legal, Financial & Company matters.

Shivalik Plaza, one of the landmark projects has been nominated in the category of best commercial building for the year 2006 by G.I.H.E.D

Source : http://www.newdesignworld.com/press/story/11295

Godrej to set up Rs 5,500 crore housing plan

AHMEDABAD: With the burgeoning aspirational Indian middle class looking at affordable housing in and around mega cities and tier I-II,

Godrej Group  is set to invest a whopping Rs 5,500 crore on affordable housing scheme in Ahmedabad.

Having signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gujarat government during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit 2009,Godrej Properties, the real estate arm of the FMCG major, will set up the mega residential cum commercial project between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, said the chairman of the company Adi Godrej during a visit to the city.

He was the chief guest at the 7th Convocation of Nirma University of Science and Technology on Saturday. “We will invest $1 billion on affordable housing project in the state that would come up between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. The project spread over 30 million square feet will have close to 30,000 units priced around Rs 25 lakh. We would also have certain commercial units in the same project,” he said, adding that the project would commence soon, he added.

As per the MoU, the project expects to generate employment for 1000-odd people in the state. Mr Godrej said the company has been working on multiple affordable housing projects across Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, NCR and Punjab. “With mortgage rates likely to come down in future, the demand for affordable housing would pick up across cities,” he said. Godrej Group expects to record a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore in 2008-09, 20% more than the last fiscal, he added.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Godrej-to-set-up-Rs-5500-crore-housing-plan/articleshow/4328910.cms

Sulekha survey reveals paradigm shift in real estate preferences

The real estate market in India is one of the most volatile and keenly watched segments of the Indian economy. It plays a significant role in the country’s economy. The real estate sector is second only to agriculture in terms of employment generation and contributes heavily towards the gross domestic product (GDP). Five per cent of the country’s GDP is contributed to the housing sector. In the next five years, this contribution to the GDP is expected to rise to 6 per cent. (Source: IBEF – India Brand Equity Foundation )

Moreover, the real estate sector is also responsible for the development of over 250 ancillary industries such as cement, steel, paints etc. A study by rating agency ICRA shows that the construction industry ranks 3rd among the 14 major sectors in terms of direct, indirect and induced effects in all sectors of the economy.

A unit increase in expenditure in this sector has a multiplier effect and the capacity to generate income as high as five times. If the economy grows at the rate of 10%, the housing sector has the capacity to grow at 14% and generate 3.2 million new jobs over a decade.

The real estate sector in India has observed a quiet revolution over the past decade thanks to India’s booming economy which has led to an increased demand for both commercial and residential space. But today, with the economy in a topsy-turvy state all over the world, the aspiration to own a property or a flat has seen a backseat.

With the aspirations of the common man taking a severe hit on account of the prevailing economic slowdown, the most active and booming industry of developing India has seen a slump after a long time. Acording to Sulekha.com, India’s largest online & mobile classifieds and yellow pages portal, with the tightening of purse strings amongst property buyers, the real estate industry has been the most affected segment world over and especially in India.

In the survey conducted by Sulekha.com over a period of 6 months from October 2008 to March 2009, the trends observed in the real estate market in terms of buying & selling property and rentals show significant disparity on account of the currently prevalent public sentiments of job insecurities, savings and cost trimmings.

The real estate markets in the cities of Mumbai and Delhi have always seen an up market swing before the recent economic crisis.

With square feet prices in the main metro cities being higher, 51% of buyers opting to buy property of 1BHK in Bombay in the months of October, November and December has seen a dip of only 5% in the next quarter with a corresponding increase of 9% for 2BHK houses from OND-08 to JFM-09. Though for 3BHK houses we have witnessed an high of 2% in the search results.

With the Delhi/NCR region being the hub of all major multinational companies and the city expanding to the outskirts, an interesting trend has been witnessed in the real estate market with 43 per cent preferring to buy a property of 2BHK as compared to a 1BHK/3 BHK in OND-08. This has just seen a upward trend and reached close to 55% in the coming quarter.

The IT hub of the country, Bangalore had buyers opting for prime property in the city, 60% opting to buy property of 2 BHK houses in OND-08 which even remained constant for the coming quarter. However with regards the 1BHK and 2BHK house the trends have just been vice versa – A 26% search for 1BHK (OND-08) dropped to 2% in the next quarter and a mere 15% search in 3BHK heightened to 33% in the JFM-09 quarter.

A similar kind of trend as Bangalore has also been observed in the city of Hyderabad. This can simply be attributed to the fact that even in hard times of recession, real estate prices have been luring these users and thus the search results.

On the other hand, Chennai, a city experiencing a major real estate makeover and shooting up of land prices to levels unimaginable, has now taken a backseat. All those who earlier opted for 1BHK house are now opting for a 2BHK house and more with low budget criteria.

Key Findings
Mumbai continues to dominate as 1BHK market. Buyer’s  mentality has not changed too much even with the correction in the real estate prices
User’s preference has changed drastically in tier-ii cities. They expect the property dealers to meet their demands with a 35-40% correction in the prices
Metros have witnessed a serious downward trend in buyer’s opting for 1BHK house in 2009

We have witnessed that close to 46% of deals which gets closed for a 1BHK house are from Mumbai. The only other city closely following it is Pune with 30% buying 1BHK house on Sulekha.

While seeing the Chennai buying trend it is quite apparent that 65% of the users bought a 2BHK house with only a mere 9% buying a 1BHK and 22% a 3BHK apartment. This was the result of the IT boom in the city which has increased the spending power of the users.

A 3BHK and above has always been reserved by the ‘A’ class community. It is quite astonishing to note that 36% of the deals in this category where closed in Ahmedabad justifying the income and the concept of joint family prevalent in the city.

With the current meltdown, users have overestimated the correction in real-estate prices and on an average are expecting close to 25%-30% drop in prices. On the other hand property dealers are not able to justify their fixed costs incurred based on the market conditions and are ready to meet the buyer’s demand. Below is a chart showing change in the budget preference cited by the users while looking for a 2BHK house in major metros:

RENTALS SCENARIO IN THE MAIN METROS

With the economic downturn, cost cutting and stringent budgets being the catch words of the new year the conscious Indian consumer is now opting for the rentals when compared to owning a piece of land.

With less capital investment and an already existing structure, it is now considered a wise move to rent an apartment for a lesser cost.

Chennai augmented by 62% in the JFM-09 quarter. Closely followed by Bangalore with a steady increase of 41%. All in all the cities in the South witnessed a complete make over from real estate to rentals.

Mumbai did not show a drastic shift as the common man mentality over their has always been a 1BHK house on rentals/real estate. Though it did show a spurt of 22% in 2BHK and 34% in 3BHK as people thought it was more economical beginning this new year.

Even Delhi maintained a quite subtle growth in rentals with an average increase of 30% in all the categories (be it 1, 2 or 3BHK) Though it was quite astonishing to note that the search for 4BHK house went up by 172%. This can be attributed to the following reasons:

a. Dealers and individuals started to give out their house on rent since they ceased to find a prospective buyer who would take it on ownership in these times
b. People were able to get bigger property on rent in less prime locations within their same budget

Source : http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=97302&lmn=1

ROHL to open its second fully owned and managed property by end 2010

Royal Orchid Hotels Limited (ROHL) plans to come up with its second owned and managed property in India, Royal Orchid Hyderabad, by end 2010. The group has five more projects under its five star brand in the pipeline — Royal Orchid Jaipur, Royal Orchid Central Navi Mumbai, Royal Orchid Central Mumbai, Royal Orchid Central Ahmedabad and Royal Orchid Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. Royal Orchid Central Ahmedabad will be group’s first owned and managed property in its four star category.

Speaking exclusively to Hospitality Biz, Keshav Baljee, Co-Promoter, ROHL said, “For the Royal Orchid brand, we are looking to own and manage the hotels, making them asset-based properties in near future. However, apart from ownership, for our four star brand, ‘Royal Orchid Central’, we will look for management and leased properties.”

Spread across an area of two and half acres with 230 rooms, Royal Orchid Hyderabad in Gachibowli is a 100 per cent owned and managed by ROHL. Royal Orchid Jaipur, with an inventory of 170 rooms, will be 51 per cent owned, but fully managed by ROHL. The property is scheduled to be operational by end 2010.

Source : http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=3999&sid=1

Carlson to add 50 properties in India

CHENNAI: Carlson Hotels has announced its plans to add more than 50 properties, or over 6,000 rooms, to its India portfolio by 2011. The rooms will be spread across four Carlson brands — Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Park Inn and Country Inns and Suites By Carlson.

New plans

The India expansion is part of the group’s strategy to double its regional presence in Asia Pacific over the next four years, says a company release.

This year alone, Carlson Hotels Worldwide has ambitious plans to open several hotels in major gateway cities in India including Delhi, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Kolkata and Bangalore.

According to K. B. Kachru, Executive Vice President (South-Asia), Carlson Hotels Worldwide, “Carlson is currently the largest international hotel operator in India. We are looking to leverage on this leadership position by growing our managed properties portfolio in the long-term through strategic partnerships.”

India is the first regional market where Carlson launched its Park Inn brand.

There are currently two Park Inn properties in operation, with another five Park Inn properties under development.

The group also plans to bring its luxury Regent brand to the country over the next two years.

There are currently nine Regent hotels under development worldwide, of which five are in the Asia Pacific region.

The focus will be to continue to grow in key gateway cities and major resort locations in the region that align with the strategic plans of the brand.

Overall, Carlson Hotels Worldwide has about 12,000 rooms under development across the region, including India.

Source : http://www.hindu.com/2009/02/08/stories/2009020855491300.htm

Gujarat clears The Special Investment Region(SIR) ordinance

Gujarat has again pioneered and laid down the road map of robust and fast track economic development of the State and the country. On 6th January, 2009, the State Government promulgated a legal framework – The Gujarat Special Investment Regional Ordinance, 2009. The Ordinance gives indication of the commitment of the state Government to set up world class hubs of economic activity on the lines of fast growing countries of the world.

The State Government is very keen to create large size investment Regions and Industrial Areas in the State of Gujarat; and to specially enable their development as global hubs if economic activity supported by world class infrastructure, premium civic amenities, centres of excellence and pro-active policy framework; and to set up an organizational structure with that purpose. The SIR Ordinance provides for the development of such economic hub(s) with global standards. The State has already identified six potential locations to be developed as SIR which include (1) Dholera-Ahmedabad Inbvestment Region (2) Vadodara-Ankleshwar Industrial Area (3) Palanpur-Mehsana Industrial Area (4) Bharuch –Dahej Investment Region as PCPIR (5) Surat-Hazira Industrial Area and (6) Valsad-Umergam Industrial Area.

India is emerging as a major economic power in the world. The competitive advantage of India include a vast market, a large pool of talented human resource who are mostly in the working age group, vast areas of waste land and a variety of natural resources. Gujarat is placed very well to play this role of taking India on a high growth trajectory. Gujarat already contributes a substantial part in India’s industrial production, capital formation and exports. In several products, it is in fact, a national leader and in certain others, a global player. Gujarat has thus emerged as the growth engine of India. However, the potential is still very large and Gujarat must exploit the same for its own development and for growth of the country.

One of the main reasons of economic progress of several countries has been the creation of huge industrial corridors and mega manufacturing and commercial hubs including in Japan, China and South Korea. It is particularly observed that size of such hubs does matter. This helps in the economies of scale particularly in creating and providing robust infrastructure which is uniform and available to all users. In this background, if the State and the country have to achieve a higher growth, a similar pattern may have to be followed. With that objective, the State Government has passed the SIR ordinance particularly to create large size Investment Regions and Industrial Areas in the State of Gujarat; and to specially enable their development as global hubs of economic activity supported by world class infrastructure, premium civic amenities, centers of excellence and pro-active policy framework; and to set up an organizational structure with that purpose.

This strategy of the State Government is complimented with the strategy of the Government of India. Government of India has proposed a project of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Delhi and Mumbai. The area of 150 kms on both sides of the DFC will be developed as the Industrial Corridor. 38% of the length of the DFC is falling in Gujarat. As part of this Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), six mega industrial nodes (four industrial areas and two investment regions) have been proposed for the State of Gujarat. Almost one third of the proposed investments of about 90 billion US dollars in DMIC is expected to take place in Gujarat alone. As part of the DMIC project, identified industrial nodes have to be developed as Global Manufacturing and Commercial Hubs. All kinds of infrastructure both within and outside the nodes also have to be developed with global standards; Government of Gujarat has not only given its full commitment for the DMIC project but has been actively working with the Government of India on the same. Even Government of India has suggested to the State to put in place a legal frame work and a dedicated organizational structure for setting up world class industrial nodes.

All this will lead to enhanced economic activities in the State and in the country and will particularly, result into generation of employment for the people on a massive scale. The objective also includes putting to use large tracts of uncultivable land for industrial and other productive purposes and to develop robust infrastructure linking the industrial nodes, our ports, the DFC and other important locations. This will result into enhanced production and productivity, wealth creation and welfare of the community. To achieve this mammoth task, it was imperative for the State to put in place a legal framework and organizational mechanism with such powers and functions, which steer the development of mega investment regions and industrial areas faster and smoother. In the present global economic scenario, the SIR in Gujarat is expected to be a sound global centre of attraction for the investors.

The Ordinance mainly proposes to provide for following matters :

1. The Ordinance enables to establish, develop, operate and regulate the Special Investment Regions in the State.

2. The State Government is empowered to declare Investment Region or Industrial Area and designate them as Special Investment Region (SIR) by notification;

3. An Investment Region will be developed in an area of more than 100 sq. kms and an Industrial area will be developed in an area of more than 50 sq. kms.

4. The Ordinance provides for establishment of a four tier administrative mechanism for establishment, operation, regulation and management of the SIRs. The structure will comprise of an Apex Authority, a Regional Development Authority (RDA) for each region, a Project Development Agency and project specific SPVs. The Apex Authority and Regional Development Authority will make provisions for development, operation, regulation, management, planning and to grant permission and approval for any economic activity or amenity to be established in the Special Investment Region;

5. The Ordinance empowers the State Government for setting up of Project Development Agency and Nodal Company in the form of a government company and assign them the functions like conceiving and detailing of the project, assessing the techno-commercial and economic feasibility, financial structures of projects, environmental issues and solutions, implementing the projects or awarding them to other developers or entities, promoting private sector participation in projects etc. Government has already approved formation of such a project development company in the name of “Gujarat Industrial Corridor Company” (GICC).

6. The Ordinance provides for effective internal dispute settlement mechanism by setting up a three tier system.

7. The ordinance also provides for a single window clearance system. The Apex Authority- the GIDB will be the point of contact for establishing an economic activity, infrastructure or amenity in the SIR.

In the Global Investors’ Summit – 2009, a seminar is also organised on the development strategy of the SIR. Gujarat is the first State which came out with such a unique legal framework. This shows its commitment to strengthen the economy of the State and of the Country.

Source : http://deshgujarat.com/2009/01/08/gujarat-clears-the-special-investment-regionsir-ordinance/

Tier 3 Offers Good Real Estate Opportunities

Despite the global economic downturn eating into India’s real estate markets, Jones Lang LaSalle said the country’s third tier markets would provide attractive future returns. The real estate services firm added that Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kochi, Jaipur and Nagpur were among the most attractive. The investment case for India’s third tier cities is still strong despite the financial turmoil being felt in the country, according to property services firm Jones Lang LaSalle. India’s economy has suffered amid the global deleveraging with general repricing across real estate markets and predictions the country’s gross domestic product will fall from an average rate 8.9 percent to 6.2 percent for 2008/2009.

However Jones Lang LaSalle said in their “India30 Real Estate Opportunities in Tier III Cities” report, that the country’s tier three cities are well placed to weather the storm. Highlighting 30 cities, the firm said these locations would “set the benchmark by which other [tier three] cities will be measured.” Assessing the investment potential of the cities by “size, market reach and connectivity”, Jones Lang LaSalle said the most attractive investments would be found in Ahmedabad. Chandigarh, Kochi, Jaipur and Nagpur. Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj said these cities “offer the strongest real estate potential combined with the lowest market risk.”

According to the report: “The [30 cities highlighted by the report] still account for a relatively small proportion of real estate activity (21 percent of modern offices and 34 percent of shopping malls), but with 41 percent of the country’s wealth, the potential of these tertiary markets is clearly evident” “Domestic players continue to expand rapidly into tier three cities, and whilst foreign players are currently adopting a cautious approach in today’s uncertain global economic climate, over the longer term we anticipate the India30 will offer new opportunities for both domestic and foreign real estate investors, developers and occupiers,” he added in a statement.

Source : http://www.indianrealtynews.com/real-estate-india/tier-3-offers-good-real-estate-opportunities.html

JLLM Releases ‘India30 – Real Estate Opportunities in Tier III Cities’

With the release of ‘India30 – Real Estate Opportunities in Tier III Cities’, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj decisively answers the recurring question in investor circles today – Is the Tier III city story over, or is there comeback sequel?

The answer is a resounding ‘Yes!’ This latest report from Jones Lang LaSalle’s World Winning Cities Research sets out to provide fresh insights into the long-term real estate opportunities and risks across India’s Tier III cities.

What makes these cities tick, and what will keep them ticking when others are facing the prospect of a protracted period of stagnation?

“This is not a simple question to answer, but we have attempted to do so in this report,” states Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj. “In any given city, the factors that influence real estate growth are diverse and complex. To arrive at a uniform and non-ambiguous model of ‘real’ time potential, we arrived at three control points for this study – infrastructure, human capital and governance. These factors are best suited to reflect growth amongst any city.”

‘India30 – Real Estate Opportunities in Tier III Cities’ showcases 30 cities – the India30 – which Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj identifies as the focus of new real estate activity outside of India’s major metros over the next decade. The India30 will set the benchmark by which other Tier III cities will be measured.

Included in the report is a unique Real Estate Opportunity Map, which provides a high-level summary of the research and analysis of macro-economic parameters, real estate fundamentals, future growth drivers and risk profiles across the India30.

“We have short-listed 10 Tier III cities which offer the strongest real estate potential combined with lowest market risk”, states Mr. Puri. “Five cities stand out – Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Kochi, Jaipur and Nagpur. This group already have rapidly growing real estate markets due to their city size, market reach and connectivity.” A second group of mainly southern Indian cities – Coimbatore, Mangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Visakhapatnam and Goa – also score well and have growing consumer markets.

With ‘India30 – Real Estate Opportunities in Tier III Cities’, Jones Lang LaSalle makes a strong case for these cities which, led by proactive visionary governments which invest in infrastructure and education, will be best positioned to succeed in the immediate and long-term future.

Source : http://propertybytes.indiaproperty.com/?p=3247