New Delhi, India, April 05, 2007 - The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) on Special Economic Zones (SEZs) met here today and discussed various issues relating to SEZs. It decided, inter-alia, to lift the current freeze on SEZs, with tighter rules and prescribed a ceiling on the size of SEZs, which has now been fixed at an upper limit of 5000 hectares.
New Delhi, India, April 04, 2007 - The Government is finalizing new National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy to tackle housing shortage in the country. Addressing a two-day National Conference on ‘Affordable Housing for All’here today,the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Kumari Selja said that the new Policy is based on the feedback from the sectoral developments since 1998. She said that promotion of sustainable cities through adequate provisions of housing and related infrastructure is the need of the hour.
New Delhi, India, April 04, 2007 - The first Meeting of the Empowered Committee of the National Capital Region Planning Board was held under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Urban Development Ministry, Shri M. Ramachandran in New Delhi today. Chief Secretary of Haryana, Additional Chief Secretary of Rajasthan besides senior officials from the Government of Uttar Pradesh, and Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi and other officials from the Central Government Departments, attended the meeting.
The meeting discussed issues relating to unrestricted movement of buses, taxis and auto rickshaws within the National Capital Region, use of CNG fuel to reduce pollution levels in the towns of National Capital Region, opening large number of CNG Pump Stations in the NCR as well as improving connectivity in the National Capital Region both by extension of Metro to satellite towns around NCT of Delhi as well as better framework of roads in preparation for the forthcoming Commonwealth Games-2010.
Mumbai, April 03, 2007 - Various banks including ICICI Bank, HDFC and PNB have increased their home loan rates. This follows the Reserve Bank of India's recent decision to hike the inter-bank short-term lending rate by 0.25% and the mandatory deposits banks are required to make with the RBI by 0.5%. The CRR increase will squeeze money out of the banking system by forcing banks to deposit an extra Rs 15,500 crore with RBI. Controlling inflation is the central bank’s top priority.
New Delhi, India, March 15, 2007 - Expressing deep sorrow over the killing of 11 people at Nandigram, ASSOCHAM President, Mr. Venugopal N. Dhoot appealed to all political parties to find out an amicable solution and resolve the land acquisition issue for SEZs, instead of politicising which will dampen the industrial development of the state.
New Delhi, India, March 09, 2007 - Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and West Bengal have not repealed the Urban Land (Ceiling & Regulation) Act, 1976 so far. The Minister of State for Urban Development Shri Ajay Maken in a written reply told Lok Sabha today that according to the information received from the State Governments, the Repeal Act of 1999 is enforced in the States/UTs of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, NCT of Delhi, Pondicherry and Chandigarh. The Minister said that State Governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu follow their own law for land ceiling.
New Delhi, India, March 09, 2007 - Cement manufacturers have agreed to hold the price line and not increase cement prices any further for one year with effect from today and to absorb all the additional costs themselves, following prolonged deliberations with the Commerce & Industry Minister, Shri Kamal Nath, here today with senior representatives of the cement industry including the President of the Cement Manufacturers Association in the context of the recent increase in prices of cement. They have also agreed that if any concession is given to them by way of excise duty and other statutory levies, they would pass on the benefit of it entirely to the consumers.
New Delhi, India, March 02, 2007 - Advisor to Finance Minister, Dr. Parthasarthi Shome justified imposition of service tax on property rental income, meant for commercial use and maintained that dividend distribution tax (DDT) has been kept at a marginal rate of 15% to give leverage for administrative expenses.
Mumbai, India, March 01, 2007 - According to Mr. Ankur Srivastava, Managing Director, DTZ India, “ With the economy growing at a healthy rate, positive sentiment and only the shadow of inflation looming, this could have been an opportune time to initiate bold measures for long pending structural reforms in the sector. This opportunity appears to have been lost as no structural reforms like tenancy laws, land reforms, rationalisation of stamp duties etc. have been initiated.
New Delhi, India, February 28, 2007 - Fresh tax concessions have been allowed in the Budget 2007-08 to promote infrastructure facilities. A five-year holiday from income tax has been allowed for two, three or four star hotels.
New Delhi, India, February 27, 2007 - Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, JNNURM is a significant move to address the creaking urban infrastructure. The Economic Survey, which was tabled in Parliament today, says that comprehensive planning and effective monitoring are essential to take this scheme successfully to its logical conclusion. The Survey further says that outlook on urban infrastructure will depend critically on how fast the finances and functional efficiency of urban local bodies is improved.
New Delhi, November 30, 2006 : The Government of India has put in place a liberal and transparent policy for investment from overseas Indians. Most of the sectors are open to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) under the automatic route.
Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) can invest upto 100% under the automatic route in the Housing and Real Estate Development for the following activities.
Hyderabad, November 15, 2006 - If India's much anticipated retail revolution has a start date, it could well be the first week of November 2006. On November 3, in a classic RIL move marked by scale and ambition, Reliance Retail launched 11 Reliance Fresh retail outlets simultaneously in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, firing the first salvo in what will be a keenly contested battle to win a huge prize - nothing less than the wallets of Indian consumers!
New Delhi, November 02, 2006 - The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for setting up of 100,000 rural Common Services Centers (CSC) across the country at a total cost of Rs. 5742 crore. Of this, the Government of India’s outlay would be Rs. 856 crore and the State Governments’ share Rs. 793 crore. The balance amount of Rs. 4093 crore is expected to come from the private sector. The project is proposed to be implemented by the Department of Information Technology through a Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The one lakh CSCs, are expected to give a boost to development by helping to bridge the digital divide. The project is expected to substantially extend the reach of digital services and economic opportunities into the rural and remote areas of the country. The CSCs are proposed to be rolled out in 18 months i.e. by March 2008.
Pune, October 29, 2006 : In a welcome move, the Pune City Improvement Committee (CIC) has decided to allow high-rise buildings with a maximum height of 100 metres. The move will help ease the demand for residential and commercial real estate as developers build higher, and also keep price inflation under control.
New Delhi, October 10, 2006: The Master Plan for Delhi, to be announced by December 2006 will have provisions to permit putting up of dwelling units on 27,000 hectare agricultural land that Delhi has in its possession and also provide for easier and relaxed floor area ratio norms for city’s vertical development with necessary no objection certificate from water and power authorities.
These observations were made by the State Minister for Urban Development Mr Ajay Maken while releasing a report "ASSOCHAM Study on Housing For All".
Mumbai, September 25, 2006: The long wait appears to be near an end for Foreign VC funds who have been keen on investing in the Indian Realty sector and are awaiting approval from RBI.
Mumbai, September 15, 2006 : Foreign Investment in Indian real estate remains controlled, but the opportunities are immense according to B.Srinivas, National Manager, Capital Markets Group, Cushman & Wakefield India.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank, has asked banks to include the national building code of the Bureau of Indian Standards into their loan policies. The BIS building code seeks to guide construction activities within the country to desired standards.
A step in the right direction.
The Kerala government aims to bring in comprehensive new legislation on land and property in Kerala. The set of new regulations aims to deal with issues such as the indiscriminate filling of paddy fields by construction companies, a reduction in stamp duty, filling up of water bodies, also by construction companies, fixing land prices to stabilise the market and levying a building tax on apartments. The new measures, when introduced, will have an impact on the fast growing real estate market in the state as well as a positive impact on the environment.
North Block disagrees, sees SEZs as tax havens
While the commerce ministry claims that 150 SEZs have been approved and a cap had been fixed on fresh approvals, revenue department officials distinguished between final approvals and "in-principle" nods. According to them, only 30-odd projects have got final notification. Thereby, it may be assumed, leaving space for further approvals especially if many SEZ proposals fall by the wayside.
According to news reports the Tata Group has requested the Punjab government for 1,000 acres of land near Chandigarh for setting up a car manufacturing facility. The Tata Group has been looking at locations for their small-car project that aims to sell over a million cars in the Rs. 1 lakh price range by 2010.
The Andhra government has increased the market value of land and buildings across all municipalities, corporations and special grade municipalities by 10 to 20 per cent. Registration charges will correspondingly move up to to the higher property value. Registration charges stand at 9.5 per cent, including a stamp duty of 7 per cent of the market value, transfer duty of 2 per cent and registration fee of 0.5 per cent.
Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has said that Maharashtra will have a new housing and urban development policy by end year aimed at addressing a number of issues in this sector. He was speaking at the Advantage Maharashtra conference organised by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI). Mr Deshmukh also indicated that the state is working to repeal the Urban Land Ceiling Act.
An increased thrust on infrastructure spending has intensified the pressure on municipal corporations to augment their revenues. CRISIL estimates that municipal corporations will be required to contribute more than Rs. 300 billion over a seven-year period as their share of funds towards projects executed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM), Government of India's flagship scheme launched in December 2005. Generating funds of this order will require municipalities to look seriously and creatively at their revenue sources.
The Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry and the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) are organising a one day conference "Advantage Maharashtra", on July 31, 2006 in Mumbai. Real estate industry spokespersons and industry experts will make presentations on attracting investments to the state, required reforms and other industry developments. The conference will be attended by the Chief Minister of Maharashtra amongst other participants.