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Bangalore: Even during the highvoltage political drama, the men-inpower took time off to denotify a whopping 170-odd acres of land worth hundreds of crores in the city in less than 10 days.

The speed and the manner with which the notified lands for various developmental projects by the BDA were excluded from the acquisition raises suspicion of kick-backs, sources said.

What does denotification mean? The government agencies acquire private lands for development purposes. However, there are provisions to release the land to the owners under extrordinary circumstances. But many a time this provision is misused by the moneyed and the influencial to get their lands released.

Over the last 10 days, the government, as per H D Kumaraswamy’s orders, has denotified 170-odd acres of land in and around Bangalore. These were patches of land notified primarily for the formation of layouts and construction of roads.

Documents of 35 such denotification orders available with The Times of India show that majority of the land exclusions have been done in the jinxed Arkavathy Layout. This means the already land-starved layout will have that much less land for sites. As it is, the promised number of 20,000 sites could not be allotted as the lands were under litigation.

The land denotification orders were passed between September 27 and October 6 by the urban development department. According to sources, the “exchange of money’’ in all these land deals ranges from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore per acre depending on the location.

The rush also saw land in old layouts being denotified. For instance, in Koramangala layout, where notification was done in 1972, Rajamahal Vilas extension II stage layout notified in 1977, Nagarabhavi layout II stage, which was notified in 1986, the hi-tech city and stretch between Sarjapura Road and Hosur Road, approved in 2005.

As for Jnanabharathi Layout, which was notified in 1994 and developed by BDA, 7 acres and 6 guntas of land were denotified on October 1. These lands have been shown as “dry garden’’ in the classification. In the Banashankari V stage layout formed by BDA in 1994, 6 acres and 12 guntas falling under the category wet garden were denotified on September 27.

LAND OF NOD!

Areas where land has been denotified

Jnanabharathi Layout, Koramangala Layout, Arkavati Layout, Banashankari V Stage Layout, Hi-Tech city and stretch between Sarjapura Road and Hosur Road, Nagarabhavi Layout II Stage, further extension of east of NGEF Layout, Hennur Road and Bellary Road III stage, Rajamahal Vilas extension II Stage Layout, 150 Outer Ring Road and further extension of Hennur Bellary Road III Stage Layout, JP Nagar 8th and 9th Stage Layouts, Byrasandra Tavarekere Madivala 6th Stage Layout, Yeshwanthpur group housing.

BANKS are slashing interest rates for first-time home buyers. Reports suggest real estate prices have fallen by 10-20% in many places. People are getting out of their rented apartments, scouring for housing deals in the festival season, which is when the real estate market takes a two-week nap. However, the early birds are not finding any prize worms. Instead, they seem to run up against the familiar high rates, and belligerent attitudes. “I went back to the areas where I hunted for a house a year ago, and the builder is still quoting the same price. He was quite dismissive when I asked about a rate cut,” says software professional Neha Swarup. She worries that she will not be able to take advantage of the cheaper interest rates on home loans.

What’s going on in the real estate market? Is the drop in demand just a myth? If not, why hasn’t it brought prices down? “Of course, there’s huge drop in the demand for property, and some deals have been struck at lower rates. But an overall drop in rates is yet to happen,” says a real estate expert. He points out that, traditionally, no deals take place during the Navratri season. “We are keeping a close watch on the situation. We believe that if there is no dramatic rise in demand by Diwali, real estate prices will come down.” So perhaps if Neha were to wait it out some more, she may have some happy news. As for her anxiety about missing the bus to low interest rates, she can breathe easy. Banking officials say interest rates are unlikely to go up further. They believe the Reserve Bank of India is unlikely to keep up its monetary tightening measures.

While the news of lower rates gave Neha hope, it has left Ajit Ram puzzled. He was at a loss to understand why banks would offer lower interest on home loans to new customers, while existing customers would continue to pay higher rates. “Why do they call it a floating rate then?” he asks. “In a floating rate loan, the interest rate should go up as well as down, along with other interest rates in the economy. When the rates were coming down a few years ago, there were hardly any downward revisions. In the past year, my bank raised rates at least three times.”

Many customers like Ajit feel banks have fooled them with floating rate loans. “It is a one-way street. It is so loaded against the customer. Banks win when the rates go up, and they still win when rates are coming down,” says Nisha Krishna, who took a housing loan six years ago. “They change the rate as and when it suits them.”

Harsh Roongta, CEO, Apnaloan, uses an analogy to explain why banks treat existing customers differently. He says with a laugh, “An existing customer is taken for granted, like a spouse, whereas a new customers may be treated like a girlfriend, who can enjoy a few extra privileges.” On a serious note, he adds that banks are indeed being unfair to their old customers. “Banks have built a huge portfolio of these loans in an extremely shortsighted manner. They have securitised the portfolio, and will suffer losses if there is a rerating of the portfolio with lower rates,” he says.

In defence of banks, a senior banking official says, “Somehow, the impression persists that banks are not very proactive when it comes floating rate loans. The past year’s sharp rise in rates has cemented that impression. But customers should note the rates were at least one per cent below fixed rate loans for the last few years.”

Customers, on their part, claim that the banks don’t change the benchmark to which the floating rate is linked regularly when the rates are going down, but they promptly change it when the rates go up.

Leaving aside who’s right or wrong, what are the choices available to Nisha and Ajit now? Ajit is wondering whether he should switch from his current lender to another bank which can offer him a lower rate. “I am considering checking with other banks whether they can offer me lower rates. If so, I see no reason to continue with my current bank. I pay 13.75% interest, while new customers pay only 12%.”

Nisha is undecided. “I am still not sure. Moving to another bank will mean a lot of hassle. I don’t know whether it’s worth it,” she says.

Roongta suggests that perhaps both of them should try to negotiate with their current bank. “You should try to reason with your bank, and tell them that you are planning to transfer your loan to another bank. The bank just might give you a better rate, especially if you have an excellent credit history.” Roongta’s suggestion would be especially good for cautious borrowers like Nisha, who are wary of going through another round of negotiations for another loan.

And what if your bank were to refuse to renegotiate? Then it would be time to head for another lender who is ready to offer you a lower interest rate.

Nisha has a doubt, however. “How would I know whether I really am better off ? The new interest rate may be lower, but after paying the penal interest for transferring my loan, and all the administrative expenses, would I have saved any money in the end?” she asks.

The answer depend on a number of things: the repayment period, difference between the old and new interest rates, and the amount of prepayment penalty, to name a few. However, Roongta offers a rule of thumb: if you have at least five years of repayment pending, and the penal interest is 2%, even a 0.5% difference between the old and new rates would result in some savings. “In at least 95% of cases, this rule holds true,” he says.

London: Britain is one of the most welcoming countries in Europe for immigrants, a new research has revealed. The British Council report has ranked Britain joint fifth for the most favourable policies for allowing foreigners longterm residence and also for permitting immigrants to take on nationality.

Overall, Britain has been rated ninth for the ease of integration of immigrants, with Sweden coming first, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported here on Monday, citing the study. “Migration is one of the key issues facing Europe along with complex questions of identity, religious expression in largely secular societies and fears arising from terrorism and war. “It is our hope that this transparent and accessible account of Europe’s integration policies will trigger wider discussion, greater understanding and effective action,” British council chief executive Martin Davidson was quoted by the daily as saying.

But, Britain was rapped for making it hard for immigrants to vote, work and be reunited with their families. In fact, the British Council came to the conclusion after analysing how easy it was for immigrants to build their lives in the 25 European Union nations, plus Norway and Switzerland. However, Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has called for an annual limit on the influx of immigrants.

Bangalore: Heard of houses that have no doors and no corridors? Or of houses costing Rs 8 lakh that have bathrooms fitted with sensors and bum-washers?

At a time when real estate costs have hit prohibitive levels, Japanese-style condominiums that use every little space to the optimum and conserve energy to the maximum are in the works in India, an effort to deliver homes at a cost that’s affordable to ordinary folk. “The thought of building such homes came about four years ago during a client briefing with my junior staff members. One of my staff wanted to know whether we would only be working for clients, or also build homes for ourselves, homes that common people could afford,” says Amit Bagaria, chairman of Asipac.

Bangalore-based Asipac, a provider of concepts, planning and marketing solutions to the real estate market, along with over 20 builders (domestic and international) are planning India’s biggest private sector housing venture—the Rs 62,000-crore Satyagriha Project, which proposes to build 342,000 homes in the next six years across India.

These homes will come up across 125 projects, to be built by developers like Bangalore-based Mantri, Salarpuria Group and Golden Gate Properties, Hyderabadbased Koncept Ambience, Jaipurbased Unique Builders Mannat, Chennai-based Marg Constructions and Israeli-consortium PBEL. M A Alagappan of Murugappa Group will invest in his personal capacity. The first project, at Jaipur, is planned to be launched in November, and the second, at Visakhapatnam, in January 2008.

Conceptualised along the Japanese idea of ‘space saving’, the project proposes to deliver 1BHK (504 sq ft), 2BHK (900 sq ft) and 3BHK (1,206 sq ft) homes in the price bracket of Rs 7.75 lakh to Rs 23 lakh, substantially lower than most current offerings.

“While the real estate sector in India talks about square feet, in Japan they talk of square centimetre. So much so that Japanese houses don’t even sport corridors,” says Bagaria. Doors are wardrobes on wheels, making use of spaces that are otherwise of little use.

The houses are fitted with sensors to conserve electricity and water. Bathrooms have shower cubicles split into a wet and dry area. These have weight sensors—when a person steps into the wet area the water starts, and turns off the moment he steps into the dry area. The toilet bowls are fitted with bum-washers, which too conserves water. The Satyagriha consortium plans to customise these technologies to Indian requirements. The other big cost adva n t a g e comes from standardising everything for the project, and having common design, specifications and centralised procurement. Individual projects would not require separate sets of architects, engineers and other back end staff. The procurement is expected to be of the order of Rs 28,000 crore, and doing this centrally could deliver enormous savings.

Sushil Mantri, MD of Mantri Developers, who plans to build 11 such projects, says, “Today’s middle class consumers, who are the target audience for this project, are looking for functional homes and also want some amount of luxury.”

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has added a new twist to the controversial land acquisition policy of the government. In a ruling that may further cause discomfiture to the Centre and states on SEZ, the court has drawn a distinction between land acquired by government for public purposes and for a private company while saying that a notification can’t espouse both purposes simultaneously.

A Bench comprising Justices S B Sinha and H S Bedi said: “The state is obligated to issue a notification clearly stating whether the acquisition is for a public purpose or for a company. A declaration is to be made either for a public purpose or for a company. It cannot be both.’’ This part of the judgement might have some ramification for the land acquired in Singur.

The West Bengal government’s July 21, 2006, notification for acquisition of land in Hooghly district under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, appears to have taken both the purposes — public as well as the establishment of a private company.

This ruling has come in the wake of a dispute over setting up a tractor factory in Punjab. The court asked for strict interpretation of land acquisition rules and said: “When the properties of a citizen are being compulsorily acquired by a state in exercise of its power...the existence of public purpose and payment of compensation are principal requisites thereof.’’

The court has also said that the Act contemplates that agricultural land should not be acquired for setting up a factory or for any other corporate purpose.

Striking down acquisition of land for ‘Ganesha Project’ of International Tractors Ltd in village Chak Gujran by the Punjab government, the Bench of the Supreme Court laid down extensive guidelines, culling it out from the statutory rules.

WHAT THE RULE SAYS

Government can issue land acquisition notification either for public purpose or for company. It can’t be both.

When proceeding to acquire land for companies, government must form an opinion that it’s not good farmland.

Any land with average productivity is a good agricultural land.

SC strikes down land acquired by Punjab government for Ganesha Project of International Tractors Ltd in village Chak Gujran in Hoshiarpur.

Ahmedabad: At over 7,000 square feet and sporting a snooty price tag of over Rs 2 crore, they could put even the most upmarket of bungalows to shame.

Yes, size and style are all that matter to some. And promising the moon to Aapnu Amdavad’s moneybhais are super-luxury designer apartments that are not just bigger but costlier than bungalows.

Fitted with luxuries like open to sky jacuzzis with TV screens, RO filtered tap water, courtyards, terrace gardens, shower cubicles, video security and central air-conditioning, they also offer what no bungalow scheme does — 24-hour laundry service, professionally managed beauty salon, heavy duty gym and separate servants quarters.

“Three years ago we would not have imagined such a project but now there is a certain class of people like businessmen, top corporate honchos and non-resident Indians that doesn’t mind paying for a designer lifestyle within the confines of apartments,” says realtor Kalpesh Modi, who has just unveiled an exclusive nineapartment scheme of 7,000-sq-ft and 5,000-sq-ft apartments priced at Rs 2.1 crore and Rs 1.5 crore behind Rajpath Club. Adds partner GD Agarwal, “With Ahmedabad becoming cosmopolitan, it is now ready for such exclusive lifestyle apartments.”

“There is a good market for niche properties that has so far not been catered to,” says a realtor who is putting up a scheme offering 4,000 plus sq ft apartments priced over Rs 1.2 crore in Prahladnagar.

Realtor Vijay Shah explains: “Highrise bungalows come with the trappings of bungalows but without the negatives. They offer not just a status symbol tag, but also safety and community living.”

Pune: Following the recent expose of prominent construction companies found manipulating the tendering process in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), a meeting of local builders has been called inviting them to take up slum rehabilitation projects as a social responsibility.

Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, standing committee chairman Bapu Pathare said that the meeting would be held next Tuesday. Builders will be urged to take up the projects either on a no-profit no-loss basis or at a low profit.

Last week, TOI had reported that three construction companies had formed a cartel to bag a contract each for a Rs 328-crore slum housing scheme in Hadapsar, Warje and Kondhwa, funded by the Union government.

The civic administration had then scrapped the entire tendering process for the projects that come under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

“We have invited the Promoters and Builders Association of Pune (PBAP) members, other local builders and all those who are ready to take up the projects as a responsibility towards the city. These are important projects for Pune,” Pathare said.

He pointed out that the project work would be divided, so that even a small contractor or builder can bid for tenders.

“These are large projects of nearly Rs 150 crore each, so smaller contractors are unable to bid for it. But it has been decided to divide the project so that an organisation with a turnover of Rs 20 crore can also bid and there is more competition,” Pathare said.

On the blacklist

The civic standing committee on Tuesday blacklisted three prominent construction companies — IVRCL Private Ltd (Hyderabad), B.G. Shirke Construction (Pune) and Indu projects (Hyderabad) — involved in manipulating the tendering process. The civic administration had found that these three companies had joined hands to bag three important contracts of slum rehabilitation schemes in Hadapsar, Warje and Kondhwa. The companies will not be issued

New Delhi: Economic growth in India is driving an unprecedented shift in population to urban centres. As many as 11 Indian cities figure in the list of 100 fastest growing cities in the world, with Faridabad featuring in the sixth spot.

These figures form part of the report, ‘The Transition to a Predominantly Urban World and its Underpinnings’, released on Monday by the International Institute for Environment and Development, a UK-based policy research non-governmental body.According to it,even little-known Indian cities are growing at a scorching pace.For instance, Durg-Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, which is home to a massive steel industry, is the seventh fastest growing city in the world. Expectedly, another NCR city, Ghaziabad, is in the list. But some of the other cities finding a place in the top 100 list could surprise many. They include Aurangabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Dhanbad, Surat, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Asansol. Obviously, the economic drivers at work in pushing populations to shift from the countryside to these cities are as diverse as the cities themselves.

Urban populace grew 10-fold last century

New Delhi: According to a report by UK-based International Institute for Environment and Development, India, with 11 representations, is second only to China on the list of 100 fastest growing cities in the world.

And if China and India continue to enjoy economic success, they may have larger urban populations in 2020 than those predicted by the UN, the report says. It adds that the world’s urban population multiplied tenfold during the 20th century and most of this growth is now taking place in low- and middle-income nations such as India. The authors predict that urban areas in these nations will accommodate most of the world’s growth in population between now and 2020.

Historically, the richest nations have had the highest number of urban people, but the balance has tipped of late. Now, Africa has more people living in urban areas than North America. The rate of growth in urban populations and the size and number of very large cities is unprecedented.

The implications of such dramatic shifts on economic development, poverty reduction and energy consumption are immense. The authors warn that these migrations will decide global consumption patterns.

The report warns that though de-urbanisation of Europe indicates that economic development and urban migration can be decoupled, the picture is not so simple. Many of the world’s largest cities had several million fewer people in 2000 than had been predicted two decades earlier.

ISHAAN Real Estate, the first India-focused real estate fund listed in the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, has acquired 40% stake each in eight real estate projects promoted by K Raheja Corp, for Rs 1,082 crore (£133 million). The properties in which the fund has invested include three IT parks, two Inorbit shopping malls and one hotel property. The Ishaan-K Raheja Corp’s deal could be the first investment by an AIM-listed property fund in the Indian realty space.

Last November, Ishaan had raised about £180 million in its first phase from the AIM market of London Stock Exchange. The entire fund was to be invested in K Raheja’s properties in India. It may look at raising further funds from AIM market, and may look at investing other properties in India, said sources.

Ishaan picked up equity in K Raheja Corp’s Inorbit shopping mall in Hyderabad, Inorbit shopping mall and IT park in Pune, Mindspace IT park in Hyderabad, Mindspace IT park in Navi Mumbai, two Mindspace IT parks in Hyderabad, Commerzone IT park, hotel and retail development in Bangalore, and Viverea residential development at former Hindustan Spinning & Weaving Mills site in Mahalaxmi at Mumbai.

Confirming the development, Ishaan Real Estate chairman Ian Hendersen said: “Investment in the initial portfolio of assets is being completed largely according to a plan and the increased net asset value reflects the strong demand for our properties and the enormous potential of the Indian property market.”

Sources said Ishaan’s current portfolio in India covers a total of 15.4 million sq ft. Ishaan has also secured leasing agreements for over one million sq ft. Currently, in the AIM market, Ishaan shares are trading at around £104.

From the beginning, Ishaan Real Estate works in partnership with K Raheja Corp entities in the western and southern markets. It has also secured leasing agreements with two leading multinational companies for 7,66,000 sq ft of the projects in the initial portfolio.

WORRIED about the rising flow of foreign funds into the real estate sector, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the government to allow FDI into the sector only after clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

At present, up to 100% FDI is allowed in realty projects through the automatic route, with certain conditions like three-year lock-in on investments and minimum capitalisation of $5 million. But RBI wants real estate to be removed from the list of sectors where FDI can come in through the automatic route.

The central bank wants inflow routes like participatory notes and private equity contained. The market regulator has already initiated moves to restrict investments through PNs.

Sources said the government, which has completely backed regulatory action on checking PN flows, may not relent on other proposals, especially restricting FDI. Also, removing one sector from the automatic route will be seen as a retrograde measure by foreign investors.

RBI’s concerns stem from the fact that the sector witnessed a huge quantum of inflows in the first four months of the current fiscal, surpassing the total inflow for the last two years. FDI inflows in April-July 2007 stood at $627 million, compared to $38 million in 2005-06 and $467 million in 2006-07.

Real estate has witnessed substantial investor interest ever since FDI was allowed into the sector in 2005. There are also fears that some of it could be ECBs masquerading as FDI. Since real estate companies are not allowed to raise external debt, there are reports of them using instruments like compulsory convertible debentures and offshore special purpose vehicles for borrowing abroad and then funnelling the funds to the parent in India as FDI.

This is not the first time that RBI has written to the government on rising inflows into the sector. It had communicated its concern to the government last year as well. But at that time, it had not suggested any measures for a clampdown.

BINANI Cement today said it plans to invest around Rs 1,800 crore over the next three years to put up two greenfield plants - one in Gujarat and the other in the eastern region of the country.

The company, which recorded more than 200% rise in net profit for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 at Rs 47.87 crore as against Rs 15.11 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal, plans to fund the proposed capital expenditure through an equal debt-equity ratio, company’s Deputy Managing Director Vinod Juneja told reporters here.

“We are currently producing 5.3 million tonnes (MT) of cement a year. We plan to take it to 12 MT by 2011-12,” he said, adding the proposed plants are at nascent stage and once crystalised, the company would seek the board’s approval.

Binani had embarked on a Rs 575-crore capacity expansion programme at its two adjoining plants in Rajasthan two years ago to increase the capacity from 2.25 MT.

Its capacity will increase further to over 6 MT by the fourth quarter of the current fiscal as it completes a one MT production facility at Neem Ka Thana in Northern Rajasthan.

Stating that both the proposed plants would have 2.5 to 3 MT capacity each, Juneja said it requires 400-500 acres of land to put up a plant of that size. “The location for the plant in the eastern region has not been identified yet. We are working on that,” he said. The company plans to come up with 2.5-3 million tonnes capacity plant in Gujarat with an investment of around 8 billion rupees. The company is in the process of expanding the annual capacity of its existing plant in Rajasthan to 6 million tonnes.

Mumbai: The swinging Sensex, rising income levels and increased purchasing power have led large sections of Mumbai’s citizenry on an upward march. But in the midst of this economic euphoria, a far greater crisis looms over thewell-being of Mumbai’s residents—the city’s scarce open spaces have shrunk further over the past decade and are today even less than the widely perceived ratio of 0.03 acre per 1,000 persons, according to urban planners, architects and activists. The international norm is 4 acres per 1,000 population.

Mumbai’s pathetic openspace-to-people ratio is already considered by many the lowest for any city in the world. According to experts, the 0.03 acre per 1,000 people ratio, which is currently widely quoted in various seminars and government circles, is outdated because it is a few decades old. When it was computed, the city’s population was almost nine million. The 2001 census gave Mumbai’s population as 12 million, while today’s estimate is close to 15 million.

A recent survey conducted by the city-based Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI) on Mumbai’s open spaces revealed the slightly higher ratio of 0.04 acre per 1,000 people. However, the officials pointed out that the figure is only on paper as the ground reality is far worse—45% of those spaces are lost. “Of the 3,103 plots reserved for open spaces we surveyed, as many as 1,397, or 45%, were found to be completely or partially covered up or encroached upon,’’ said urban planner and architect Pankaj Joshi. “There is no doubt that open spaces accessible to the public have shrunk. This is an alarming situation and will soon make this city completely uninhabitable,’’ he added.

Unknown to many, the Bombay High Court had expressed grave concern on this issue almost two years ago. In the 2005 mill land judgment, a division bench of Justices S Radhakrishnan and S C Dharmadhikari had observed, “When the study was conducted in the year 1970, the city of Mumbai had a shocking 0.03 acre of open space per 1,000 people, whereas today the ratio would be 0.015 acre per 1,000 persons, which should be approximately 540 times less than the minima recommended.’’

The judges further noted that the city may start having a large number of children born with various mental and physical infirmities if the “oxygen level goes on reducing gradually in view of lack of green and open spaces and lack of recreation facilities’’.

In fact, the 2007 Environment Status Report of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said that recreation and open spaces amount to just 6% of the total land area. The Borivali national park and Aarey Milk Colony have not been counted as open spaces, because there is only limited public access to these places. Going by these official figures, the ratio works out to less than half an acre for every 1,000 people.

The centre has lifted the three-month-old freeze after building in crucial safeguards designed to take the string out of the political resistance facing the duty free enclaves. The empowered group of ministers also cleared 83 SEZs, of which 12 are in Gujarat.

So far, 234 SEZs have been approved and 63 notified, while 171 proposals are awaiting notification to get operational. With 83 likely to be notified after the meeting of the board of approvals soon, there would be 88 which would be in line.

Company	Location	Type of SEZ	Area	Expected Investment
Essar Jamnagar SEZ Developer Ltd.	Jamnagar	Multi Product	2470 ha	Rs 12750
Kandla Port Trust	Kandla (Kutch)	Port based	640 ha	Not known
Adani Power	Mundra (Kutch)	Power	391 ha	Rs 4000 cr
Mundra SEZ Ltd	Mundra (Kutch)	Multi Product	1082 ha	Rs 5200 cr
Jubilant Infrastructure Ltd	Bharuch	Chemical	160 ha	Rs 675 cr
GIDC	Jhagadia (Bharuch)	Ceramic Glass	171 ha	Rs 200 cr
CPL Infrastructure	Dhandhuka (A'bad)	Pharmaceuticals	200 ha	Rs 2000 cr
Gujarat Hira Bourse	Icchapore (Surat)	Gems and Jewellery	100 ha	Rs 4000 cr
Welspun Anjar	Anjar (Kutch)	Textile and Garment	284 ha	Rs 1500 cr
Mugdha (Thaltej) Complex Pvt. Ltd	Draskoi (A'bad)	IT-ITES	102 ha	Not known
Calica Construction & Impex Pvt. Ltd.	Khoraj (G'nagar)	IT-ITES	16 ha	Rs 167 cr
Aqualine Properties	Koba (G'nagar)	IT-ITES	28 ha	Rs 1200 cr

What has Changed

• Area of an SEZ capped at 5000 hectares, states can fix lower ceiling.
• State governments barred from acquiring land, developers will have to do it on their own.
• At least one job per family of those displaced.
• Developers to devote atleast 50% area for core activities like manufacturing.
• List of non-processing activities may be reviewed.

This is in addition to the Rs. 4.6 lac crores worth of MoUs signed at the vibrant Gujarat global investor’s summit 2007. This takes the total investment promised at Vibrant Gujarat summit to a whopping Rs. 6.65 lac crores. This again reinforces the fact that Gujarat is one of the favourite destinations for investments. IL&FS & GUDC lead the pack with Rs. 50000 crores of MoU signed, DLF comes second with a MoU of Rs. 30,000 crores. The following are the major MoUs signed.

Developer	Projects	Investments (Rs. in cr)
IL&FS & GUDC	8 Integrated townships	50,000
DLF groups	Integrated township in Ahmedabad / Surat / Vadodara	30,000
Chhatrala Group	Luxury bungalows in Surat	5,000
Shah & Sanghvi Prop	Residential township in Surat	4,750
Rajhans Group	Township in Surat	3,625
Aagam Infrastructure	Residential township in Surat	3,300
Bakeri Engineering & Infrastructure	Technology park (Gandhinagar), residential township (Ahmedabad) & tourism project (Gandhinagar)	3,300
Gallops Infrastructure	Integrated township in Ahmedabad	3,025
Pithawalla Techno Industries	Township, multiplex & others in Surat	3,000
Shyam Buildcon	Township (SP Ring Rd) & mall-cum-hotel in Ahmedabad	2,835
Pithawalla Techno Industries	Township, multiplex & others in Surat	3,000
Happy Home Group	Housing project, township in Surat	2,511
Savvy Infrastructure	Golf township at Nalsarovar, garden township at Gota, Tech park and mall in Ahmedabad	2,500
Ganesh Housing Corp	Smart city golf township at Godavi	2,000
Iscon group	7 malls in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Vadodara and township in Bhavnagar	2,000

In total there were

• 143 MOUs worth Rs. 1.14 lac crores were signed for Urban Infrastructure
• 106 MOUs worth Rs. 0.80 lac crores were signed for Townships
• 63 MOUs worth Rs. 0.09 lac crores were signed for commercial

World Bank surprised everybody with this declaration. This is a short in the arm for Gujarat government which is also planning to develop the smaller cities and towns. All this fund will go to the 10 secondary cities of Gujarat,
they are,
Patan
Vadnagar
Anand
Bharuch
Surendranagar
Bhavnagar
Junagadh
Veraval
Jamnagar
Gandhidham

Cities like Vadodara, Jamnagar & Bhavnagar also fared well with good no. of MoUs signed. Following are the MoUs signed.

Project	Agency	MoU (Rs. in cr)
MoUs signed with Vadodara Municipal Corporation
Township in Bapod	Narayan Housing Finance	500
IT/ancillary development park	Narayan Housing Finance	500
IT/ancillary development park	Parkway Reality	650
Township in Waghodia	Taksh Infrastructure	520
IT & Knowledge Park	Parkway Reality	391.73
Township in Gotri	Mahalaxmi Housing	97.54
Total:		2594.16
MoUs signed with the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation
Water supply to areas outside JMC limits	JMC	2.00
Restoration of Lakhota, a heritage building	INTACH	0.075
Awas lighting work	Siddharth Electrical	0.04
Municipal school building electrical work	Siddharth Electrical	0.23
Primary school	ULB & Life Raj	29.29
Dispensary	ULB & Life Raj	12.17
Primary school	ULB & Life Raj	29.29
Total:		43.81
MoUs signed with Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation
Shopping mall	Himalaya Building	300
Residential township (Sidsar road)	Sheth Const	150
Science City	Vikas Vartual Trust	5
Integrated waste management	UPL environmental Engineers	35
Shopping mall	Reliance Industries Limited	35
Residential & commercial complex	Yogiraj Builder	12
Total:		537

The show got a spectacular reception by the people of Ahmedabad all were one the show the Adanis, the reliance, the Rahejas, the DLFs and many more. They were joined by the local developers like NG, Vishwanath , ISCON, Savvy, Safal all coming up with big plans for the city.

The scheme will come up near Karnavati club making it the costliest in the city. The bungalows will exclusivity like own showing pool, security system & all other hitech facilities. There has been sport in demand for high end bungalows. There are already many schemes offering bungalows in the tune of Rs 1.5 crores to 3 crores in Ahabli, Shilaj, Thaltej ahead.

Indian investors may soon be able to take a bet on global property market prices.

ABN AMRO Mutual Funds has filed with the capital markets regulator , Securities & Exchange Board of India(Sebi), for a scheme that will invest in real-estate companies and leading companies world wide.

The ABN-AMRO Global Property(India) Equity Fund which Awaits regulator’s nod, will invest in foreign equity and equity – related securities through ABN-Amro’s Luxembourg- based ABN-Amro Global Property Equity Fund. The latter is a diversified , actively managed fund mainly investing in realty companies across the globe.

Last year , the market regulator further liberalised rules to allow mutual funds to launch schemes that will invest in over-seas equity or equity-oriented schemes , in a move to provide more diversified products to the Indian retail investors. Following this , Principal PNB Mutual tweaked its existing scheme to invest in equities of emerging markets while Franklin Templeton launched a scheme that would partly invest in overseas equity. But no found house launched a scheme for overseas realty companies . The move by ABN-Amro Mutual fund coincides with Sebi’s own plan to allow India –registered mutual funds to launch real estate funds.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allows resident Indians to invest $50,000 per annum overseas .Analysts said, the ABN-Amro scheme was aimed at this segment.

Officials at ABN-Amro were not available for comments as the rules barred them from talking about a scheme before getting Sebi’s approval.

In its fillings, ABN-Amro said , the portfolio would invest in stocks of different countries , but the investment manager of the proposed scheme would ensure that the exposure to each country was limited so that the portfolio was not exposed to one country.

Real estate developers have only planned for 143 million square feet of million square feet of mall space over the next five years, leaving the retail industry with a space shortage of approximately 40%, is the conclusion of a study conducted by ICICI Property Services and retail consultancy firm,Technopak.

The study estimates that the total real estate required by the retail chains in India will be in the range of 500million square feet of which shopping malls would occupy 250million square feet. The study also concluded that the demand for quality real estate in India is expected to grow exponentially over the next four to five yrs. , fulled by the demand from the organised retailers.

“India is getting into an interesting phase as far as retail and real estate is concerned and we will countinue to see more world class shopping ambience being created by developers"

Mall owners and developers need to consider the importance of controlling and managing their malls.

Builders backed by global funds and skill sets are now equipped to look at long term perspective and hence create centers, which can be benchmarked against the very best in the world and take Indian real estate sector in to the next orbit,“ said V.Vaidyanathan , executive director , ICICI Bank.

One of the key recommendation by the study to the retail sector has been the introduction of the mall management. Shopping mall owners have mostly developed properties and then sold it to others who further lease it to retailers. This has resulted in the emergence of unplanned and uncontrolled development of malls, which may lead to eventual loss of rental values. The report also says that mall owners and developers need to consider the importance of controlling and managing their malls in order to maximize the value on their investments.

Currently the market share of the modern retail is just over 4% of the total retail industry, thereby leaving a huge untapped opportunity. The sector is expected to see an investment of over $30 billion within the next year 4-5yrs.Technopak estimates that modern retail in India would be worth $175-200 billion by 2016.

The Board of Approval (BoA), Union commerce ministry, on Thursday cleared five special economic zones (SEZs) for Gujarat out of a total of 22 it approved for the country as a whole.

The SEZs approved for Gujarat include the proposed Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in joint venture between the state-run Gujarat Urban Development Company (GUDC) and IL&FS near Gandhinagar on a 100 hectares (ha) land, a hydrocarbon SEZ in Vilayat near Bharuch by the Assam Company Ltd on a 220 ha land, an engineering SEZ by Welspun on a 120 ha land near Anjar, a plastics SEZ by the Asia Pacific Corporation near Anjar on 102 ha, and a warehousing SEZ near Kadla by LMJ on a 40 ha land.

A senior official, attending Thursday’s meeting, told TOI that of the five, three of the SEZs – the GIFT project near Gandhinagar, LMJ project near Kandla and Asia Pacific Corporation project near Anjar – were given formal approval. It means that they can now proceed towards locating land and getting other approvals.

The rest of the two, given in-principle approval, can now go ahead with purchasing land and then apply for getting notification.

In a three stage approval, formal approval is the first stage, followed by in principle approval, and then notification.

“One SEZ proposal for multi-products, by Sterling near Bharuch on a 1,270 ha, was considered for in-principle approval. It is likely to get the approval in the next meeting,” the official said.

With the latest decision in Delhi, the total number of formal SEZs in Gujarat is up from 29 to 32. Those that have received in-principle approvals have gone up from nine to 11. As many as 11 SEZs so far have been notified for Gujarat.

The highest number of notified SEZs is for Andhra Pradesh, 42. This is followed 19 in Maharashtra, 18 in Tamil Nadu and 17 in Karnataka. Gujarat ranks fifth in the number of SEZs approved in India.

Meanwhile, the rush for setting up SEZs by IT companies seems to be unabated with TCS and Cognizant getting fresh government nod to add to the list. With tech companies fearing the end of the tax-free regime from 2009, giants like TCS, Infosys and Wipro have decided to hedge their risks and set up fresh capacity in SEZs where a 10-year tax holiday is available. While the government has approved 366 SEZs, nearly two-thirds are related to the IT or IT-enabled services sector which need an area of a mere 100 million square feet to set up a zone.

According to sectoral data on the commerce ministry website, there have been 229 formal approvals for setting up IT and ITES SEZs with biotech (18) at number two slot, followed by multi-product zones (17), textiles (15) and pharma and chemicals (15).

“We do not know if tax sops would continue under the STPI scheme so we are applying for SEZs. If STPI continues, it's fine, if it does not, then we can take advantage of the newer scheme,” a senior IT company official said.