Track2Realty Exclusive: Isn’t it ironical that the second largest advertiser in the Indian media space is not attracting the best of creative talent and seen as stale and repetitive in the collective consciousness?
Track2Realty Exclusive: The fact that SEZ story in India was left on the private hands, the key policy plank of SEZ policy, to promote manufacturing and hence create jobs (both skilled and semi-skilled) for the rural masses took the back seat. IT/ITeS with limited scope of job creation, compared to manufacturing, started dominating the SEZs.
Track2Realty-Agencies: After making her foray into cricket with IPL Rajasthan team, Shilpa Shetty is once again entering a field dominated by men – real estate development. The actor has launched a company, Groupco Developers, in partnership with her friend and first generation entrepreneur Hem Tejuja, to develop housing projects in collaboration with land owners across the country.
Track2Realty: President of India Pranab Mukerjee on Friday, Dec 7, urged the private sector to come forward to meet the housing shortage in the country. He was inaugurating the two day convention on Sustainable Housing For Masses organised by National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO).
Track2Realty-JLLI: Recently, the annual GDP number (6.5% GDP growth during FY April 2011-March 2012) released by the Reserve Bank of India resulted in a negative sentiment throughout the real estate industry. Consistent with this, in 1H12, the demand for commercial real estate moderated on the back of office occupiers that remained cautious about their expansion plans.
The economy is facing difficulties on several fronts, including declining GDP growth, high inflation, high fiscal and current account deficits and depreciation of the rupee. The poor performance of the stock market has attracted a lot of negative press in recent months and this was reflected in the commercial real estate market which remained tepid in Q2 2012, says a DTZ research.
Fitch Ratings’ outlook for 2012 for the Indian real estate sector is negative due to weak overall demand and higher construction costs, which are likely to continue to squeeze margins.
Real estate and construction has been voted as the most corrupt sector in India, according to a survey by global consultancy firm KPMG.
Naturally, the IT industry is not comfortable with seeing the STPI scheme go. It was slated for expiry in 2009, but the industry managed to wangle two extensions for it. The Government has provided an alternative in the form of Special Economic Zones.
The IT/ITeS sector has clearly been driving corporate real estate in the country; and consequently, much of the development in this space is being propelled by IT and back-office demand for workspaces, as per CBRE’s India report – Real Estate & Workplace Strategies of Shared Services Occupiers.