The Noida Extension land acquisition fracas was all about the authorities allowing developers to acquire land at considerably low prices from farmers and also changing the planned use pattern from industrial to residential. Farmers revolted and were able to gain wide support from different quarters.
Lanco Infratech Ltd, the power producer, is reportedly seeking buyers for a real estate business it values at 27 billion rupees ($483 million). According to the sources close to the development the company has asked investment banks to submit proposals to manage the sale.
The Indian banks have been hit the worst with the downturn of the real estate sector. Even after restructuring the loans to the developers, they have a collective deficit of Rs. 7 lakh crore. With spiraling input costs & property prices, demand in the real estate sector has been on a steady downfall. Given the declining demand, it is is unlikely that the real estate companies will be able to repay their bank loans, especially since banks are the only source of funds for the sector.
Tata Realty and Infrastructure (TRIL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, is foraying into retail and hospitality segments through a new subsidiary, TRIL Hospitality Services. The company, which has about Rs 6,000-crore projects at hand, would also commence work on two more projects, and this would add business of Rs 3,000 crore, said a senior TRIL Infopark executive.
ICS Realty India, the Mumbai-based retail asset management firm has announced to develop projects on its own. The company has hitherto raised and managed funds for other developers. It is also floating a joint venture firm for its hospitality foray in two week’s time.
Since the hospitality sector was previously considered a part of Commercial Real Estate (CRE) and was subject to the same risk exposure, the cost of such debt was high. In September 2009, new guidelines on CRE released by the Reserve Bank of India, asserted that the hospitality sector would no longer be treated as a part of CRE and risk exposure would be based on the profile of the borrower and the nature of the project.
An emerging segment to attract the hotel industry of India has been the MICE (Meetings, Incentive, Conventions and Exhibitions) segment as it has the potential to change the face of several upcoming Indian cities. The overall international visitors are likely to grow many fold due to MICE as it allows for the sale of several hundreds or even several thousands of room nights as opposed to the transient travellers who utilise only a few room nights at a time.
The rate at which economy is growing our urban centers shall add at least 100 million people by year 2020 merely on the account of urbanization. To provide housing to so many people India needs to invest a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. This is equivalent to 80 times our education budget allocation for year 2011-12.
Real estate developers today expressed disappointment over the RBI’s decision to keep key policy rates unchanged and sought a cut in interest rate to boost housing demand.
The recently tabled Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Bill, 2011 in Parliament is meant to replace the 117-year-old Land Acquisition Bill of 1894.