Welspun USA's e-commerce plans comes at a time when only 3-5 per cent of home textile sales in the US is ordered over the Internet. The New York-based company is targeting the mid to upper end of the American home textile market, pegged around $15-17 billion. A couple of established retailers such as JC Penny have built the online retail model over the last decade.
When the NAV falls, you are going to get more units of the fund. That means when the market turns around, you will get much more returns
After Singapore, Indian property developers such as Indiabulls Real Estate and Phoenix Mills among others are looking at London, German and Australian stock exchanges to list their property trusts there.
In the last couple of years, reverse mortgage (RM) has been touted aggressively as a product that will allow the elderly to unlock the value of their house. In fact, in the last two Union Budgets, the finance minister has made a special mention about it.
With ICICI Bank recently offering to reduce the equated monthly instalments of existing customers for high tenure loans, many may like to exercise this option because it would reduce their burden for the time being. Also, with the rise in the interest rates in the last couple of years, many have found their monthly EMIs rising by over 15 per cent.
However, financial experts are of the view that though REMFs are good for those who want to participate in the property boom, investors should not look at them as equity funds.
With the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) hiking their fees, many general category students will have to approach banks for educational loans. Most will also have to furnish collateral to get that all-important loan.IIM-Ahmedabad, for instance, has almost trebled its fees to Rs 4 lakh to Rs 11.5 lakh. IIM-Kolkata has hiked it from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh. Others like IIM Bangalore and IIM Lucknow have hiked it from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh and Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
The UK's Marks & Spencer (M&S) has plans to position itself as a mid-market mass retailer in India and is eyeing a chunk of its revenues from India in the next few years. M&S has severed its partnership with Planet Retail and has entered into a deal with Reliance Retail. Its existing stores will be absorbed in the current partnership eventually. M&S will be positioned as a mid-market retailer in India. It chose Reliance as it moves quickly in its line of businesses.
Gagan Banga talks about how one of India's largest NBFCs still retains the financial discipline of a start-up.
Young borrowers have the opportunity to get bigger loans because age is on their side.
In the last few years, unit-linked insurance plans (Ulips) have quietly become one of the largest players in the Indian stock market. With a total investment estimated at Rs 1.5 lakh crore to Rs 2 lakh crore, they are almost close to the investment made by equity mutual funds.
Goodies and early bird discounts are not a new feature of India's real estate story, but the timing is significant. Real estate prices have climbed off their historic highs in the last six months on account of tighter liquidity and an overall decline in sentiment.
The real estate industry is witnessing a slowdown. In anticipation of rates to fall, consumers are postponing their purchase plans. Developers, for their part, are finding it difficult to access cheap credit with banks reluctant to lend to them. Both residential and retail demand has moderated though the demand for office space remains strong. Inspite of this, most property cos are expected to post reasonably good Q4 results. Builders are banking on mid-income projects.
The initial cost of the project, including land, is Rs 125 crore (Rs 1.25 billion) and the development cost is nearly Rs 1,400 crore (Rs 14 billion). The company is planning to fund the project through debt and draw more funds from Lehman if required, sources said. Recently, PLL and Lehman tied up to invest in the realty projects of Peninsula. In the Rs 700-crore (Rs 7 billion) joint venture, Lehman invested Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion).
Saffron Asset Advisors, which manages the real estate investments of NYSE Euronext-listed Yatra Capital, is now planning to launch a bouquet of funds focusing on India. The company is aiming at a total corpus of Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) in the next couple of years.Starting from real estate, the company will launch sector-specific funds such as healthcare, logistics, infrastructure, hospitality.
They are aggressive going through the financial details of the customers. All indications that life is going to get tougher for potential home loan borrowers.
The company has plans to open offices in the US, Singapore and other parts of West Asia such, such as Oman and Qatar in the next couple of years. "The NRI community is totally underserved. We want to tap the vast business potential arising from 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) NRIs working abroad,'' said Kapil Wadhawan, vice chairman and managing director, DHFL.
Sky-high rentals are forcing retailers to explore new ways to stay afloat. Many have done the obvious thing by shifting to cheaper locations or simply downing their shutters. But others are renegotiating deals with developers to ensure business sustainability. New deals like longer "rent-free" periods, no "lock-in" clauses in agreements and revenue-sharing deals with developers are becoming common.
Unitech and Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd (IBREL) have deferred the listing of their respective real estate investment trusts (REITs) on the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX)owing to the liquidity crunch in the global markets. Both Unitech and IBREL have received approval from the SGX for the initial public offers (IPOs) of their trusts.
Mumbai-based property developer Oberoi Constructions, led by billionaire Vikas Oberoi, is planning a Rs 4,000 crore ($1 billion) initial public offer by year end. Vikas Oberoi, also known as Vikki Oberoi is at the 707th slot in the Forbes annual list of billionaires with a wealth of $1.7 billion.