The STAR India-Bennet, Coleman & Company (BCCL) combine, Subhash Chandra's Essel Group and TV 18's HomeShopping 18 are among those who will air home shopping channels in the next couple of months.
By the year-end, Mumbai and its suburbs will add 15.4 million square feet of office space, more than the commercial space now available at the sprawling Bandra Kurla Complex or seven times the office space at Nariman Point, the city's business hub.
Realty FII norms, which were recently put outside the purview of Press Note 2 (2005), are vague about pre-IPO investments.
Ashok Piramal Group company Peninsula Land has inked a property deal worth Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) with Essar Realty Holdings, the realty arm of the Essar Group, to sell and lease premises at its upcoming IT park named Peninsula Technopark on LBS Marg in Kurla. The deal was signed recently, according to sources.
Fitch, one of the largest design consultancies in the world that has designed stores of Wal-Mart, Target, Marks & Spencer, Best Buy and Tesco among others, is betting big on India's organised retail sector. Already in the country to serve clients such as Aditya Birla Retail, Reliance Retail, Tatas and so on, Fitch plans to treble the number of staff and open new offices in the country.
While Lehman will invest Rs 500 crore and hold 75 per cent in the JV, Peninsula Land will subscribe to the remaining equity at an investment of Rs 200 crore, according to sources.
India's retail industry, which is in the middle of rapid growth, has already scripted success stories fit to be the subject of a Bollywood film.
Private insurers are planning to launch property title insurance covers in India soon. Foreign investment is therefore likely to enter the Indian real estate market.
As real estate investment trusts (REITs) are set to become a reality in the country, small and medium property developers, who constitute 80 per cent of the total realty industry, can now breathe easy.
Call it an impact of the hopes of rate cuts in the country or renewed interest by foreign investors, BSE's Realty Index has outperformed big brother Sensex in the last 11 trading sessions - from the day when the Maharashtra government scrapped the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (Ulcra), which is expected to free 17,000 acres of land in Mumbai.
According to India Retail Report prepared by Images, discount stores are expected to grow 30-40 per cent every year. Of the total organised apparel, footwear and accessory retail market of Rs 26,400 crore (Rs 264 billion), discount retailing already accounts for Rs 11,880 crore (Rs 118.80 billion), or 45 per cent. Analysts said this segment will easily become a Rs 26,000-crore (Rs 260 billion) market in the next three years.
When French Retailer Carrefour enters the Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) cash and carry segment in 2009, it would face tough competition from established players such as Germany's Metro, Bharti-Wal Mart, Reliance, Pantaloon, Wadhawan Retail and others entrants like Tesco and Costco.
In the first of its kind among property consultants, the UK-headquartered Knight Frank Group will launch a $250 million India-focused real estate fund.ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund recently launched its real estate securities fund, which is the first real estate mutual fund in India.
Corporate houses getting into music retail are turning the outlets into multi-product stores that will offer apparel and even perfumes.
Even in the face of protests from trade groups, escalating real estate costs and pressure on margins, the march of domestic retail chains continues unabated.
According to a Reliance Retail executive, 20 per cent of the space will be occupied by local vendors selling their agricultural produce, food items and artifacts. Besides, there will be stores for foods and vegetables, entertainment etc.
The Reliance apparel stores will stock all kinds of apparel, about 4,000 products across as many as 94 brands, manufactured exclusively for the company.
Oberoi Constructions, promoted by billionaire Vikas Oberoi, has tied up with the $10 billion Chinese real estate firm Shimao group to bid for the Rs 10,000-crore (Rs 100 billion) Dharavi Redevelopment Project.
Filmmaker Prakash Jha, well known for his hard-hitting movies such as Gangajal and Apaharan, is set to change the entertainment and retail landscape of eastern India.
Leading property developers have made offers for this prime property, which real estate industry sources suggest could fetch Fiat more than Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion).
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