In spite of some initial hiccups due to problems in land acquisition, the real estate projects by Unitech in West Bengal were now on track. After facing delays due to problems in land acquisition, work at the proposed logistics hub on Kona Expressway had started.
The small loan size, strict vigil of bankers and the already high interest rates paid by the borrowers to moneylenders make the scheme attractive for banks. Banks are also devising new models for recovering such loans, mostly by deploying agents or vendors on a daily or weekly basis in rural areas.
Buyers prefer to wait on expectation of better bargains.
The market has seen 30 per cent fall in demand in the last two months. In tandem, property prices, especially the residential ones, have fallen by 15-20 per cent across the board in the last two months. Rentals for offices too have fallen, with companies averse to shift to new offices in a bid to check costs. In case of retail malls, ector experts said, all leasing activity had come to a standstill, with no retailer willing to open a shop.
Banks are busy advertising attractive deposit rates that are on offer, lining up roadshows and door-to-door campaigns. Some of them are even offering incentives to their employees to woo depositors. As a result, they expect to mop up more than 20 per cent of what they usually do during November. Banks have also stepped up the deposit-mobilisation drive because they will be reducing interest rates from December.
In spite of the government's efforts to help cooperative banks post the farm loan relief scheme, through the liquidity support fund, the banks are facing huge cash deficits.
The West Bengal government's new compensation package for 'unwilling' farmers in Singur, 40km from Kolkata, might have been praised by Tata Motors, but those involved in land transactions in the area find the offer inadequate.
Spiralling prices of foodgrains and edible oil and low jute prices in the last couple of months have prompted a large number of jute farmers to shift to paddy and oilseed cultivation in the eastern part of the country. With jute farmers anticipating lower prices for their produce, many of them have opted for paddy and oilseeds in the next cropping season
Days after two of the Reliance's ready-to-be launched stores were damaged by diverse political groups, one of the outlets at the Uttarpara area of the Hooghly district was covered with Trinamool flags and posters, with no signs of police protection.
According to Sanjeev Chopra, secretary of the horticulture and food processing department of West Bengal, steps were being taken so that exporters from the state could sell overseas at least 1 per cent of the total state produce through the AEZs.
In 2003 when the West Bengal government initiated public sector units restructuring programme, it was believed that off loading government's stake in PSUs would deliver effective social welfare programme in the state.
Students of the Vinod Gupta School of Management of IIT Kharagpur learnt the six-Sigma dabbawallah doctrine.
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