Real estate companies are now going to the other extreme and falling over each other to offer affordable housing at a price range of Rs 500,000 to Rs 50 lakhs (Rs 5 million). The varied pricing is a function of affordability being a relative term, depending on the location. For instance, a Rs 50- lakh (Rs 5-million) apartment in Mumbai is considered affordable housing. In a city like Nagpur, the same price will qualify for premium housing.
With confidence creeping back into the market place and rentals down up to 50 per cent, large retailers are back to drawing up aggressive growth plans. In the next one year, Aditya Birla Retail, Bharti Enterprises, Reliance Retail, Trent, Mahindra Retail and others hope to open new stores spread over five million square feet.
Speculators often leveraged volume discounts on property purchases to re-sell them at prices lower than those available to individual buyers. This created problems for realtors when demand slowed, since it put pressure on them to take a hit on margins and lower prices still further. The lock-ins are expected to be introduced mostly for mid-income projects that offer prices 20 to 30 per cent below the market and, therefore, attract more undercutting from bulk discount buyers.
DLF, Unitech, HDIL & Puravankara line up 60 million square feet of new launches. This is more than double the sales bookings in the past financial year.
Developers in the past year have restructured debt, sold non-core assets and tweaked the product mix, helping push up sales. This has encouraged investors to buy stocks of real estate companies and motivate analysts to revise price targets and upgrade the outlook on the sector. Reflecting the positive sentiment, the Bombay Stock Exchange Realty Index rose 58 per cent in the past month, outpacing the benchmark Sensitive index's gain of 27 per cent.
Developers who are launching new projects are opting for this route, as they need not pay the entire amount in one lot and owners need not forego the potential rise in value. As much as 70 per cent of land deals in the country take place through this model now, against 40-45 per cent a couple of years earlier, say property consultants.
Developers such as DLF, Unitech and Orbit are in the process of raising around Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) in the current fiscal after they rolled over nearly Rs 9,000 crore (Rs 90 billion) debt subsequent to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowing banks to restructure loans to developers.
Jamshedpur gave birth to Telco (now Tata Motors) which has just launched the low-cost Nano; Jamshedpur, according to the 35-year old Tata Housing Development Company managing director Brotin Banerjee, is what inspired Tata Housing to launch its Shubh Griha low-cost housing project in Mumbai.
Tata Housing Development Company, a unit of Tata Sons, expects to earn Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) in revenue from low-cost housing in the next four years, a top company official has said.
In May last year, Peninsula forayed into the hospitality sector with a joint venture with textile maker and real estate developer, Arrow Webtex. The JV planned to build hotels in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik and Kolhapur in Maharashtra. There were also plans to develop hotels in Ahmedabad, Surat, Jamnagar, Mundra port, Goa and Kerala.
Indian drug companies, which have introduced copies of biotechnology drugs in the country, are bullish over the marketing prospects of 'biogenerics' after patents expire in developed markets. Experts say Indian companies may not repeat the success they achieved in selling generic medicines in biogenerics. The cost of clinical trials and the absence of substitutability will ensure that only those with deep pockets to launch such products globally will succeed, they feel.
Pfizer, the world's largest pharmaceutical company, has filed patent infringement suits against Sun Pharma, Wockhardt Ltd and Lupin Ltd to prevent these companies from securing marketing approvals for the generic equivalents of its high-selling neuropathic pain management drug Lyrica in the United States.
In addition, it is banking on Rs 20 billion of additional inflows from group company DLF Assets. The move follows 33 per cent growth in DLF's gross debt to Rs 163.58 billion at the end of March 2009 from Rs 122.77 billion a year ago. In addition, DLF's revenues fell 28 per cent to Rs 105.41 billion as home buyers deferred purchases and it offered discounts to lure buyers. As a result, its revenues were hit to the tune of Rs 6.88 billion.
Store 99, which sells apparels, accessories, cutlery and other items for Rs 99 or below in its 14 stores in North India, is buying merchandise from firms that went into liquidation in the US and Europe to keep prices low, said Shiraz M Javed, a director of the group.
It will also close 30 unviable stores. The company's move comes after its net loss widened to Rs 141.2 crore in the March-ended quarter, owing to mounting losses in apparels. The loss was Rs 82.2 crore in the apparel business, against a loss of Rs 4.44 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.
In yet another setback to Swiss drug multinational Novartis AG, the Indian patent office has rejected its application to secure a patent for an alfa crystal form of its blockbuster cancer medicine, Glivec.
Developers remain cautious on property deals as customers expect further price cuts.
Developers remain cautious on property deals as customers expect further price cuts.
Recently, DLF, the country's largest real estate developer, wrote to buyers of its new housing project in Gurgaon about a cut in apartment prices by 20 per cent. According to the new plan, buyers will get 5 per cent discount over the basic sale price, another 10 per cent as timely-payment rebate and an increase in the compensation rate for delay from Rs 5 per sq ft per month to Rs 10 per sq ft per month.
This comes right after DLF, the largest property developer, brought out a range of measures to soothe restive customers at a couple of other housing projects at Gurgaon. The Unitech customer ire is due to alleged delay in completion of World Spa, apartments and villas that carry an average price tag of over Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) per unit.
© 2025 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances