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.
ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector bank, has scaled down its overseas operations, especially in the United States and Sri Lanka. It has also recalled some employees from its international offices now that the businesses of fund-raising and merger and acquisitions have shrunk.
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.
Failed attempt to acquire stake in Kolhapur-based bank seen as trigger.
While the level of non-performing assets for banks is on the rise, despite the Reserve Bank of India's push for debt restructuring, cases referred to the corporate debt restructuring cell increased to 34 at the end of March 2009, as against 10 at the end of 2007-08. CDR, which was set up in 2002-03, is a mechanism for faster disposal of restructuring cases involving multiple lenders, though foreign banks are yet to join the platform.
Within 15 days of opening the registration process for Nano, its Rs 1 lakh car, Tata Motors has sold nearly 5,00,000 application forms, raking in Rs 15 crore (at Rs 300 each). Distributors associated with the Nano bookings said most of the forms were likely to translate into bookings.
Developers remain cautious on property deals as customers expect further price cuts.
Developers remain cautious on property deals as customers expect further price cuts.
Loans at a discount to the benchmark prime lending rates of banks are back with a majority of the fresh loans being disbursed at sub-PLR rates.
Already partnering seven international brands such as Giorgio Armani and Salvatore Ferragamo, it also plans to tie up with 12-15 global brands in the next five years. The company plans to fund its expansion through a mix of equity and debt and go in for tie-ups through joint ventures and franchise routes. The focus of expansion would be in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai in the initial phase, the official said.
Indian retailers put cash & carry on backburner
The company has already booked Rs 5,450 crore (Rs 54.5 billion) revenue from sale of 5 million sq ft it has sold to DAL. DLF on Tuesday clarified to the exchanges that it had been looking at various options from time to time but no definite option had been presented to the board so far for its consideration.
With interest rates softening, banks are slowly re-pricing the cost of short-term credit extended to the corporate sector.
"This is for the first time that a manufacturer will charge for an application form. However, it will be refunded if an application is rejected," said a senior bank executive. Bookings are expected to start by the last week of March. The forms will be collected through various channels. "All the forms and the collected money will be transferred to SBI, where they will be processed, and loans will be given through various banks within 90 days," said a source.
Developer to bid for work from those who win the final contract.
Companies are either taking small government projects alone or bidding for larger ones with consortium partners. The companies, which had 18-75 per cent of their order books in property development, say they are facing payment delays of 20-90 days from some of the private developers, blocking their working capital requirements. Some of them take a week's advance payment from developers to execute their projects.
Reliance Retail has added 485 stores in the last one year, taking the total count to 950 and the footprint is now spread across 77 cities (58 in the last one year) across India. While his critics say Ambani may have lost the plot as the progress of his retail plans are nowhere near what he had sought to achieve, others feel the Reliance chief is just being pragmatic given the not-so-conducive environment for expansion in retail.