The govt is not keen to fill the vacancies as it will be replaced by the CCI. Officials say the government is not keen to fill the vacancies as the body will be replaced by the CCI. However, even after CCI is notified, the MRTPC will function for two more years to clear the cases it is hanling at present. The MRTPC is still taking fresh cases.
The model, under which retailers share a percentage of their sales with real estate companies, is seen as a fair way of sharing risks between the two stakeholders. Five companies contacted by Business Standard cite higher rentals charged by real estate developers, coupled with lower-than-expected footfalls, as the reason for their preference towards a revenue- sharing model.
Under the scheme for integrated textile parks, the government provides up to 40 per cent of the cost of setting up a textile park with a ceiling of Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million). Till now the ministry has contributed Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion). The industry has pitched in with nearly double this amount.
With store rentals dropping as much as 35 per cent in the last one year, retailers say opening stores in certain locations has become profitable. As a result, some retailers plan to roll out their bigger format stores and others are booking retail spaces that will come up in two years at a much lower cost.
This year, there is hardly any cheer in the market place, though three festivals - Eid, Dussehra and Diwali - have fallen in the month of October. Several consumer electronics, automobile, personal care products and food item retailers say sales are sharply down. Even new home sales are learnt to be lackluster.
Most realtors are already advertising cash discounts of 5-10 per cent on upfront payment and buyers can get up to 25 per cent discount if they book properties and are willing to wait for two to three years until possession. According to consultants, developers may even give 15-20 per cent discount on the price as they are eager to clear inventories.
The downturn has drastically lowered valuations of Indian real estate firms but the promoters face virtually no threat of takeovers as they are sitting on stakes in excess of 70-80 per cent of equity.
The recent depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar is unlikely to ensure better margins for exporters as buyers in Europe and the US, facing lower demand in their countries, are asking for hefty discounts.
If the sale of over 600,000 application forms for the 5,020 apartments on offer by the Delhi Development Authority is any indication, private developers in the national capital region are in for tougher times ahead, as investors are betting on their chances for higher returns from the cheaper DDA flats. On an average, a DDA flat is on offer at half the price of apartments being developed by private developers.
Indian exporters are not opening the bubbly yet despite a rapid depreciation of the rupee, which fell to a 17-month low of Rs 44.17 against the US dollar on Tuesday before rising to close at Rs 43.85.
The drive to cut costs is becoming critical as key input costs - steel, cement and labour - that account for 40 per cent of project costs have escalated 50 per cent over the past year.
For such bonanzas, prospective home buyers have a downturn to thank. Property sales have fallen 15 to 20 per cent countrywide over the last six months, owing to rising home loan rates. This has pinched the cash flows of developers, already reeling under higher borrowing costs and a range of anti-inflationary measures that restrict their flexibility to raise funds.
Money is the new God and spending it is the closest that one gets to nirvana. These five malls together accommodate close to 1,800 showrooms and smaller kiosks that sell almost everything a consumer could want. The number of visitors at Select City Walk averages around 2,000 on weekdays, going up to 6,000 on weekends.
A day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the benchmark repo rate and cash reserve ratio (CRR), leading property developers said they are mulling hiking prices of apartments and focusing on the affordable housing segment to counter the impact of a high interest rate regime.
Affordable housing, the most neglected segment of the real estate sector, is now attracting large-scale investments from developers as well as private equity funds.
The power regulator's office may have been functioning "normally" without a chairperson for almost a year, but industry executives see this as the Central government's lack of seriousness towards the body and the power sector.
Not only is Chinese equipment being deployed by quite a few power companies in the country, Chinese manpower is also employed in large numbers in the country.
When Internet search major Google Inc decided to power its 'Googleplex' in Mountain View with one of the largest solar panel installations in the world last year, it was a big vote for solar energy, which presently provides less than 1 per cent of the energy generated worldwide.
Clean development mechanism (CDM) should be used to make the prices affordable for the poor.
The main "culprit" for CO2 emissions is coal-based energy which has 24 per cent share in India's emissions and 41 per cent worldwide. While coal accounts for 25 per cent of energy, the role of renewables is 13 per cent. Of these, wind, solar and bio masses contribute just 4.1 per cent.