If Beijing succeeds in this multipronged effort to challenge the current dominant power, it will have not just economic but political and security consequences. There is no let-up in the South China Sea nor any de-escalation moves on the India-China border. This portends to ominous signalling from Beijing, observes China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
'There is no question that Putin's preference will be to avoid unpleasantness with Trump, leave alone a collision course,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Budget might turn out to be neutral for the sector.
We have entered a new era in human history, asserts Aakar Patel.
Housing prices increased by up to 11 per cent annually across eight major cities during January-March period of this year due to a rise in demand for residential properties and a sharp hike in rates of construction raw materials, according to a joint report by CREDAI, Colliers and Liases Foras. Delhi-NCR witnessed highest rise in housing prices by 11 per cent to Rs 7,363 per sq ft during January-March 2022 as compared to the year-ago period, as per the first edition of Housing Price-Tracker report by realtors body CREDAI, real estate consultant Colliers and data analytics firm Liases Foras. Hyderabad witnessed 9 per cent increase in housing prices to Rs 9,232 per square feet, while Ahmedabad saw a 8 per cent appreciation to Rs 5,721 per square feet and Kolkata 6 per cent to Rs 6,245 per square feet.
Housing sales are likely to be hit, especially in affordable and mid-income categories, following the RBI's decision to hike repo rate, according to real estate developers and consultants. However, the impact of RBI's decision to raise the benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 5.40 per cent is expected to be for a short term, they added. This is the third consecutive rate hike after a 40 basis points and 50 basis points increase in May and June, respectively.
Index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have added a record number of investment accounts in 2024, buoyed by the sectoral and thematic investing euphoria that has spilled into the passive space.
Putin is keen on establishing a good personal rapport with Trump and anchor a meaningful US-Russia partnership, realistic enough to accept that Trump is as good an American president as Russia would ever get, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Ask rediffGURU and PF and MF expert Janak Patel your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Doubling standard deduction to Rs 1 lakh, increasing tax break on interest paid on housing loan and rationalisation of capital gains tax regime are some of the expectations that consultancy firm KPMG has from the Budget 2024-25 to be unveiled on July 23 in Parliament. There has been a significant rise in medical expenses, fuel costs and overall inflation.
The purchase or construction of houses by large numbers of people can add meaningfully to India's economic growth, points out Neelkanth Mishra.
Realtors' body CREDAI on Monday said the cost of construction has gone up by 20-25 per cent, mainly during the last 45 days, due to steep rise in prices of raw materials like steel, and builders will be forced to increase property prices from next month by an average 10-15 per cent. CREDAI-MCHI, the Maharashtra chapter of CREDAI, demanded that the central as well as state governments consider giving relief to the industry by reducing stamp duty and GST rates, besides allowing input tax credit (ITC) to developers. The association said it would not advise member developers to stop construction works as of now, but if the price rise continues then builders would have no option but to halt works at project sites and defer purchase of raw materials.
The Indian economy is recovering from the slowdown in momentum witnessed in the September quarter, driven by strong festival activity and a sustained upswing in rural demand, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) bulletin released on Tuesday. An article on the 'State of the Economy' in the December bulletin noted that the global economy continues to exhibit resilience with steady growth and moderating inflation.
From the time he left office after his loss in the 2020 presidential election to his nomination as the Republican candidate in the 2024 race, Trump continued to dominate the American news cycle and the country's psyche.
The RBI's decision to hike the benchmark interest rate will make home loans costlier and affect housing sales, especially in affordable and mid-income segments, according to property consultants. The RBI on Wednesday hiked the key benchmark rate by 50 basis points. Property consultancy firms Anarock, Knight Frank India, JLL India, Colliers India, India Sotheby's International Realty and Investors Clinic said that the RBI's move was on the expected line to control inflation and this would result in an increase in interest rates on home loans.
The Opposition had promised to scrap the Dharavi redevelopment project if it came to power. With the Mahayuti's massive mandate in the Maharashtra assembly election, that prospect has been laid to rest.
The senior RBI official, who assumed office on July 31, a day before he was to retire from the state-run Bank of Baroda as its chairman, said developments in construction technologies should make it possible for developers to bring down home prices.
Housing sales across top eight cities rose 51 per cent last year, even as the office market continued to slump due to the Covid pandemic with gross leasing witnessing a 3 per cent fall, according to Knight Frank India. Housing sales increased to 232,903 units during last year, from 154,534 units in 2020, but demand was down 5 per cent from the 2019 pre-pandemic levels and 37 per cent lower than the 2011 peak numbers. In the office segment, the gross leasing of office space fell to 38.1 million square feet in 2021, from 39.4 million square feet in the previous year, due to the adverse impact of the second wave of the Covid pandemic.
India ranks 51st in annual appreciation in housing prices with a 2.1 per cent rise in rates during the October-December quarter of the last year, according to property consultant Knight Frank. In its latest research report titled 'Global House Price Index - Q4 2021,' Knight Frank said that India has climbed up five spots to the 51st rank in Q4 of 2021 against the 56th rank in Q4 of 2020. Turkey witnessed the highest annual price growth rate by 59.6 per cent in the year to Q4 2021, followed by New Zealand (22.6 per cent), Czech Republic (22.1 per cent), Slovakia (22.1 per cent) and Australia (21.8 per cent).
While the exterior has undergone minor refinements, the real improvements lie within, notes Rajesh Karkera/Rediff.com.
The July-September quarter (Q2) results for 2024-25 (FY25) from the largest listed consumer electrical solutions companies, Havells India and Polycab India, followed similar trends, demonstrating robust revenue growth while falling short of profitability expectations. Both companies witnessed overall growth in the 16-30 per cent range, but margins declined by 130-290 basis points (bps) year-on-year (Y-o-Y). Although brokerages are bullish on long-term prospects and have raised revenue projections, earnings forecasts have been revised downward due to margin pressures.
Info Edge (India), the country's leading consumer internet company known for its platforms in recruitment (naukri.com), real estate (99acres.com), matrimony (jeevansathi.com) and education (shiksha.com) space, delivered revenue growth in line with expectations in the April-June quarter (Q1) of FY25.
When you are in your 20s and early 30s, you have the biggest asset to your credit -- time. By starting to invest during the early stages of your career, you get a lot of time to research, learn, and achieve, advises Ayan Nagpal.
'For me, if I want to buy a house to stay, I don't care about indexation because I don't want to sell that house.' 'The only thing that matters to me as a buyer is that the home price should be within my reach.' 'Any market, when speculators and investors go out, it will benefit the middle class.'
Most buyers are forced to back off in the face of delays because of the appreciation of the property.
'Trump has no more elections to fight and his soaring ambition, which is no secret, will be to carve out a presidential legacy that outshines by far all his mediocre predecessors.' 'Trump's turnaround on the H-1B visa debate shows that he can take tough decisions and there are no holy cows in his domain,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
After some enforced slowdown in offtake during April-May 2024 due to elections, the cement sector is looking at a possible demand rebound which may help it to push up prices. The April'24 offtake was muted while May'24 saw some improvement with a likely 5-6 per cent rise in demand month-on-month (MoM). In June, some price hikes seem to have been taken, which suggests more sustained improvement in demand.
The real estate sector presents a daunting picture with revival prospects appearing to be bleak.
After years of living with his family in a poky 110 sq. ft. 'house', textile worker Sambhaji Surve dreams of moving into a home four times the size once the Maharashtra government starts its ambitious redevelopment of the 39-acre Kamathipura shanty town in south-central Mumbai. Sharing his dream are about 8,000 other families hoping for a better life when the redevelopment project, part of the government's effort to redevelop old settlements and make life more livable for some residents, gets underway. The Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party aims to redevelop BDD Chawl and Dharavi but for Surve all the matters is Kamathipura where he arrived in the 1970s from Nasik to work in a textile mill. Kamathipura was originally built 150 years ago following construction of a causeway to connect the seven islands of Mumbai. From the British Raj to post-independence, it became infamous for slums and brothels.
On the individual front, housing loan rebate on self-occupied property was increased from Rs 1,50,000 to Rs 2,00,000.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'Trump's disregard for norms and institutions could prove very costly for America's social fabric.'
Vivek Biyani, the nephew of retail veteran Kishore Biyani, will launch a retail chain focused on direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands under the name Broadway, along with actor Rana Daggubati, Apurva Salarpuria of Salarpuria Group and Anuj Kejriwal of Anarock Retail. This new retail format is a multi-brand outlet, which will house D2C brands under one roof. The first store is set to open in Delhi in August this year, and subsequent store launches in Hyderabad and Mumbai are slated in September 2024 and March next year, the company said in its release.
'Her story, her life, her aspirations and struggles...' 'Indian weddings are not just about fuschia, pink and dancing. They have many nuances.'
There is a definite attempt to put the landslides on the backburner because news of them and climate change worry Wayanad's tourism and real estate businesses greatly. Whatever I experienced of Wayanad's 2024 by-elections; the July landslides were not a burning issue, observes Shyam G Menon.
Currently, there's a shortfall of 23 million houses in India.
Goldman-HDFC JV and OYO Hotels & Homes are betting big on student housing, says Raghavendra Kamath.
Donald Trump's exaggerated opinion of his dealmaking capacity can get him into trouble, observes R Sriram.
'What happens in the real estate market is that once the prices go up it goes on to stay at that level.' 'It might not increase and at the same time the prices will not come down too.'
A senior company official was killed and 100 others were injured in the violence at the Maruti's plant in Manesar last month.
