With the real estate sector witnessing robust demand, realtors are doling out freebies and offering a slew of attractive schemes to lure potential customers this festival season. "Developers are providing Amazon vouchers that go up to Rs 1 lakh, iPads, and flexible payment plans that propel customer excitement," said Angad Bedi, managing director at real estate company BCD Group. Bedi said customers have a mindset to go for a change during the festival season, and developers see it as an opportunity to combine it with long-term and practical offers that drive buyers to close in on a deal during this period.
Implications for capital gains, wealth taxes, and investment strategies require careful consideration, notes Anil Rego, founder and CEO, RightHorizons.
'Even for operational buildings, we are looking to smarten them in various ways.'
The Congress party has criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's handling of GST reforms, calling them inadequate and demanding an apology for the tax imposed on essential items. They argue that the reforms are merely a 'band-aid' solution and that the government should address the states' demand for extended compensation.
Nanded City developed by the Magarpatta Town Development Corporation, is a Rs 6,000 crore project spanning a whopping 700 acres.
Even a cursory look at some recent land deals -- even in states like Uttar Pradesh or Haryana, which have so-called model land acquisition policies -- shows that the compensation package for land losers is usually a tiny fraction of the entire project cost.
China is set to build a rail link connecting Xinjiang province with Tibet, part of which will run near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India.
PVR INOX plans to shut down 70 non-performing screens.
More than 58% of individual housing loans disbursed in 2023-2024 were more than 25 lakh in size.
These super-rich Indians intend to reside in their chosen host country permanently while retaining their Indian citizenship.
Investors will be able to authenticate if the entity receiving the payment is a valid entity under the ambit of Sebi.
Gaikwad, who was Dharavi MLA before being elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2024 general polls, also alleged the redevelopment project was real estate's biggest scam.
Hurun Report and GROHE India named Lodha Developers' M P Lodha and family as India's richest real estate entrepreneur with a wealth of Rs 31,960 crore, followed by DLF's vice chairman Rajiv Singh and Embassy group founder Jitendra Virwani in the second and third position respectively. Total wealth of top 100 Indians in the real estate sector stood at Rs 2,77,080 crore -- up 17 per cent against 2018. While Mumbai accounted for six of the top 10 and 37 of the 100 names, Delhi and Bengaluru had 19 residents each who featured on the list. Smita V Crishna of Godrej Properties featured as the richest woman.
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry.
Bengaluru-based Prestige Estates Projects recently said it aims to double its annual residential sales bookings to Rs 25,000 crore by FY26 from its current markets and others such as Mumbai, Pune and National Capital Region (NCR). The company's chairman and managing director Irfan Razaq tells Raghavendra Kamath about his plans to achieve the target and outlook for the real estate market.
Average housing prices across Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Delhi-NCR, Chennai and Pune remained stable during the January-March period compared to the previous quarter while rates appreciated 4-5 per cent in the other four major cities, according to PropTiger. Data from real estate brokerage firm PropTiger, a part of REA India that owns Housing.com, showed that prices in Bengaluru and Hyderabad grew 5 per cent each while Ahmedabad and Kolkata saw an appreciation of 4 per cent each.
The BSE Realty index on Monday soared 4.3 per cent-most among the 19-sectoral sub-indices-buoyed by the proposal to formalise fractional ownership of real estate in the country. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday issued a discussion paper proposing to regulate online platforms offering fractional ownership in real estate, a model already popular in countries such as the United States and UAE.
From the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Titan, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Infosys and Kotak Mahindra Bank were among the biggest laggards. On the other hand, Adani Ports, Mahindra & Mahindra, Power Grid, Eternal and Hindustan Unilever were among the gainers.
India's economic growth slowed to 7.4 per cent in the March quarter, bringing down the annual growth rate to 6.5 per cent during 2024-25, according to official data released on Friday. The growth in the January-March period was lower than the 8.4 per cent expansion in the year-ago quarter.
'They will cover up the failures of all the others.'
'The Indian retail landscape is poised for a significant shift with the anticipated arrival of several prominent international luxury fashion brands in 2024.'
Despite the recent turmoil in the Indian markets after a scathing report on the Adani group from Hindenburg Research, American private equity major Blackstone is "bullish" on the India growth story and plans to invest more in the country's infrastructure and real estate projects. "We have a long-term view on India, as growth will be higher here. We have invested half of our Asia exposure in India. "Our extraordinary performance in India has made us bullish," said Jonathan Gray, president and chief operating officer of Blackstone.
'Could the impending new crisis, vibe coding, similarly create not a disaster like what befell Indian handlooms during the Industrial Revolution but another opportunity like what the Y2K crisis created?' asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
In the Indian stock market, investors are interested in the actions of both domestic and foreign institutional investors (FIIs and DIIs). These groups have wealth as well as expertise in research, which makes them powerful participants in the Indian stock market. Their buy and sell positions have a large effect on stock prices and market sentiment due to the large volume.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday announced a slew of measures to ease the compliance burden in the stock markets ecosystem, encourage more companies to list on the bourses after reverse flipping to India, and facilitate greater foreign fund flows into government bonds.
Neo banks, along with mid-sized banks, are establishing global capability centres (GCCs) in India, mirroring the expansion strategies of larger global counterparts. This trend is being seen as the next major wave in the country's banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector.
Prices of luxury properties appreciated by 8-12 per cent during the last year across major cities and has breached the 2015 peak level, according to India Sotheby's International Realty. In its annual 'Luxury Outlook Survey 2023', India Sotheby's International Realty (ISIR) revealed that 61 per cent of High-Net-worth Individuals (HNIs) and Ultra High-Net-worth Individuals (UHNIs) are looking to buy luxury real estate during 2023-24. The sample size of the survey is more than 500 HNIs and UHNIs.
The 30-share Sensex ended down 159 points at 27,425 and the 50-share Nifty closed down 24 points at 8,299.
With more than 1.2 million Indians stuck in green card backlogs, investor-driven EB-5 programme sees rising interest as a secure route for migration to the US.
The sector suffered grave turbulence in 2013 due rampant economic slowdown both globally and domestically, liquidity crunch, unstable currency, high input costs, labour shortage, high interest rates and growing inflation.
Indian real estate market remained buoyant in January-June this year, with housing sales hitting an 11-year high at 1.73 lakh units and office demand at a record 34.7 million square feet across eight major cities, according to Knight Frank. On an annual basis, housing sales rose 11 per cent to 173,241 units while leasing of office space grew 33 per cent to 34.7 million square feet during January-June this year across eight major cities. Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India, said, "India's real estate market has been buoyant in the last few quarters owing to the strong economic fundamentals and stable socio-political conditions."
With the rise of wellness tourism and experiential travel, specialised jobs are being created in spa management, event planning and local experience curation, besides social media management.
CLSA has downgraded select real estate stocks and expects most counters from this sector to consolidate in the months ahead after the sharp run seen in them in the last few months. Most positive factors in terms of a pick-up in housing demand and office space absorption, it said, are already priced in. "We expect housing industry demand to grow around 12 per cent in 2024 and for large developers to outpace industry to grow at 15 - 20 per cent.
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.
Alternative investment funds (AIFs) have crossed Rs 5 trillion in terms of funds raised, while the investment commitments have surpassed Rs 12 trillion for the first time as of September, according to data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Private equity (PE) investment in real estate declined 5 per cent year-on-year in April-June to $1.9 billion because of high interest rates, according to Anarock. PE inflows stood at $2 billion in the year-ago period. Real estate consultant Anarock has come out with a report titled 'FLUX Q1 FY24 Market Monitor for Capital Flows in Indian Real Estate'.
White-collar hiring activity in December witnessed a 9 per cent increase compared to the same period of the previous year, driven by high-skill and strategic roles, a report said on Thursday. According to Naukri JobSpeak, the index reached an impressive 2,651 points in December 2024, reflecting a robust 9 per cent year-on-year growth, a promising sign for the year ahead.
Do not sound as if you intend to permanently settle overseas, warns Ritika Gupta, CEO and counsellor at AAera Consultants.