Unitech, the second largest realtor by market capitalisation, plans to repay over Rs 1,000 crore of debt in FY11 and its main focus for the year would be Mumbai.
Sanjay Chandra, managing director, Unitech Ltd, said on the sidelines of Fitch debt market conference: Whatever surplus cash flows we book will be used for debt repayments. We are also securing our unsecured lenders and we have reduced our debt to Rs 6,200 crore.
He added: In Mumbai, we have two joint ventures totalling about 42 million sq ft. The whole idea is to make Mumbai an important part of our business. We will do mostly premium and high-end housing and some offices here, we have projects in Worli, Parel, Dadar, Juhu and Andheri.
More : dnaindia.com
Court clears 12,000 acres in S Delhi for DDA use
The Supreme Court has cleared the acquisition of 12,000 acres land in Chattarpur, South Delhi, for a sub-city roughly the size of Dwarka.
When completed, it will have 2 lakh dwelling units, hospitals, schools and markets, said officials of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which will start work once it gets the land.
Most of this is agricultural land sprawled over 13 villages. But there are a large number of farmhouses there as well owned by politicians, business people and bureaucrats. The Delhi government will begin taking possession of the acquired land now, and hand it over to the DDA for the sub-city.
More : hindustantimes.com
Wadias look to raise stake in Bombay Dyeing via warrants
The promoter Wadia family at Bombay Dyeing — a textile company, which also owns vast tracts of land in Mumbai — is considering raising its
stake through a preferential issue of warrants. In a communique to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Bombay Dyeing said its board is meeting on February 10 to approve a proposal for the issue of warrants.
Warrant is a type of security issued by a company that gives the holder the right to purchase a certain amount of common stock at a stated price within a specified time-frame. However, the company did not specify how many shares will be issued to the promoters. The promoters currently hold 47.11% in the company. They intend to infuse money into the company to retire debts and develop real estate. The company had a total debt of Rs 1,700 crore as on March 31, 2009.
Bombay Dyeing is close to signing a property deal with Axis Bank to build the bank’s new headquarters at its sprawling mill compound, according to two executives close to Bombay Dyeing. The Wadias own 50 acres in Central Mumbai. These properties are under various stages of commercial development, said an executive. Senior Bombay Dyeing officials were unavailable for comments. Since the core textile business was faring badly, Bombay Dyeing joint managing director PV Kuppuswamy was given charge of the real estate division last year after the promoters decided to focus on property development. Parshottam Makhija a was brought in as CEO of the textile division last year.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Jet needs help to develop BKC plot
A severely cash-strapped Jet Airways that had bagged a 2.5-acre plot at Bandra-Kurla Complex for Rs339 crore back in 2006, is now seeking help to develop it. The plot is strategically located next to the Mumbai Cricket Club.
Developers like the Wadhwa Group, Oberoi Constructions, Godrej Properties, and industrialists like steel tycoon Mittal submitted their offers last week.
Oberoi has apparently made an offer of 2 lakh sq ft space, monetary compensation of Rs530 crore and an additional corpus of around 10% to the airline. Others have made similar offers.
Source : dnaindia.com
Makaan.com starts India’s first property index
Makaan.com has launched the country’s first Property Index. Christened Makaan.com Property Index (MPI). The tool is aimed at empowering homebuyers and the real estate industry with up-to date information related to movement in residential property prices.
Apart from analyzing the trends nationally, Makaan.com Property Index will also track property price trends for major metros and tier II cities of India. The Index is intended to serve as an objective tracker of property trends. It is meant to aid in decision-making and is expected to be used by both real-estate buyers and the industry.
This index is based on minimum database size of 20,000 data points every month and the analysis has been drawn over a period starting Jan’09. The complex algorithm takes into account the property prices as base and then factors in the demand and supply of residential properties for each of the cities covered by it.
Source : indianexpress.com
Office space, retail segment poised for comeback
A recent research conducted by consulting firms in the realty sector have shown that the return of the IT sector and IT-enabled services and an overall positive perception about economic recovery has had a benign impact on the city’s commercial real estate sector, including the retail space. The survey adds that that in spite of the lift in demand for office and other commercial spaces, the lease rentals have remained stable, helping occupiers plan their acquisition better.
According to Jones Lang Le Salle Meghraj, leasing activity in the entire Asia-Pacific has gained momentum since the last quarter, as larger emerging markets such as India, China and Brazil are expected to recover from the downturn faster than the rest of the world. The comeback is, predictably, led by India’s IT sector, with many leading firms such as TCS wanting to hire people in large numbers.
Talking to TOI, Mohammed Aslam, head of Jones Lang Le Salle Meghraj in Pune, said, IT/ITeS sector has been a major occupier of office space in Pune. Over 80 per cent of office space absorption has been by IT, BPO and other knowledge-driven industries. About 10 million sq.ft. of commercial office space supply are under various stages of conception and construction, and are likely to be delivered over the next two years.
More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Budget wish-list of realtors
The Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) has sought tax holidays for industrial park and housing projects under Sections 80-IA and 80-IB, infrastructure status for integrated township projects and easing of fiscal norms to facilitate borrowings and bringing down the cost of funds.
Industrial parks
In a pre-Budget memorandum, the association has recommended that the time limit for notification of industrial parks under the New Industrial Park Scheme 2008 be extended up to March 2015. The confederation has also asked that emerging industries such as renewable energy be covered under the industrial park scheme.
The scheme notified in January 2008 cover industrial parks under development or those in operation between April 2006 and March 2009. The tax holiday benefit under Section 80-IA (4)(iii) is only for industrial parks notified up to March 31, 2011. The automatic route for approval is available only to those parks with 30 tenants.
More : thehindubusinessline.com
Sobha Developers Q3 net profit at Rs408mn
The company in the current financial year has sold 431 units in Q3, 177 units in Q2 and 115 units in Q1 taking the total to 723 units in its residential business for the nine months ended December 09.
Sobha Developers Limited, Indias leading Real Estate Company known for its quality delivery, has declared its financial results for the 3rd Quarter ended December 31, 2009 at its Board meeting held in Bangalore.
Financial Performance:
For the 3rd Quarter ended December 31, 2009, the Company has clocked a turnover of Rs. 3102mn compared to Rs 1876mn in Q3 of FY 08-09, up 65%. The Profit after tax stood at Rs. 408mn compared to Rs 75mn in Q3 of FY 08-09, up 444%.
More : indiainfoline.com
Rly land panel makes 4th attempt to sell prime Mumbai land
A parcel of land close to the Bandra-Kurla commercial hub in Mumbai has been put up for sale again by the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA). The reserve price of the 45,371-square-metre plot was last pegged at Rs 3,960 crore.
This is the fourth attempt by RLDA, the nodal agency for development of railway land in the country, to sell the land.
It has invited expressions of interest (EoIs) from companies to develop the prime land. The last date for receiving EoIs is February 28, after which a new reserve price will be announced.
More : business-standard.com
Property IPO wave risks investor indigestion
Investors are more likely to choke on a glut of India property IPOs set to hit the market this year than gobble them up.
Even though Godrej made a strong debut this month in the first Indian property listing in two years, IPOs of other developers could meet more restrained investor buying as they compete with a slew of large public sector offerings.
At least 16 real estate firms have lined up plans for initial public offers to raise about $6 billion, buoyed by an 81 percent rise in the Mumbai stock index last year and as property buyers return.
More : economictimes.indiatimes.com
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