Sebi notifies revised norms for REITs, InvITs

NEW DELHI: Seeking to make them attractive options for raising capital, Sebi on Wednesday notified revised and easier regulations for REITs and InvITs.

To facilitate growth of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs), the board of Sebi had approved relaxations to existing norms in September after extensive public consultations.

In this regard, the markets regulator has notified amended regulations pertaining to REITs and InvITs.

New provisions, including those related to use of funds raised by these trusts, have been introduced.

As per the revised norms, "general purposes" can include identified purposes for which no specific amount is allocated in the offer document. This will be subject to the condition that any issue related expenses will not be considered as a part of general purpose "merely because no specific amount has been allocated for such expenses in the offer document".

It has been made clear that there should be no multiple classes of units of REITs and InvITs while subordinate ones can be issued only to sponsors and its associates. This is also subject to the requirement that such subordinate units should carry only inferior voting or any other rights compared with other units.

Among others, these trusts will have to refund subscription amount along with interest to allottees in case they don't receive listing permission from the stock exchange.

"In the event of non-receipt of listing permission from the stock exchange(s) or withdrawal of observation letter issued by the board, wherever applicable, the units shall not be eligible for listing," the regulations stated.

In such cases, REITs and InvITs will have to "refund the subscription monies, if any, to the respective allottees immediately along with interest at the rate of 15 per cent per annum from the date of allotment".

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) notified the REIT and InvIT regulations that allowed setting up and listing of such trusts in 2014.

Source : ET Realty

Government looks to use demonetisation windfall in new housing scheme with cheaper home loan rates of 6-7%

The government is believed to be eyeing proceeds from the demonetisation drive to boost an already crippled housing market. Sources tell ET Now that senior cabinet ministers are in favour of using the money earned from demonetisation to announce a housing scheme that would provide significant discounts to prevailing home loan rates. Sources add the government is keen to launch the scheme with cheaper home loan rates of 6-7% versus today's average of more than 9%.

These lower home loan rates could be for first time home buyers buying a house for the first time, and for a loan of up to Rs 50 lakh.

This is all at an early stage, and the final contours will only be decided once the government has assessed the full fiscal impact of demonetisation. Senior government officials though concede that the scheme will be successful only if the home loan rates are significantly discounted.

The new housing scheme may also find its way into the Union Budget that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present on February 1, 2017.

The idea behind cheaper home loan rates is to make housing affordable, lure back buyers, and at the same time rescue builders that are grappling with massive unsold inventory.

Rajeev Talwar, CEO, DLF told ET Now that while such a scheme would definitely help revive the housing market, it would be more beneficial if the government could offer lower home loan rates for up to Rs 1 cr and not just Rs 50 lakh. he believes this is what is needed to tunraround the housing sector in the metros and bigger cities.

Source : ET Realty 

Over 90% projects got environmental clearance in 2015: Government

NEW DELHI: Ninety percent of projects got environmental clearance in the country last year as compared to nearly 54% in 2014. Informing this in the Rajya Sabha, environment minister Anil Madha Dave in a written response to a Parliament question said, “Average percentage of such projects for the period from 2009 to 2014 was 87.79%”.

He noted that 53.86% of the projects had got clearance in 2014 while 90.70% of the projects got the green nod in 2015. Responding to a question about impact of speedy clearances of development projects on ecology, the minister said, “The statutory provisions laid down for carrying out the process of grant of prior environmental clearance ensures that ecological security is not compromised”.

He said, “The Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006 under the Environment Protection Act, 1986 governs the process of grant of prior environmental clearance for activities mentioned in the schedule of the notification. The process of environmental clearance includes screening, scoping, public consultation and appraisal”.

Source: ET Realty

Housing prices unlikely to come down due to note ban: CREDAI

MUMBAI: Realtors' body CREDAI today said there is no further scope for correction in housing prices in the primary market post demonetisation as rates are already ruling at the lowest level.

Credai, however, said that the real estate industry fully and unequivocally supports the decision of the government to demonetise currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in the national endeavour to eliminate black money, corruption, fake currency and terror financing.

The association in a statement said that the primary market is funded by banks and financial institutions which are all regulated entities. As such, cash component is not an integral element of the primary market.

Therefore, Credai denies adverse impact on the primary real estate market arising out of demonetisation. In fact, the primary segment is expected to gain at a rate of 15 per cent YoY, the statement said.

The government's resolve to eliminate black money and corruption is in the interest of the common man as well as business and industry, it said.

Real estate industry contributes 7 per cent of country's GDP and is the second biggest employer after agriculture. Given the scale and size of the industry, it is imperative that Credai articulates the impact of demonetisation on the industry and brings it to the knowledge of the general public, it said.

In the aftermath of demonetisation move, banks are going to have additional funds upward of Rs 10 trillion. Hence, a fall in interest rates up to 200 basis points is expected.

An early sign is seen with country's largest lender State Bank of India cutting its deposit rates by 1.75 per cent.

According to Credai, we see home loan rates coming down from the present level of 9.25 per cent to less than 7 per cent in less than one year from now. This would bring down the EMI for the ultimate consumers.

Credai expects the mop up of black money to also lead to higher tax collection and a lower rate of personal and corporate income tax from the next financial year onwards. In other words, the demonetisation would put more money into the pocket of home purchasers through lower tax burden and incentives for home ownership.

The tendency towards lower rate of interest is also going to be strengthened by a low rate of inflation.

Credai, comprising 11,500 real estate developers spread over 166 cities in 23 states in the country, is the apex body for private real estate developers in the country.

Source : ET Realty 

Demonetisation: Liquidity to stay, interest rates may fall further, says SBI

New Delhi: Additional liquidity that is coming into the banking system following demonetisation will not go away in a “hurry” and may pull down interest rates further, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) said.

“The recent government’s move on demonetisation is a welcome one. A huge amount of money is coming into the savings and current accounts. This huge amount of deposits has turned the system liquidity into surplus and we believe that this extra liquidity will not go away from the system in a hurry, which may push down the interest rate further,” a top SBI official told PTI in an interview.

On 8 November, the government surprised the nation by declaring Rs500 and Rs1,000 currencies invalid to check black money and fake notes, giving a 50-day window to exchange these old notes within a cap or penalty provision for unaccounted money. Thus, SBI’s cash deposits have swollen by over Rs1.27 trillion as on 17 November because people are compelled to put their money in bank accounts due to invalidity of these high-denomination currencies and the note exchange policy.

Also, SBI expects inflation in November to slip below 4%. In October, retail inflation was at 4.20% while wholesale inflation eased to 3.39%.

“Our expectation is that the inflation in November will be below 4%. Also, the recent demonetisation will support easing inflation by affecting consumer demand adversely. Hence, we are still expecting another round of repo rate cut by 25-50 basis points (0.25-0.50%) in 2016-17,” the official said.

In its last monetary policy in October, the Reserve Bank of India had cut the key repo rate—at which it lends to banks—by 0.25% to 6.25%. RBI has cut repo by 1.75% since January 2015.

SBI trimmed its fixed deposit rates on select maturities by up to 0.15% last week on account of cash flush due to invalidity of high-value notes.

“Cash being deposited at SBI branches belong to customers, as such customers are at liberty to use it the way they want. Interest will be paid on the balance outstanding as per the applicable rates (SB or term deposit A/c),” the official said.

Asked about where the bank plans to invest the surplus, SBI said these funds will be invested in reverse repo and T-Bills in the short term. “Subsequently, the funds will get deployed as commercial paper (CP) and for addressing credit requirements of customers depending on the availability and duration of funds,” the official added.

Listing the pluses of the government’s move to make these notes invalid, SBI said more and more people will come to the banking channels to exchange and deposit their higher denomination notes

Source :- PTI and Live Mint 

GST Council meet postponed to Dec 2-3

NEW DELHI: With several states suggesting changes in the model GST and compensation laws, the GST Council meeting scheduled for November 25 has been postponed to December 2-3.

The officers' committee of both the Centre and states, however, will meet on November 25 to finalise the three draft legislations -- CGST, IGST and compensation law. These will be placed in public domain for stakeholders' comments.

The Centre proposes to introduce these legislations as money bills to ensure they are not stuck in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA does not have a majority.

Sources said that since the legal changes in the draft laws would take some time, it was decided to postpone the November 25 meeting of the all-powerful GST Council.

"The states have suggested certain changes relating to returns procedures in model GST law. Also, they have asked for changes in wordings in compensation law. We will finalise the three draft laws at the November 25 meeting," a source said.

The source, however, added that Centre is on track to introduce the legislations in the ongoing Winter session of Parliament, which ends on December 16.

The officers committee would not discuss the issue of cross empowerment to avoid dual control as it would be decided at the ministerial level.

Centre had on November 16 circulated the draft legislation among the states. The officers committee in their meeting on November 21-22 discussed the issue, with states giving their views.

The Central GST (CGST) will be framed based on the model GST law. The IGST law would deal with inter-state movement of goods and services.

Source : ET Realty

DDA Vice Chairman becomes the real estate regulator for Delhi

NEW DELHI: Urban development ministry kicked up a controversy appointing vice-chairman of Delhi Development Authority (DDA) as Regulatory Authority for real estate sector for Delhi.

The decision has surprised many as DDA is also a developer for real estate projects and falls in the category promoter as per definition laid down in the Real Estate Regulation Act.

The central law empowers the appropriate government to designate any officer as regulatory authority till a full-fledged regulatory authority is established for the purposes of the Act, which includes grievance redressal in respect of projects registered with such authorities.

Registration of real projects will begin only after notification of Section 3 of the Real Estate Act by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, which will be done in due course. The full Act is to come into force from May 1 next year.

(Source- TNN)

SECTOR TO BENEFIT FROM THE NEWLY INAUGURATED AGRA – LUCKNOW EXPRESSWAY

It is true that infrastructure serves as the backbone for the real estate sector of any region and the landscape of Western Uttar Pradesh’s realty sector is expected to achieve newer heights as the much awaited Agra - Lucknow Expressway has been formally inaugurated. With the rising demand for tier 2 & 3 regions, this infrastructural development will allow untapped regions of the Western U.P. to come into the limelight and further promote the real estate prospects in those regions. Apart from developing various regions along the expressway, this roadway will also allow the commuters to save a lot of time while travelling and also help in decongesting the traffic on the alternate route.

The Agra - Lucknow Expressway will now serve as a seamless connecting link not only between Agra and Lucknow but also between Delhi and Lucknow. The travel time between Agra and Lucknow has been reduced from the usual 7 hours to 3 hours now and between Delhi and Lucknow has been reduced from the usual 9 hours to an astonishing 6 hours for now making it almost equivalent to rail travel. The entire stretch which is 6 lanes broad, spans over a distance of 302 Kms and has been built in a record time of 23 months by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) at a cost of INR 13, 200 crores which was stipulated to go as high as INR 15, 000 crores. 

The expressway is designed to support speeds up to 120 Kms per hour and will have automatic traffic management systems aimed at reducing road accidents and helping even at the time of dense fog. There are plans to expand this expressway into 8 lanes and in order to facilitate this, all the bridges and underpasses have been made 8 lanes. This will also help avoid traffic congestions and bottlenecks. It also includes 4 rail over bridges, 57 minor bridges, 13 major bridges, 9 flyovers, 148 pedestrian underpasses and 74 vehicular underpasses. This expressway will be connected to the much hyped Yamuna Expressway via an Agra Ring Road. It covers 10 districts, 236 villages and 3, 500 hectares of land. It connects Agra and Lucknow via Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Unnao and Hardoi. Highlighting the connectivity feature even further, the expressway passes through 2 State and 4 National Highways, and 5 major rivers namely; Ganga, Yamuna, Isan, Sai and Kalyani. A green belt is also being developed on the sides of the Agra - Lucknow Expressway by planting trees on either sides and plants in the median as well. There are provisions of a 3.3 Kms dedicated stretch which has been purposefully built on the expressway for jets to land and take-off in times of ‘war-like emergencies’.

Boost To Realty

With the saturation of major tier 1 cities in NCR, stakeholders, developers and buyers are looking out for options in tier 2 & 3 cities. The development in those regions is bound to be better as they are gifted with modern day architecture, equipments and manpower. Even in case of Agra - Lucknow Expressway, development along the corridor will allow the realty prospects to increase manifolds over the years. As the movement and footfall on the expressway will increase, the realty sector will chip in gradually; as was the case of Yamuna Expressway as well.

Industry Reacts:

Deepak Kapoor, President CREDAI-Western U.P. & Director, Gulshan Homz

With the construction of this ultra modern Expressway, cities situated in and around this will open up new doors for industrial corridors in these regions. It’s a proven fact that with the better connectivity and good road networks, chances for development and growth of the regions increases. We have great expectations with these projects as we see lot of scope of realty development in the regions coming under these road projects.

Rajesh Goyal, Vice President CREDAI-Western U.P. & MD, RG Group

The regions along the newly inaugurated Agra - Lucknow expressway will be the new hotspot investment destinations in the coming future enjoying excellent road connectivity along with rail and waterways. The wave of development will rise to encapsulate not only infrastructural development but a holistic growth and once the expressway will be fully operational it will add to the attractiveness of the region eventually leading to the boost in the realty aspects of the region.

Ashok Gupta, CMD, Ajnara India Ltd. 

A robust infrastructure system ensures that we are able to move goods and services, but also people in the most effective possible way which helps in enhancing their efficiency. Infrastructure is significant for economic growth, employment opportunities and access to markets and services. This high speed Expressway will not only allow smooth travel options but will on the other hand open up new doors for infrastructural developments around the stretch. 

Ashwani Prakash, Executive Director, Paramount Group

No doubt with the construction of such road networks, regions lying in the stretch of these highways and expressways will have improved connectivity and infrastructural development will get a boost as well. The scope of development of the regions in and around these projects is enormous and future will see vast real estate growth in these areas. Not just this, there is a huge opportunity for the setting up of industrial corridors and foreign investments along these highways and expressways due to connectivity benefits and transportation facilities.

Vikas Bhasin, MD, Saya Group

Delhi is already paving its path towards a saturation point, with the regions around national capital having sky touching property prices, the regions lying near this project will be bonus additions for home buyers looking for properties at affordable rates. There are lot of growth prospects in these regions once the projects are accomplished and the real estate sector of these areas too are anticipated get a big boost.

Agra-Lucknow Expressway: India’s longest greenfield expressway reduces travel time between Delhi-Lucknow to 6 hours; 10 facts to know

Agra-Lucknow expressway is India’s longest expressway till date, and with its inauguration today, Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav hopes to project to the state that his government’s focus is on development. The 302-km long six-lane greenfield expressway is special on multiple counts – from the record time under which it has been completed, to the fact that it will drastically reduce the travel time between the two UP cities. According to the UP government the expressway will help cut down the time between Agra and Lucknow to just 3.5 hours, from the current 7 hours. Moreover, the expressway is expected the reduce the road travel time between Delhi and Lucknow to anywhere between 5 to 6 hours!

Six fighter jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) touched down on a stretch of the expressway today. Three Mirage 2000s and three Sukhois skimmed the highway in simulated landings. This is the first time that IAF jets took part in the inauguration of an expressway, but the move makes sense because of the central government’s plan to increasingly use highways as landing and take-off strips. Last year, an IAF Mirage 2000 had landed on the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh. According to the UP government, a 2 km dedicated stretch has been built on the expressway for jets to land and take-off in times of “war-like emergencies”.

India’s longest expressway is without a doubt one of the most major infrastructure projects in the country. We take a look at 10 facts that you would love to know about it:

1) The Agra-Lucknow Expressway has a design speed of up to 120 kms per hour. The Agra-Lucknow Expressway will have automatic traffic management systems aimed at reducing road accidents and helping even at the time of fog.

2) The six-lane expressway is expandable to 8-lanes. Reports suggest that the bridges and underpasses have been made 8-lane to avoid traffic congestion and bottlenecks once the expressway is expanded to 8-lane. The expressway has an 8-lane bridge across the river Ganga. This will connect Kanpur and Unnao.

3) The expressway includes 4 rail over bridges, 13 major bridges, 57 minor bridges, 74 vehicular underpasses, 148 pedestrian underpasses and 9 flyovers.

4) The entire Expressway is planned to be lined with metal beam crash barrier on both sides and wire fencing State-of-the-art Advance Traffic management System for safe & secure transit.

5) The Agra-Lucknow Expressway has been built in a record time of 23 months by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). The UP government chose different builders for different stretches of the highway. The estimated cost of construction of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway was Rs 15,000 crore, but the UP government claims that it was completed in Rs 13,200 crore.

6) The Agra-Lucknow Expressway boasts of development centres, agricultural mandis, schools, ITIs, rest houes, petrol pumps, service centres and public amenities among other prominent features.

7) The expressway spans 10 districts, 236 villages and 3500 hectares of land. It connects Agra and Lucknow via Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kannauj, Kanpur Nagar, Unnao and Hardoi. The expressway passes through 4 National Highways, 2 state highways, and 5 rivers (Ganga, Yamuna, Isan, Sai and Kalyani). The expressway will start at the village of Etmadpur Madra near Agra and will end at the village of Sarosa Bharosa near Mohan Road, Lucknow).

8) The Agra-Lucknow Expressway will be connected to the famous Yamuna Expressway via an Agra Ring Road. This will help provide the requisite connectivity to the national capital of Delhi and NCR areas like Noida.

9) According to the UP government, the objective of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway is to ensure development of nearby areas, provide a fast-moving corridor that allows seamless travel, reduce the carbon footprint of vehicles that travel between the two cities, help farmers to expand reach of their products to larger cities, and attract investors in the state.

10) According to (UPEIDA), a green belt is being developed on the sides of the Agra-Lucknow expressway by planting trees on either sides and plants in the median.

Source: Financial Express 

GST: Centre, states fail to resolve dual control issue

NEW DELHI: The Centre and states on Sunday failed to resolve the contentious dual control issue as to which set of taxpayer is assessed by whom, making the November 25 meeting crucial if the government is to meet the April 1 deadline for the roll out of the goods and services tax (GST).

Officials from Centre and states will meet on Monday to reach a solution ahead of the meeting of the GST Council on November 25.

The informal meeting of state finance ministers and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitleywas called on Sunday to find a political solution to the deadlock on sharing of administrative control under GST so that a tax payer is not assessed by both the Centre and the relevant state, the so-called issue of dual control.

“The meeting has remained incomplete. Discussions will continue on November 25,” Jaitley told reporters after the three-hour long meeting. The states are insisting on having oversight over all assesses, goods and services, who have turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore, or a horizontal division.

The GST will subsume a number of indirect taxes levied by states and Centre, which will mean tax administration responsibility will have to be shared but the division has been contentious.

The council needs to quickly decide on the issue on November 25 so that it can also approve the model GST laws that need to be introduced and passed in the ongoing winter session of parliament for the government to meet the April 1, 2017 deadline to roll out this reform.

The November 24 meeting of the council has been called off. The earlier solution was that assesses with turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore in the case of goods will be assessed by states and above that by the Centre. In case of services, all were to be assessed by the Centre.

The formula collapsed as states wanted oversight of the services as well and there were doubts that it may not be able to split goods and services in some cases, making the implementation of the Rs 1.5-crore threshold difficult.

Kerala, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu want states to have jurisdiction over businesses of turnover of less than Rs 1.5 crore for both goods and services, reasoning that the state tax administration has better understanding of small taxpayers.

“Centre is agreeable on goods, but is not yielding on services. States are looking at their interest to safeguard their revenue. Centre will have to yield to states to get the CGST and IGST bills passed. A middle ground on the issue has to be worked out politically,” said Uttarakhand Finance Minister Indira Hridayesh.

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Issac said there is a stalemate on the issue and his state is not ready to compromise.

The Centre is keen on a vertical split wherein certain percentage of taxpayers are under central administration and the balance under the states. The percentage could also be the sticking point in this case. The Centre is willing to give a bigger share to states to settle the issue.

The Centre and states have agreed to a four-slab GST of 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%. The Centre and the relevant state will split these taxes evenly.

SOURCE: ETRealty

Attach Rs 18,866 crore properties under Money Laundering Act, orders govt

NEW DELHI: Government on Friday said it has issued provisional orders to attach properties worth Rs 18,866 crore for offences under the Money Laundering law.

It has also taken a host of initiatives, including effective enforcement of law, to curb the menace of money laundering in the country, Minister of State for Finance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

"As of October 31, 2016, 658 provisional attachment orders have been issued by attaching properties worth Rs 18,866 crore. Further, 283 prosecution complaints have been filed for the offence of money laundering (under Prevention of Money Laundering Act)," he said.

Referring to the steps taken by the government to deal with the menace of black money, Gangwar said the government recently demonetised 500 and 1,000 rupee notes "in a historical move that will add record strength in fight against corruption, black money, money laundering, terrorism and financing of terrorists as well as counterfeit notes".

The other initiatives, he said, include enactment of the Benami Transaction Act, amendments to FEMA and foreign black money law.

Under the Black Money (undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act 2015, 648 declarations involving undisclosed foreign assets worth Rs 4,164 crore were made. The amount collected by way of tax and penalty in such cases is about Rs 2,476 crore.

As part of enforcement measures, during April 2014 to October 2016, the Income Tax department has conducted searches in 1,242 groups of assessees, seizing undisclosed assets worth Rs 2,029 crore. These assessees admitted undisclosed income of Rs 28,567 crore.

During the same period, 13,690 surveys conducted resulted in detection of undisclosed income of Rs 30,001 crore. Also the I-T department has filed 1,514 prosecution complaints while offences were compounded in 2,244 cases and 75 persons have been convicted by the courts, Gangwar said.

Under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), the government has received 64,275 declarations disclosing undisclosed income of Rs 65,250 crore.

SOURCE: ETRealty

Builders liable to face consequences for air pollution: NGT

NEW DELHI: The principle that "polluter pays" was on Thursday applied by the National Green Tribunal which said that it is builders and not the construction workers who will have to face "consequences" for polluting ambient air quality in the national capital.

The green panel clarified that whenever work is halted due to air pollution caused by construction activity in the city, it will be the builder who will have to face all its consequences including payment of wages to the labourers during the period.

"It is a settled rule of environmental jurisprudence that polluter pays principle covers all consequential effects of air pollution. It is the polluter who is expected to take all precautions and also face consequences.

"If a builder is causing pollution to ambient air quality, he has to bear all the consequences. In other words, builder will not be able to deny wages, partially or fully, when work is stopped for causing air pollution," the bench said in its order.

The tribunal directed the authorities concerned to submit minutes of meeting of the centralised monitoring committee, formed by the NGT to prepare action plans to combat air pollution in Delhi, by tomorrow.

It also directed the Delhi government to place its order of November 10 on air pollution before competent authorities along with data on ambient quality as informed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

"We are informed that the meeting to be convened by the Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests is fixed today. Let the minutes of the meeting be placed before the NGT," it said.

The bench noted that as per the data submitted on November 14-15, there was a spike in particulate matter (PM) 10, which is found in dust emanating from construction activities and the details demonstrate that PM2.5 and PM10 levels were still 4-5 times higher that the prescribed values.

"Even today, we are informed that PM10 is 606 micrograms per cubic metre and PM2.5 is 147 micrograms per cubic metre respectively in Anand Vihar, which according to the CPCB is the worst polluted area in Delhi," the bench said.

On November 10, the tribunal had passed a slew of directions including setting up of centralised and state-level monitoring committees to prepare action plans to combat pollution and asked four northern states to consider banning old diesel vehicles in a bid to tackle environment emergencies.

SOURCE: ETRealty

DMRC plans housing project at Janakpuri

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro, which has already started a residential project in Okhla, is planning to start another project adjacent to the Janakpuri (west) Metro station. It had floated tenders for the design consultant earlier this month.

The project will have around 300 flats and will be built over an area of 1.128 hectares.

Delhi Metro spokesperson Anuj Dayal said that the company was also looking at developing residential projects at Parmeshwariwala Bagh, Mundka and Dwarka Sector 21 depot.

The Janakpuri (west) project will be built over three years, and will be constructed and marketed as a "smart" project. "The idea is to have green buildings that are energy efficient, with other green features like water recycling etc," added the Delhi Metro official.

According to Dayal, Delhi Metro will develop the plot of 11,280 sqm at Janakpuri (west) under Transit Oriented Development norms.

"The concept plan for the plot is already prepared. It will have flats of different sizes in addition to the mandatory EWS ones," he added.

In addition, DMRC will also construct 5,000 sqm of commercial area on the plot. "DMRC is planning to bring a scheme to sell these flats directly to the public, government organisations and PSUs by inviting applications," said Dayal.

Delhi Metro has been trying to increase its revenue through property development for some years now. It has been trying to sell the space at stations, as well as other pockets of land as part of its property development unit, but has had a mixed response.

SOURCE: ETRealty

Delhi corporations extends deadline to pay property tax via old notes

NEW DELHI: The municipal corporations have extended the deadline till November 24 for paying property tax and other charges using Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.

From November 11-14, North Corporation received 2.4 crore in property tax and 2.07 crore in conversion charge. East Corporation in the same period recovered 1.05 crore in property tax and 1.51 crore in conversion charge.

South Corporation has received over 5.5 crore in property tax. “There was a limit of Rs 5,000 in accepting cash but we have scrapped it to encourage people to pay their dues,” said an East Corporation spokesperson.

The zonal deputy commisoner’s office and property tax department’s office will be accepting the old notes till 5pm on November 24. New Delhi Municipal Council has opened up several facilitation centres to help taxpayers.

South Corporation mayor Shyam Sharma said that the decision to extend the deadline has been taken after looking at the difficulties being faced by Delhiites. Senior North Corporation officials said that “the sudden inflow will also help in bringing those taxpayers into the system who were earlier not in the tax net”.

Source: EtRealty 

Now, benami properties under income tax lens

AURANGABAD: Agencies including the income-tax department have started collected details of benami properties in Marathwada region, as a prelude to a crackdown on black money.

"The process of data mining is on and there will be an all-out drive against benami properties across the country from January next year," a senior IT officer said on Monday.

A senior IT officer said the focus shifted on benami properties soon after the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016 came into force on November 1.

Sources, however, said that the act is being called as the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions (Prohibition) Act 1988.

A primary analysis by tax sleuths has indicated that there are benami properties worth at least a few thousand crores of rupees in Marathwada alone.

Sources said the details of shell companies that had drivers and clerks as directors are also being collected. "Documents of alleged illegal transactions, including transfer of prime properties in the name of such people, who barely earn Rs 10, 000 a month, have also been detected."

To make maximum of the newly-introduced act, the tax sleuths are using online tools for data mining at a large scale. "Data is being compiled for analysis, so that tax evaders don't get a chance to escape," said an income tax officer.

The tax sleuths even cited PM Narendra Modi's public address in Goa on Sunday, during which he specifically said that those owning banami properties will not be spared.

"All out efforts are being made to zero in on those who indulge in benami transactions, especially realtors, industrialists and politicians.

The I-T sleuths said that the list of people who reportedly own benami properties include a large number of people with white collar jobs such as doctors and owners of educational institutions.

"There are reports of some religious trusts also owning benami properties. It will be the government's discretion to exempt them," said the officer.

To ensure that the properties scanned by them are benami, details of the owners including their sources of income and background are being thoroughly scanned.

A senior officer told TOI that the vigilance cells of different agencies working under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) are maintaining a close coordination with the offices of district registrars and land records, so that no evader escapes.

Another senior I-T officer said the original Benami Transactions Act, 1988 was amended to make the existing law more stringent and assign more powers to the agencies probing such cases.

"The amended law has not only increased the imprisonment for the convicts for up to seven years, but also has provisions for hefty fines for those indulging in benami transactions," the offcer added.

As per the amended act, benami properties are liable for confiscation and there will be no compensation from the government.

SOURCE: ETRealty