Over 1,65,000 benefit under CLSS vertical of PMAY-Urban in three years

NEW DELHI: Over 1, 65, 000 people in urban areas have benefitted from the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) during 2015-18, according to the data made available by the government.

During these three years over 45 lakh dwelling units have been approved for construction. About 27 lakh houses are in various stages of completion with over 8 lakh houses having been already completed during the period.

For the financial year 2018-19, the central government has provided Rs 31,505 crore for PMAY with a provision for additional funding under Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR).

While the budget for the current year had allocated Rs 1,900 crore for the CLSS vertical, there is flexibility provided to draw more funds based on requirement from the earmarked Rs 25,000 crore under EBR.

A mechanism has been devised to optimally utilise the funds under the mission, said the government in a media release.

According to the government, the issue of funding has been sufficiently addressed and there is no shortage of funding under PMAY (Urban) across all the verticals.


Source- ET Realty

Gunit Chadha gets NHB's approval for housing finance business

 

Gunit Chadha, the former chief executive of Deutsche Bank's Asia-Pacific operations, has received National Housing Bank's approval for his proposed housing finance venture.
 
APAC Housing Finance, as part of APAC Financial Services, will be headed by Harpreet Singh, who had experience in setting up housing finance business in India.
NHB's website says that the license to APAC Housing is not valid for acceptance of public deposit.

APAC Financial Services has already secured non-banking finance company license from Reserve Bank of India.
 
Chadha, who is returning to India after half-a-decade, has formed a team of bankers to build a loans business is likely to focus on affordable housing, small businesses, microfinance and consumer lending.

Source - ET Realty 

IT’S THE BEST TIME TO INVEST IN INDIAN REALTY: HARVINDER SIKKA

Till a year back, the real estate sector of India had been much in limelight due to the floating negative sentiments caused by delay in possession of projects, coupled with sky rocketing prices especially in Tier 1 regions of the country. These reasons had dented the housing demand and is causing drastic fall in the interest of potential customers along with heavy inventory pile up for the developers. Being a case of land, big depreciation is pretty much off the cards and hence, can prices come down becomes the question. But in order to keep the market and sentiments stable, developers needed to provide some extra cushion.

It is crucial to understand that real estate sector is an end user to almost 35 other industries and sectors, and if this sector is drowning, then it is not fruitful for the economy in general. RBI has played its part seemingly well over the last couple of years by bringing down the key rates. Almost half of the rate cut benefit has been passed on by the banks. It was time now that developers also chip in to help this market get back on track.

My sense is that there is a little bit of everything that needs to happen for the revival in the real estate sector. There was an issue of certainly how they see the housing market and how they see prices. There had to be an adjustment so that more people want to go and buy which was witnessed and markets have settled to the rock bottom prices. Real estate is an asset which is somewhere bound to appreciate with time. But the kind of appreciation that most Tier 1 regions across the country has witnessed, it had taken the buyers away from the market, especially investors, who were a prominent sight when the property prices were low. Housing demand is driven most by end users who again were looking at property prices which have settled down to an all-time low and there are no chances of prices going down further and it’s the best time to invest in the sector.

Big blow for builders as RERA says don't charge homebuyers for facilities not yet delivered

MahaRERA recently ordered a developer to not demand charges for such facilities that have been mentioned in the agreement but not yet provided to the homebuyer. Image source: Reuters

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) recently ordered a developer to not demand charges for such facilities that have been mentioned in the agreement but not yet provided to the homebuyer.

Sunil Jajoo had booked a house in Runwal Elina apartments at Andheri and had registered the agreement for sale further executing it in September 2015. Jajoo, in his complaint, stated that the date of possession on the agreement was December 2016 but the developer has failed to hand over the apartment within the stipulated time frame. He also stated that the developer has been demanding charges for club house facility which has not been delivered as on date. He prayed that the developer be directed to pay him interest for the delay as per the provisions of RERA.

During the hearing, the developer’s advocate said the project’s construction could not be completed because of reasons which were beyond the developer’s control and that reasonable extension of time is stipulated for in the agreement. The authority concluded the matter ex-parte.

Gautam Chaterjee, Chairperson, MahaRERA, while disposing the matter, said, “In view of the facts, the developer is directed that they shall not demand charged for the facilities/amenities like club house that are part of the agreement for sale but are not being provided at the time of handing over possession and until such time, the said facilities are provided for.”

Source- Zee Business

Galaxy Group to revive Amrapali’s projects, to bring relief to over 28000 Homebuyers

Noida: Leading NCR realty major Galaxy Group today, received a go ahead from the Supreme Court to construct the 8 stalled projects by Amrapali Group. Galaxy Group will be making an investment of approx. Rs. 2500 crore, in the span of next 4 years, to revive and construct eight pending residential projects which will bring relief to over 28000 customers who have invested in these projects. The development of these projects would be carried out by Galaxy Dream Home Developers Pvt Ltd, which will soon be rebranded as ‘Sawasdee Group’.

The markets of Noida and Greater Noida which are witnessing huge number of deliveries in the recent months will see more deliveries through this move and we can expect more and more customers receiving the rightful ownership of their homes. This verdict comes in the wake of the government’s push and the interest showed by the private players.

Out of the 8 projects, five projects are from Noida; namely, Sapphire (Phase I & II) located in Sector 45, Heartbeat City in sector 107, Eden Park in Sector 50, Zodiac in Sector 120, Platinum in Sector 119. The remaining three projects are from the Greater Noida West region; Leisure Valley, Leisure Park and Dream Valley, which will be duly completed by them and handed over to the rightful buyers. With this verdict, real estate market of Noida is sure to see an upward trend in the property demand, as completion and possession were the most highlighted topics in the region for the past few years.

Pradeep Kumar Agrawalla, chairman, Galaxy Group of Companies said, “We are grateful that the Honourable Supreme Court has passed this verdict which will bring along trust and credibility in the real estate market of Noida. Real estate is a very sentiment driven sector and the trust factor plays a big role in its sustainability throughout. With this move, we hope that the sector, which is already on its revival path through the reforms of RERA and GST, will improve further and we will witness customers returning back in large numbers.”

World Trade Center to invest Rs 21 billion in its Greater Noida project

World Trade Center (WTC), part of the New York-based chain of global trade and business hubs, will invest almost Rs 21 billion in its Greater Noida project.

The project spanning almost 50 acres is arguably the largest WTC property in the world. So far, the company has already invested close to Rs 7 billion and the remaining Rs 14 billion purse would be invested in the coming 2-3 years, WTC advisor P K Alok told Business Standard here today. This investment excludes the land cost of the project.

During the UP Investors Summit 2018, the Yogi Adityanath government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with WTC for the development of Mobile Open Exchange Zone (MOX) in Greater Noida, which is touted to act as a catalyst to bring the advantage of growth in the mobile and allied sectors to Uttar Pradesh.

“We have the mandate to develop about 4.2 million square feet of realty for mobile phone and other technology companies at WTC Noida, of which 2.1 million sq ft of commercial space is ready,” he informed.

Chinese mobile handset company Vivo has already been rented out two towers comprising 800,000 sq ft of commercial space. Besides, WTC Noida is holding talks with other companies mobile phone companies based out of China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan to set up shop at the upcoming hub.

“Within the next 6 months, 2-3 mobile phone companies would be operating out of our facilities,” he said adding the whole project would be completed by 2021.

Individual WTC hubs are licensed for development and operation by the WTC Association, USA. In Greater Noida, the real estate development of the integrated project comprising high rise towers is being done by commercial real estate firm Viridian Red.

Under the MoU with WTC Noida, the state government would facilitate to obtain necessary registrations, approvals, clearances etc as per the existing rules and regulations, while also supporting to avail of incentives under various central and state governments schemes.

A report by global consultancy company MOTT MacDonald had claimed by 2020, India would be the 2nd largest smartphone market in the world with the mobile phone ecosystem contributing 8.2% to the country’s economy. The report also claimed that Noida/Greater Noida region had the potential to attract over Rs 100 billion of investment in near future and generate several hundred thousands of jobs.

WTC Association represents a global network of active locations in 318 cities across 88 countries that seek to create a competitive advantage for businesses conducting international trade.

WTC Noida comprises mix use commercial complex with office spaces, hotels, service apartments, recreational and green spaces. Alok said WTC Noida had outperformed other commercial ventures in the National Capital Region (NCR) and exhibited the ability to surge ahead within the stipulated timeframe.

Source- Business Standard

Foundation stone of Jewar airport to be laid before Diwali

File photo

NEW DELHI: The foundation-laying ceremony of the greenfield Greater Noida international airport in Jewar would be performed before Diwali this year and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would attend the event, state government officials said.

Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the nodal agency for the project, is also planning to soon float the scheme for development of hotel, motel, plaza, shopping centre and convention centre, they said.

According to the Technical Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR), the airport project is expected to generate about one lakh employment opportunity.

The airport project received in-principle approval from the Centre on April 23. The foundation-laying ceremony is likely to be performed towards October-end as Diwali falls in the first week of November.

The request for proposal to invite developers for executing the greenfield project would be floated by June-end and PwC, the consultant for the project, has been asked to prepare the bid documents, the officials said.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be attending the foundation stone-laying ceremony which would take place before the Diwali celebrations," they said.

An investment of about Rs 80,000 crore is expected in the first phase with plans for star hotels, laser plaza, shopping complexes, convention centres and world class market chain being planned, benefitting the region significantly and the farming community at large.

Around 5,000 hectare of land has been identified for the project and the first phase of acquisition of land measuring 1,327 hectare for construction of terminal buildings and runways is expected to be initiated soon.

The airport would ease the pressure at the IGI airport in New Delhi, the seventh busiest in Asia, which handles over 60 million passengers annually.

It is expected to handle over 10 crore passengers by 2050.

Source- ET Realty

No change in real estate law, Puri tells builders

NEW DELHI: The government on Monday ruled out any amendment to the real estate regulation law (RERA) despite demands by the builders’ lobby for changes in certain provisions in the act. The Centre has also set June 30 deadline for states to amend the “dilutions” in the notified rules to bring all incomplete projects under regulation.



June 30 has also been set as the deadline for establishing permanent regulators, start websites and the tribunals as prescribed in the law, sources said.

While chairing the first central advisory council meeting of RERA, Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri reportedly said there is no question of amending any provision, though government is open to any suggestions from all stakeholders.



“The minister said: let the law in totality be implemented for one year and there is no need for any immediate change. One of the demands by builders was to introduce a clause to hold local authorities responsible and penalise them for delay in giving approvals,” said one of the officials present at the meeting. 

“Let there be no doubt, fly by night builders who have taken the money and have not delivered homes to unsuspecting buyers will not be spared. #RERA has been enacted to largely safeguard the interests of home buyers & clean up the construction sector," Puri said in a tweet.



He added RERA has been enacted to clean the mess accumulated in the unregulated construction sector for decades and this is also an important requirement for builders “who play by the rules.”

Putting forward consumers’ views, Abhay Upadhyay of Forum of People’s Collective Efforts suggested the Centre set up a website that provides details of all the web links of state regulators and start an email id for enabling people to complain about incomplete projects, which are not registered with the regulator.

A member of Namma Bangalore also suggested the need to ensure that during the registration of flats, the sub-registrars must record the RERA registration number.
Source- Times of India

NDMC announces e-auction of three premium hotels in Lutyen's Delhi

NEW DELHI: The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has announced the e-auction of three of its premium hotels in Lutyen's Delhi, including the five-star property Taj Mansingh, for a period of 33 years. 

The other two hotels are -- The Connaught and Hotel Asian International. 

The civic body held a pre-bid meeting for the three properties last week and the submission period of bids is from May 15-June 7. 

"The auction of the three properties has been pending for quite a while. We have announced the launch of e-auction for all three of them and are inviting bids. The e-auction will be conducted through MSTC Ltd, a central PSU, and SBI Capital Market Limited will be the transaction advisor for the auction," a senior NDMC official told . 

Taj Mansingh was earlier given to Tata Groups Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) on a lease for 33 years, which ended in 2011. The company was since given nine temporary extensions. 

However, the civic body could not auction the property then as it was tied up in a legal battle with IHCL, which has been operating the hotel property since 1978. 

The NDMC had last year decided to auction Hotel Connaught and re-auction Asian Hotel, after they were sealed by it in 2015 due to non-payment of license fees dues. 

In January last year, the Asian Hotel was e-auctioned fetching Rs 45.5 lakh per month as licence fee, the highest-ever for the agency. But, the bidder later refused to take the property necessitating a re-auction.

Source- ET Realty