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After working for over a year to prepare detailed map of Delhi using 3-D imaging, the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure project is now ready for implementation.

Over 330 applications have been shortlisted by 35 state departments that will begin using the information provided through this project for their various needs from April 1.

The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) will be the first department to implement the project. It will use the project to have real-time online tours of monuments in the Capital... on the lines of the tour of the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Rs 120-crore project, started in March 2008, entails a detailed 3-dimensional map of Delhi (ground-level and underground) through aerial photographs.

There will also be real-time monitoring of the ground situation in the city with the help of 64 wireless internet protocol cameras. There will two control rooms, one at Delhi Secretariat and other at Survey of India office, along with the 10 monitoring centres that will be located across the city.

Each of the nine administrative districts will have seven cameras, installed on top of the tallest building in the area. These cameras can give precision pictures of objects upto a distance of 5 km and cost Rs 5 lakh.

Earlier, Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta had asked the 35 departments to choose five applications each to utilise the available data. The departments have reverted to Survey of India and IT department with a list of 335 applications.

Source: The Indian Express Delhi's 3-D map ready, govt depts to begin use from April 1

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has hired 41 private security personnel for the area, which has approximately 2,500 big, small and medium industrial units and offices.

The personnel include 29 guards, six armed guards and six patrollers who are deployed round the clock to ensure surveillance, traffic management and removal of encroachments in the area.

"The plan was in the pipeline since January last year but was put into effect only in mid-December last year after the development agency received several com plaints from owners of units in the neighbourhood," Hambir Singh, deputy general manager of HSIIDC, said.

"The cost is being borne by the HSIIDC for the time being. A service charge will be levied later," Singh said.

The duty is divided into two shifts, each spanning 12 hours.

"The police and the owners of units have been very cooperative since we took charge. The only problems we face are the villagers living in the surrounding areas, as they refuse to remove their kiosks that have been set up illegally," an official managing the duties said.

"Parking on the road was always a problem in Udyog Vihar. Bus and cab drivers would drop off employees in the Cyber City and DLF areas and later park their vehicles on pavement here due to a lack of parking space available there. The move is a welcome relief," Krishan Kapoor, general secretary of Haryana Industrial Association, said.

And now, many firms are unsure if they should hit the market right away, even though they have got the `green signal' from the regulator. While key indices have recouped their losses suffered in January, investors remain wary of realty firms. The poor performance of the recent offerings in the sector is the main reason, while liquidity concerns because of the year-end factor is also keeping IPO-bound companies in check, say market watchers.

"We have received the required clearances from Sebi and are looking forward to coming out with our IPO in the near future," said Abhishek Lodha, MD, Lodha Developers, without specifying a deadline.

Lodha Developers, Ambience, Emaar MGF and Nitesh Estates are the leading companies that are yet to open their books for subscription despite getting the blessings of Sebi. Together, these four companies are looking to mop up around Rs 8,000 crore through their IPOs.

"Primarily, the market sentiment towards realty has not been very encouraging. Hence, a lot of players are waiting," said S Subramanian, head of investment banking, Enam Securities.

Source: Economic Times By Supriya Verma Mishra IPO-Bound Realtors Sitting On Fence Despite Sebi Nod

Despite an improvement in India's private equity (PE) market, overseas realty funds are finding the going tough as investors pull back money to cover trading losses in their home markets. Real estate-focused PE funds of banks such as Credit Suisse Group AG, Morgan Stanley  and Citigroup Inc. have either shut down or put their Indian and Asian operations on sale. US-based PE firms Oxif Capital Management  and Angelo Gordon and Co. have shut operations in India. Many other PE investors have also put their plans on hold.

"In 2005-06, there were 400-odd foreign investors targeting real estate, of which 250 had managed to register, 150 had applied for registration, of which today 40-odd exist," said Amit Goenka, national director, capital transactions, at property advisory Knight Frank (India) Pvt. Ltd.

Fund infusion is down from an estimated $20 billion (Rs90,800 crore) to just $2 billion, an erosion of 90%, he added. Goenka blamed the shrinking market on foreign limited partners (LPs), on whom PE funds depend for money, trying to make up for trading losses at home.

PE investment, excluding real estate, declined from 453 deals worth $10.29 billion in 2008 to 263 deals worth $4.02 billion in 2009, while PE investments in real estate declined from 90 deals worth $6.64 billion in 2008 to 26 deals worth $950 million in 2009, according to Venture Intelligence, a Chennai-based research service that focuses on private equity and mergers and acquisitions.

Source: Live Mint By Shraddha Nair Overseas realty funds struggle, shut shop or put plans on hold

"We are scrutinising all types of fund flows into the sector but no decision has been taken on whether to curb them or not," said R Gopalan, secretary in the financial service department of the finance ministry.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been cautioning banks against lending to the sector and asked them to continuously monitor the money going in. On their part, banks have curtailed lending to real estate firms. The total outstanding of banks to the real estate sector stood at Rs 88,581 crore as on November 21, 2009. The banks exposure to the real estate sector has gone down by a little over Rs 8,000 crore between June and November 2009. In a speech last week RBI deputy governor Usha Thorat had said that banks were expected to monitor their exposure to commercial real estate so as to limit the risk of a downturn in the sector.

"Although no regulatory limit is specified in this regard, RBI keeps a close watch on each bank's exposure to commercial real estate through offsite surveillance and initiates corrective actions where necessary."

Source: Realty Plus Real estate fund flow under watch

The developer was looking to sell 16 million square feet of residential properties in the fiscal 2010, and by December it was able to sell just 8.5 million sq ft of properties.

Now, with just a month left for the fiscal, analysts believe DLF would not be able to meet its target.

When contacted, Rajiv Talwar, executive director at DLF, refused to comment.

About 65% of the 8.5 million sq ft launches were city-centric, and 70% of the sold volume came from the National Capital Region. About 47 % of NCR volumes came from a single city-centric project, Capital Greens.

DLF's property sales picked up recently across projects in Gurgaon, Kochi, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

It sold 3.1 million sq ft of residential properties in the third quarter and about 1.8 million sq ft of that came from luxury projects.
However, analysts believe the pace of sales has not met with their expectations. "While the recovery has occurred, it is slower than we anticipated, with DLF likely to miss our prior volume estimates," Aatash Shah, an analyst with Nomura, said.

Source: dnaindia.com By Vivek Seal DLF may miss residential sales goal

"A National Rural Housing and Habitat Policy has been drafted by the ministry after wide consultation with the stakeholders including state governments, bankers etc... The draft policy is at consultation stage with the Planning Commission," minister of state for rural development Pradeep Jain Aditya said in written reply to a question in the Lower House.

"The goal of the proposed policy is to ensure adequate and affordable housing for all in the rural areas," said Aditya.

The draft policy also aims to facilitate development of sustainable and inclusive habitats in rural areas by expanding government support, Aditya added.

It seeks to promote community participation, self help and public private partnership within the framework of Panchayati Raj, he said.

The minister, however, replied in negative to a question whether the government has formulated or proposes to formulate a national rural housing policy and housing guarantee scheme on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

"If the signal from the bank and government is to raise the price, then why prices will not go up? That means the economy is ready to take a price hike. It will be wrong to assume that developers should not raise prices. How can you have two contradictory signals?" DLF group executive director Rajeev Talwar said on the sidelines of a CII seminar.

While a few private sector lenders, including ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, recently increased home loan rates by up to 100 basis points, the Budget proposed to impose service tax on the realty sector both on commercial rentals as well as on sale of under-construction housing units.

The service tax would come to be about 3.5 per cent of the cost of the apartment that includes the value of the land and also the cost of construction, realty body Credai said.

"Which tax has been absorbed in our country? It has only been passed through. Somewhere the new levy must be adjusted, how can you hope that the new levy will be adjusted and yet there will be no increase?" Talwar asked.

However, Talwar did not quantify the likely jump in the prices, saying, "It will vary from location to location, project to project."

"We will call a meeting of the association to discuss the Budget proposals, particularly the levying of service tax on housing which will have a negative impact on realty sector," National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco) president Rohtas Goel said.

Goel, who is also the chairman and managing director of Omaxe Ltd, said the dates for meeting has not been decided yet. The country's two largest realty firms DLF and Unitech are members of Naredco.

According to the Budget paper, the construction of real estate complexes will attract service tax, unless the entire consideration for the property is paid after the completion of construction. While some developers are of the view that the service tax of 10.3 per cent would be imposed on 33 per cent of the total sales value, other feel it should be on 33 per cent of the total construction cost.

An official with leading realty firm said the levy of service tax on housing is detrimental. "Affordable housing will become non-affordable and black money would come into play due to this proposal."

Another realtor's body Credai had said that applicability of service tax to all under-construction flats and homes being booked prior to completion will increase the end cost and will significantly impact affordability of the home buyer.

"Gulshan Homz plans to invest Rs 250 crore initially to launch few projects in residential and commercial segments in 2010-11 fiscal. The company intends to raise fund in the form of term loan from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) by pledging our projects with them. At present, the company would concentrate on Delhi-NCR region but would definitely look forward to good opportunities in tier II and III cities across north India," Deepak Kapur, director of Gulshan Homz, said in an interview.

When asked about the details of new projects, Kapur added, "In the current scenario, Gulshan Homz would like to lay more emphasis on developing affordable homes. As a step in this direction, the company is presently working on two projects -- Homes121 and Vivante -- in Noida. Vivante would be launched in a week's time. Further, we are planning to launch a retail-cum-commercial project in Kota shortly."

Gulshan Homz had recently handed over two projects in Indirapuram named GC Centrum and GC Grand, and one in Vaishali dubbed as GC Emerald Heights. According to Kapur, these units were also in the affordable housing category and were a big hit amongst buyers. "The current real estate scenario is favourable for affordable housing. The demand has risen considerably in the last six months because of which many projects are coming up. It is likely to increase further in the coming days. This will also generate the demand for commercial as well as office spaces."

Source: Realty Plus By Vishnu Rageev R Gulshan Homz betting strategically on affordable homes

The plant, spread across 60 acres near Bhiwadi, would have an initial capacity of 6 lakh vehicles per annum. The company intends to scale up its capacity to 12 lakh vehicles per annum after five years with an additional investment of Rs 600 crore. Bureau of Investment Promotion commissioner Purshottam Agarwal told ET that the state government has cleared the company's proposal. Bureau of Investment Promotion is Rajasthan government's investment promotion agency.

"We have offered them a customised package which includes land at concessional rate, cash subsidy on VAT, 50% subsidy on stamp duty, 50% concession on electricity duty and special rate of 0.05% on central sales tax. The civil work is likely to begin this month," he said.

After roping in Honda Siel's second car plant in Khushkhera near Bhiwadi in 2008, this is the second big-ticket investment for Rajasthan in the automobile sector. "The car plant of Honda Siel is one of the magnetic factors for the company to select Rajasthan for setting up its two-wheeler manufacturing facility in the state. It will help the company manage both plants in a better way. Another pulling factor is the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) complex in Neemrana where dozens of Japanese companies have already set up shops. The HMSI plant will also attract various auto ancillary and accessory units that supply auto parts to this company," he said.

Source: Economic Times By Rituraj Tiwari Honda Picks R'sthan Over Haryana For Second Unit

The civil aviation ministry has okayed the plan to set up the facility whose phase I would cost under Rs 500 crore. It will come up 60 km off Jaipur and 12 km from the national highway that connects Delhi to Jaipur. Promoters Rajasthan Aviation Infrastructure (India) have tied up with Fraport AG of Germany for technical consultancy and are planning to get the airport up and running by 2014.

The cost structure of the new airport stacks up against the Rs 10,000 crore provisioned for first phase expansion of the Delhi airport and the Rs 2,000 crore that each of the Bangalore and the Hyderabad airports cost.

The project will also be India's second private-run airport, after the one in Kochi. Ajay Dua, chairman of Rajasthan Aviation Infrastructure, said they had requested the Rajasthan government to provide road connectivity to the site in lieu of sweat equity.

Source: Economic Times By G Ganapathy Subramaniam First No-Frills Airport To Come Up Near Jaipur

LEAP YEAR A million new jobs. The best salary hikes in the Asia-Pacific region that will fatten purses of employees by 10 per cent on average. After the gloom of the slowdown, the sun appears to be shining again on India in 2010

It's the time of year when management graduates across the counry put on their best ties and head out to campus interviews. If they've been good students, they do so in been good students, they do so in expectation of salaries with as many digits as telephone numbers.

Last year was a bad year. The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, the country's top man- agement institute, took a record nine days to place its graduating batch. Even then, salaries were down by 25 to 33 per cent compared to 2008.

This year, the smiles are back. "We cannot say the offers were through the roof, but compared to last year, the num- ber of offers and packages has increased", says Himanshu Nema, a second year student and student head of the IIM-A placement committee.

Campuses around the country expect a better show this year. IIM Calcutta's campus recruitment began yesterday.

This year, 95 companies have turned up, compared to 80 last year, and more are expected. Prafull Agnihotri, chair- man of the placement and career devel- opment cell at IIM-C, says, "According to me, salary figures will not touch the 2008 mark, but students will definite- ly bag 20 per cent more than what was offered to them last year".

With inputs from Kamayani Singh in Delhi, Prasad Nichenametla in Ahmedabad, Salil Mekaad in Bangalore and Mou Chakraborty in Kolkata

mahua.venkatesh@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times by Mahua Venkatesh We Bring Good News  - Expect Jobs & Hikes

• WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

• Engineers and MBAs are back in demand.

• THE MACRO VIEW

• LOOK WHO'S BACK

A: This service tax pertains only to rental income received from leasing commercial property. If you have rented your apartment in Mumbai for residential use, then no service tax is payable. Secondly, service tax on rentals of commercial premises is not a new provision, it is applicable from 2007 onwards. However, the letter of the law was open to interpretation and hence the matter was under litigation. Now, in the Budget, the government has sought to bring further clarity. But once again, for residential rentals, no service tax is payable.

The MPs were addressing a select gathering at the annual session of the Haryana State Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which was combined with a panel discussion - "Nurturing New Growth Centre in Haryana" - organised here yesterday.

LK Jain, Chief Managing Director, LPS, Rohtak, was today elected Chairman of the Haryana State Council of the CII. Agreeing on the development of new growth centres in Haryana, Harpal Singh, chairman of the CII (northern region), said the state government must acquire land, ensure the provision of sound infrastructure and develop these growth centres in a transparent manner.

All procedures and permission for the growth centres must be given quickly and smoothly, he maintained. Rajeev Arora, MD, HSIIDC, disclosed that the corporation was in the process of developing an industrial estate in every district of Haryana. The HSIIDC would also expedite procedures and permission for business-related ventures, he added.

Source: The Tribune By Sunit Dhawan Look beyond Gurgaon, industry told

SMALL businessmen will soon be able to get collateral-free loans for up to Rs 10 lakh from banks following an RBI-panel proposal to double the guarantee provided under a government scheme.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, on Saturday released a report by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) where it was proposed that banks do not insist on collateral or guarantees for loans from small businesses up to Rs 10 lakh. In such loans, the security will be provided under a guarantee by Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for medium and small enterprises (CGTSME).

The report includes a proposal to reduce guarantee fees for women entrepreneurs and for enterprises in the North-East. The working group was set up to review the Credit Guarantee Scheme of the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust by RBI in its monetary policy in April '09. Launching the report, the finance minister said: "This constitutes an important initiative by government for MSMEs to avail bank credit without the hassle of collateral or third-party guarantee." The proposal to double the guarantee provided comes seven months after RBI told banks that they cannot ask for collateral security for loans up to Rs 5 lakh extended to micro and small enterprises in manufacturing and service sector.

On Saturday, following a meeting with Sebi, the finance minister has an interaction with the members of the board of RBI. "Various aspects of budget proposal were analysed and board members gave their comments and inputs about budgetary proposals" said Mr Mukherjee.

Later the finance minister said that the government would consider consolidation among public sector banks in consultation with RBI if the banks themselves came forward with proposals. "So far the regional rural banks have come forth and consolidation among RRBs have taken place. I have also made proposal that there should be licences for new banks and of course they should meet the criteria fixed by the RBI," the finance minster added.

Source: Economic Times RBI Panel Proposes Collateral-Free Loans    

Loans against fixed deposits, loans given by a bank to its own employees, as well as restructured loans, where borrowers get more time and pay lower rates to avert defaults, can be given at interest rates that are below the base rate -- the new benchmark rate for pricing loans. While allowing these exemptions, RBI has also deferred the date for implementation of the base rate by banks to July 1. Earlier, RBI had said the base rate system would come into effect from April 1 -- a deadline, which most banks found difficult to meet.

The regulator has, however, ruled out any lending to corporates below the base rate.

The decision was taken here on Friday following a meeting between RBI deputy governors and CEOs of select commercial banks. At the meeting, RBI also agreed to give banks more flexibility in the calculation of base rate.

For a bank, the base rate will be its minimum cost at which it can lend and the risk premium on a loan would be the mark up over the base rate. The base rate, which will replace the prime lending rate (PLR), is aimed at bringing more transparency in loan pricing. At present, around 70% of the loans are below PLR which ranges between 11.75% and 12.25%.

"A bank can take any deposit slab or even the average cost of deposits. Secondly, on profit margin, RBI has indicated that a bank can choose any parameter such as the average return on assets, return on capital, net interest income, etc.," said a banker present in the meeting.

Source: Economic Times Stress Relief :Banks Can Lend Below Base Rate, System To Come Into Effect From July 1

When contacted, he said, "We are presently planning to open an IPO in the first quarter of financial year 2010. The market sentiment has improved so far this year due to higher government budget spending and global recovery. The IPO climate also has improved a lot since the first quarter of 2008. Of course, we will make it this time." In February 2008, Emaar MGF's attempt to raise Rs 6,400 crore through an IPO notably failed after the issue got only 39 per cent subscription.

Emaar MGF filed draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the market regulator on September 29, 2009. "We have received the final observations to our DRHP from the regulator. As per the new SEBI regulations we have a one year window to complete the IPO. The board of directors of the company are considering an opportune time to open our IPO," according to the official spokesperson of the company.

Of the total proceeds from the issue, Emaar MGF will utilise over half of the fund to repay its debt. The company has a debt of Rs 5,807.79 crore as on August 31, 2009 and plans to utilise Rs 1,972.1 crore raised from IPO in part repayments.

Source: Realty Plus By Vishnu Rageev R Will Emaar MGF make it?

Bewildered, his parents told the police they had noticed some unusual behaviour in their son but did not know what to do.

Now, there is a glimmer of hope for such families.

Parents worried for their `deviant' children can log on to a website www.dpjju.com and seek help. Launched by the Delhi Police, it has names of sev- eral NGOs and agencies that can counsel the children.

The police launched this web- site in view of the rising number of incidents where teena- gers have taken to crime.

"If parents notice any deviant behaviour in their children, they should bring it our notice," said Sudhir Yadav, joint commis- sioner of police, juvenile justice unit. "There are several agen- cies working in collaboration with us that will counsel them."

vijaita.singh@hindustantimes.com

Source: Hindustan Times By Vijaita Singh Kids in Crime Web? Net Help At Hand, "WWW.DPJJU.COM" Police Launch Website For Parents

Exchanging views: Haryana Assembly Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chhata with Governor Jagannath Pahadia on the first day of the Budget Session in Chandigarh on Friday.

The Haryana Government has decided to impose a complete ban on mining of major minerals in Faridabad, Gurgaon and Mewat districts for 10 years and has initiated steps for preparation of a 30-year perspective mining plan, State Governor Jagannath Pahadia announced here on Friday.

In his address to the members of the Haryana Legislative Assembly on the first day of the Budget Session here, he said this would ensure that the scarce natural resources are exploited in a judicious manner.

The State Minor Mineral Concession Rules would be completely reviewed, he added.

The State Government had identified three early bird projects including a Multi-modal Logistics Hub, an Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre and a Mass Rapid Transport System from Gurgaon to Bawal as a part of the mega project of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor which was being developed along the alignment of the freight corridor running for about 1,480 km through six States.

The Government would re-visit the Industrial Policy of 2005 and announce a revised one by this April-end with focus on hassle-free approvals and clearances to the entrepreneurs in an efficient and transparent manner.

Mr. Pahadia said the State Government had launched the Jawahar Social Infrastructure Mission with a budget of Rs. 150 crore to create state-of-the-art schools, vocational education and training centres and State institutes for differently-abled children who were mentally challenged and suffered from impaired vision, hearing and speech. Homes for senior citizens and children in need are also being set up.

Source: The Hindu Haryana imposes ban on mining of major minerals