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No More a Free Ride: Those using the Greater-Noida-Expressway daily will have to pay toll once the Yamuna Expressway starts.

If you use the Greater Noida- Noida Expressway, be prepared to shell out almost Rs 37 daily.

Sources in the Noida Authority said that vehicles using the 23- km long stretch will have to pay toll tax once the Yamuna Expressway connecting Greater Noida to Agra is operational.

The Noida- Greater Noida Expressway, built in 2000, had been available free to use for commuters for the last 10 years. It was built jointly -- while the Noida Authority paid for the 20 km stretch, the Greater Noida Authority paid for the rest. It was reportedly built at a cost of Rs 400 crore.

The authority said the decision to charge toll was taken by the Uttar Pradesh administration in Lucknow recently. The management of the stretch has been handed over to Jaypee Infratech, the firm building the 165- km stretch of Yamuna Expressway. The group is expected to pay the cost of its construction to the Noida Authority, according to the terms of the agreement.

" The toll will be charged by Jaypee Infratech as part of an agreement made between the state and concessionaire in 2003," Y. K. Behl, additional chief executive officer of the Yamuna Expressway Authority, said. Under the agreement, the firm will collect toll tax for the next 36 years.

" The Noida- Greater Noida Expressway is just an extension of the Taj Expressway till Noida.

Source: Mail Today By Kumar Vikram Greater Noida- Noida Expressway In Toll Mode

When you're no longer there, the state will look after your child using the insurance money.

The scheme, called Asmita, to be launched by the National Trust ­ the autonomous branch of the ministry that focuses on these four particular disabili- ties ­ will provide life and acci- dent insurance cover to the par- ent or legal guardian of any child who falls in these categories.
Once you're gone, the money will be used by the National Trust to take lifelong care of your child.

Insurance companies have been asked to submit their bids by March 15. "We'll be working through the district collectors and var- ious NGOs working in this field, whom we are already in regu- lar touch with," said Atul Prasad, chief executive officer, National Trust. "We expect to launch in the next two months.
We hope to enroll around 10,000 parents in the first year."

"The premium will depend on the age of the parent. The older he/she is, the higher it will be," he added.

"Since this is a group insur- ance policy, the premium will be much lower than if a person insures himself individually," said Sanjay Pande, Managing Director, Amicus Advisory.

There are an estimated 22 lakh people suffering from these four forms of disability, accord- ing to National Trust statistics.

This clause is generally carried in fine print and can easily be missed by the consumers.

So, in such cases can the consumers file their complaints under the Consumer Protection Act and avail of the inexpensive and speedy remedy or would they be bound by the terms of the agreement and have no alternative but to resort to arbitration? The above issue became all the more controversial for the reason that Section 3 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 lays down that the provisions of the said Act " shall be in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of any other law for the time being in force". Are the provisions therein in derogation of the Indian Arbitration Act? These questions have often been raised in consumer disputes and are still being raised.

The above issue came up for an authoritative ruling before the Supreme Court in the case of Fair Air Engineers Pvt Ltd, which had entered into a contract with K. K. Modi to carry out the installation of a central air- conditioning unit at his residence in New Delhi. Since it committed a breach of contract Modi filed a case before the Delhi State Consumer Commission claiming a compensation of Rs 3.75 lakh for alleged deficiency in service.

The author is an advocate and editor of Consumer Protection and Trade Practices Journal ( CTJ).

rosykumar2000@ yahoo. com

Source: Mail Today By Rosy Kumar Consumer fora can handle arbitrations

India's existing laws equip the police to arrest only those touts who operate in select places such as at railways stations or bus stands.

The proposed law, called The Delhi Prevention of Malpractices and Touting Bill, 2009, has been sent to the home ministry for approval, a senior state government official said.

" It could be tabled in the ongoing budget session of Parliament for it to become an Act," said a state home official.

The proposed law makes touting a non- bailable offence and a first time offender, including anyone who abets touting, can be jailed for up to one year or slapped a fine of up to Rs 2,000 or both.

A repeat offender can be jailed for up to two years and slapped a fine of up to Rs 5,000 for every subsequent offence. Even an attempt to tout is a violation of the proposed law and offenders can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to Rs 2,000 or both.

The law also empowers the police commissioner to banish a repeat offender from Delhi for up to a year, said a home ministry official.

Convicting touts will also become easier as under the proposed law written complaint will be considered evidence and a judge can deliver judgment even if the complainant doesn't turn up in court.

For a nine-tonne payload between Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi, rentals rose to INR 46,000 per trip as on March 3 from INR 42700 per trip as on February 4 a rise of 7.73%for Delhi-Nagpur-Delhi INR 43,400 from INR 40,200, a rise of 7.96% for Delhi to Kolkata to Delhi INR 44,800 from INR 41,500, a rise of 7.95%, Delhi to Guwahati-Delhi INR 82,000 from INR 77,200 a rise of 6.22%.

According to a compilation made by the Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training, a non government organization associated with the transport sector, the rise of 6% to 8% in truck rentals is at a higher side compared with the weighted impact of the diesel hike of 3.5% to 4.5%.

Mr SP Singh senior fellow and coordination of the foundation, said that "This disproportionate and concerted hike across the country has come against the backdrop of the booming transport freight market, as manufacturing and import-export trade is growing at double digits and it has improved the cargo offering by 10% to 12% in last four to five months."

Mr Singh further added that truck rentals had already gone up cumulatively by 14% to 16% during October 2009-January 2010 even without the rise in diesel price. He added that "This hike was a cushion to absorb the diesel price rise of INR 2.58 per liter ex Delhi and INR 3 per liter ex Mumbai and Chennai. However, the market forces are in favour of the truck transport industry due to oversupply of cargo and the manufacturing sector willing to pay higher freight due to increased prices of their products."

"The base rate will be the new reference rate for determining lending rates for banks. This would bring in more transparency to loan pricing for customers," RBI Executive Director Deepak Mohanty told reporters on the sidelines of a function here today.

"This will also make the system more flexible. Today a common person doesn't know how the loan pricing is happening. As per the new system, the banks have to display the rates in the public domain," he said.

After the implementation of the new lending system, existing borrowers will continue to pay at the existing rate but they also will have the choice to switch over to new system on renewal, while the base rate will apply to new customers from the start.

The RBI had last week deferred the implementation of the base rate system by three months to July 1. The apex bank in early February had issued draft guidelines to banks to switch to benchmark lending rate, which will be applicable to all customers. The RBI took this step following banks refusal to extend the low interest regime to existing customers.

Under the base rate system, which will replace the current benchmark prime lending rate, banks would not be allowed to give loans below the base rate to anyone. The PLR has been much abused as banks provide loans to high rated corporates below this rate, reflecting lack of transparency in the lending rates and the lending process.

• Approx 45-acre, G+7 mid-rise group housing development, part of the larger master-planned gated community of Palm Hills in Sector 77 Gurgaon.

Apartment project in area of approx 40 acres

• Size 1450 sq.ft. 3 BR + Servant Quarters Rs.50 lakhs

• Size 1955 sq.ft. 3 BR Servant Quarters
  

Qubrex - Emaar MGF PALM HILLS Sector 77 - Brochure

Qubrex -Emaar MGF Palm Hills Sector 77 - Payment Plan

"Click here to download Emaar MGF Palm Hills Application Form"

Prices :

• Total: Approx Rs 50 to 65 lakhs

• BSP 2800 psf after Rs 200 psf inaugural discount
  

• EDC/IDC Charges : 270 per sq ft Aprox

• Car Parking : 2.5 Lac

• Club Membership : 75,000

Location - Emerald Estate at Palm Hills,

• Sector 77, Gurgaon

• Easy access from NH8, right next to Tilda Rice Mill

• Designed by leading international architects - ARCOP

• Efficient floor plans

"Currently, we are developing 12 residential and three commercial projects across various locations in North India. We have planned to invest Rs 4,000 crore to develop these properties over the next three years," Supertech Chairman and Managing Director R K Arora told PTI.

The residential projects are located across Noida, Meerut, Haridwar and Rudrapur, while the commercial properties will be developed at Haridwar, Rudrapur and Meerut, he added.

When asked if the company would consider raising fund via an initial public offer (IPO), Arora said: "We have started to prepare for an IPO, but the market has not completely come out (from the fall during downturn)."

The company would consider launching the IPO in the next one and half years, he added.

Source: Business-standardSupertech to invest Rs 4,000 cr in 15 projects; plans IPO

"We have applied to Sebi for approval. We hope to launch our IPO of Rs 1,500 crore early next-fiscal," BPTP's Managing Director, Kabul Chawla, said here today.

The company, which presently has a networth of Rs 1,600 crore, is hoping to clock a topline of Rs 1,000 crore and PAT of Rs 200 crore in FY10.

From the issue proceeds, the company plans to pre-pay Rs 325 crore of its debt while Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for government use, he said.

The realty major, presently, has a consolidated debt of Rs 900 crore.

In 2011, Rs 150 crore will come up for repayment and in 2012, Rs 600 crore, Chawla said, adding that "though we are not stressed in terms of debt, we plan to pre-pay Rs 325 crore out of the issue proceeds."

JP Morgan and SSKI are the Book-Running Lead Managers (BRLMs) to the issue.

Source: Business-standardRealty major BPTP plans Rs 1,500 cr IPO in early FY11

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

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.

"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 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