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With the US in recession, India's call centres have opened a new outsourcing frontier: India.

The shift is a sign of how India's flagship export industry is shifting from providing services to the developed world to catering to its own, quickly growing market. The Indian economy grew 6.7% for the fiscal ended March 31.

"We cannot deliver and make money in the same way we make money for an international market," says Ananda Mukerji, chief executive of Firstsource Solutions Ltd, a Mumbai-based outsourcer.

In April 2007, his company opened a call centre in Hubli, a city of 800,000 people 370km northwest of Bangalore, India's outsourcing capital. Hubli is best known for its cotton and peanut farms.

But it is also a place where wages and rents are half of those in major cities such as Mumbai. A call centre worker who gets roughly $500 a month in Mumbai would earn $250 to $300 a month in Hubli.

source: Live Mint India's call centres take calls from home

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has decided to put more buses on routes where number of buses is less but passenger traffic has increased.

According to senior DTC officials, new low-floor buses are expected to be added to the DTC's fleet from the end of July this year.

In next nine months, DTC will get 2500 low-floor, which includes 1000 air-conditioned and 1500 non air-conditioned buses, from two bus manufacturers -- Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland.

DTC officials said they had already started arranging bus depots to park those buses. "Since we will get these buses in phased manner, we have so far arranged five depots. The first batch of buses will be sent to our depot in Noida. This will help in improving our bus service from Noida to important destinations in Delhi," said a senior DTC official not authorised to speak to the media.

Officials said Noida would get about 200 buses, which will also include a sizeable number of AC buses.

Despite being a sub-city with over seven lakh of people already moved in, Dwarka is one of the worst areas in terms of a public transport system.

DTC officials said improving the public transport system in Dwarka was one of their top priorities.
With two bus depots ready in Dwarka, one in sector 2 and the other in sector 8, and a bus terminal in sector 10 also ready for operation, DTC officials said Dwarka would also get a sizeable number of buses.

"Dwarka's two depots would get over 250 buses. These buses will not only connect Dwarka with rest of Delhi but would also help in solving commuting problem within the sub-city," the official said.

DTC will improve its bus service along the Bus Rapid Transit corridor.

Officials said the remaining 8.7-kilometre stretch of BRT would be made operational by August this year.

To strengthen public transport on the entire 14.5 kilometre BRT stretch, more of low-floor buses would be added on the route between Ambedkar Nagar and Delhi Gate.

In an unprecedented move, the oath-taking ceremony was shifted from the state capital of Chandigarh to Amritsar and the occasion was attended by thousands of Akali supporters and several national leaders.

As per information revealed under the RTI Act, bills worth Rs 59 lakh have already been paid by various government departments. Parvinder Singh Kitna of the Human Empowerment League Punjab (HELP), a Nawan Shahr-based NGO had filed applications under RTI to the Director Punjab Hospitality Department, Public Relation Department and Deputy Commissioner Amritsar to seek information on the expenditure incurred.

The information secured by Kitna from these offices revealed that Rs 50 lakh was sent by the state Government to the district collector of Amritsar to make arrangements for the function. The Hospitality Department revealed that it spent Rs 19.59 lakh, including Rs 10.5 lakh for refreshments for nearly 1,300 VIPs and Rs 9 lakh to provide food for about 60,000 other guests. The Public Relations Department revealed that it had spent Rs 1.45 lakh on the hospitality of journalists.

The big difference between this model and that followed by most developers today is that land is treated as inventory and not as an asset. Typically builders try to buy land cheap and hoard it till the price appreciates after which they extract a higher price from home buyers. The short point is that most developers today are trying to make money from the land rather than the project. Since they believe land prices will appreciate, they are in no hurry to complete their projects--they divert money received from customers for one project to some other venture and there's no accountability, whatsoever, when it comes to completing projects on time. Of course, they stand to profit enormously from the price appreciation--operating profit margins for leading developers have been upwards of 60 per cent before the downturn began. And if the debt blows up in their faces, there is always the government to bail them out! It's time developers were asked to house each project in an SPV, as will be the case with Rao's venture, so that the money can be kept track of.

For sure, there are a couple of risks to Rao's model. The first is that given the relatively low selling price, restricted to between Rs 1,300 and Rs 2,000 a sq ft, the projects necessarily need to be located not just on the outskirts of cities but perhaps way beyond that. Boisar, where Tata Housing's project is coming up for instance, is located 100 km from Mumbai. The question is whether people will be able to commute from these distances, how much time they will spend travelling and how much it will cost them. If people can't get to the place of their work within a reasonable amount of time, they would rather live in a chawl. The response to Tata Housing's Boisar project , however, suggests there's huge pent-up demand at this price point. Whether people are planning to live in Boisar or only move there when they retire, remains to be seen.

Source: Business-standard Biggest Risk Of Jerry Rao's nano-housing dreams is Execution

The drop in water levels has also been observed in north and central Delhi, the only two districts that did not face a groundwater shortage. While boring tubewells has practically been banned with the Delhi Jal Board now incharge for issuing clearances, the move doesn't seem to have made much difference as largescale exploitation of water still seems to be the order of the day.

Rainwater harvesting, made compulsory in Delhi in 2001 by a court order, has also not been implemented as would have been desired. All government buildings with a built-up area of 100 sq mt, all roads and flyovers, co-operative group housing societies and farmhouses are required to have rainwater harvesting. The same notification also made recycling water for horticultural use compulsory for those buildings that had a daily discharge of 10,000 litres or more of water. But while old buildings continue to ignore the order, recycling is a practice adopted by barely a handful of buildings.

According to an affidavit submitted by various civic agencies to the court in November 2007, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) had identified 365 sites for rainwater harvesting of which 294 projects had been completed. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) submitted a list of 18 places where work had either been completed or in progress. Delhi Development Authority gave in a list of 1,287 plans of which 821 had been completed. Proposals have also been made for rainwater harvesting in 227 parks and 156 municipal buildings.

Source: Times Of India City water table sinks to new depths

It says providers of social services, including those in education, health and social welfare sectors, should be rated whether they're state-run, non-profit NGOs or in the private sector.

The NGO policy drafted by the Planning Commission under the previous UPA Government had also suggested a rating system for NGOs and other charities, but nothing has come into existence so far.

Says Amita Joseph of Business Community Foundation: "We are always for such a rating system and, in fact, feel it should be across the board, covering media, advertising, and businesses." BCF is already covered by Credibility Alliance which has set standards for transparency and accountability and has many NGOs members.

It does not do any rating, but at least ensures that members are transparent in their financial dealings, says Joseph.

Source: Business-standard Need for rating system for NGOs

A goof up by the state authorities regarding the registration of independent floors has created confusion among the district-level authorities, besides putting the residents to inconvenience.

The Haryana government had recently decided that the registration of independent floors would be done in the state. However, the district-level officials concerned refuse to carry out floor-wise registration as they are yet to receive any government notification in this regard.

Adding to the confusion, the state authorities of the Town and Country Planning Department and HUDA have issued letters listing different provisions to the district-level officials.

Interestingly, both letters, copies of which are with The Tribune, cite the decisions taken at a meeting held under the chairmanship of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on November 11, 2008.

A letter issued by the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary of the state government's Town and Country Planning Department to all Deputy Commissioners and tehsildars clearly states that the registration of independent floors shall be allowed in case of residential plots of 180 square yards or above.

However, another letter written by the Chief Administrator of HUDA to all HUDA administrators and estate officers in the state mentions that "in case of vacant plots in old sectors and all residential plots in new sectors, there shall be no restriction regarding the size of plots that can have multiple owners floor-wise".

The discrepancy has confused the local authorities concerned and inconvenienced the residents. According to public as well as official sources, the local authorities simply refuse to carry out floor-wise registration of property as they have not received a government notification as yet.

Sources point out that the pick-and-choose policy would only lead to non-uniformity and undue pressure on space, water and other resources. The problem assumes greater significance in cities like Gurgaon, Faridabad and Panchkula, where the density of population is already quite high.

However, even as the complaints regarding the non-registration of independent floors continue to pile up with the local authorities, it remains to be seen that when the authorities concerned will clear the air on the issue.

Faced with mounting delinquency in the commercial real estate sector, public sector banks have pruned exposures to commercial realty to 10 per cent of capital funds.

Top PSB officials said that the measures were taken in view of the asset stress in the sector. Exposure limits till last year ranged between 15 and 20 per cent of the net-owned funds. Most accretions to the PSBs' delinquent asset portfolios in the last financial year were from the commercial realty sector, officials said.

Although the Reserve Bank of India does not indicate sector-specific exposure ceiling on commercial real estate, the guidelines provide flexibility to individual banks to fix limits. PSBs, the officials said, have taken advantage of this guideline, as a prudential measure.

However, banks are still being flooded with loan requests for commercial realty projects. The Vijaya Bank Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Albert Tauro, said, "Yes, there are several loan applications from commercial realty projects. We are still examining them."

Asset stress

But bank officials said that in many portfolios, asset stress was already evident, with falling loan-to-value (LTV) ratios. In many cases, the LTV ratio has dropped below the prudential level of 1.5 times. Under current guidelines, banks are expected to maintain physical asset coverage of at least 1.5 times (150 per cent) the loan value. Normally, as loans are amortised, the LTV ratio tends to rise. A falling LTV, however, implies depreciation in the value of the asset. This has begun happening, officials said.

Source: The Hindu Business Line PSBs trim exposure to commercial realty

Unveiling the 100 day agenda for her ministry, Selja said that the Model Bill would propose a regulator and aim to address the concerns of consumers as well as the real estate industry. The finer details of the Model Bill could not be ascertained.

"We have initiated a dialogue with all key stakeholders including private sector, NGOs, and various States to prepare the model Bill for regulating the real estate sector. There are two-fold concerns, one from consumers who are sometime exploited and the other aspect is the real estate industry which is saying please help us get the clearances," the minister said.

A senior Ministry official said that the model Bill would focus on affordable housing and also address regulation and registration.

The minister said that a key focus area for the Ministry over the next 100 days would be formulation of Rajiv Awas Yojana for slum dwellers and the urban poor, with a view to promote a slum-free India in the next five years. The Government would extend support to States willing to assign property rights to people living in slums, said Selja.

Elaborating on the model legal framework for according property rights to slum dwellers, the minister said that this framework would draw on the best practices both within and outside the country and be circulated to States and UTs to enable them establish their own legal frameworks suiting local conditions.

Also, following the National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy 2007 and report of the High Level Task Force on affordable housing, the Ministry will now set up two committees. The first committee will work out the parameters for estimating the number of households under the categories of affordability (EWS, LIG, LMIG) and the other will focus on promotion of housing micro finance company, which could be permitted to take household saving as deposits.

The opening of the three new corridors will benefit more than 3 lakh commuters - primarily from densely populated east Delhi pockets such as Preet Vihar, Shakarpur, Laxmi Nagar and Mayur Vihar.

It will also ease the traffic on the perpetually congested Vikas Marg and the ITO and Nizamuddin bridges across the Yamuna.

Other beneficiaries will include the residents of industrial areas in outer Delhi as an extra 37.77 km will be added to the existing network of 80 km. Another 31 new Metro stations will also be opened.

YAMUNA BANK- NOIDA CORRIDOR
The much- awaited 13.1- km corridor will open by the end of August. Another 10 Metro stations have been added to the current Dwarka- Yamuna Bank line, stretching it through Mayur Vihar, deep into the sectors of Noida.

The line will cater to more than 60,000 people who commute daily between the Capital and Noida.

" The civil work is almost over.

We are giving the final touches to the stations," says Delhi Metro Rail Corporation ( DMRC) spokesman Anuj Dayal.

Source: Mail Today Metro all set to roll into NCR & Nangloi

• YAMUNA BANK- ANAND VIHAR CORRIDOR

• INDERLOK- MUNDKA CORRIDOR

Some six months after they fled the real estate sector, investors are gradually making their way back. This time around, high networth individuals (HNIs) and domestic funds are putting money mainly into office and retail spaces.

As the economic meltdown unfolded in late 2008, commercial realty became the worst hit segment in the sector and lease rental and property rates fell by 30-40% in the metros and the bigger cities. The lower prices, in turn, have triggered some big ticket sales in recent months.

In May, Unitech Ltd, India's second biggest listed developer, sold a 200,000 sq. ft office property in Saket, New Delhi, to an investor for Rs450 crore, nearly Rs200 crore cheaper than in 2007-08. Unitech didn't disclose the identity of the buyer.

Big catch: The DLF tower in Gurgaon. The cash-strapped realty firm sold its 66% stake in a private mill property in central Mumbai to an undisclosed Chennai-based investor for Rs310 crore in May

In April, three investors from Kolkata bought 50,000 sq. ft of an office property near Bangalore's Outer Ring Road for Rs35 crore, about 20% lower than the asking price till mid-2008, said a property consultant who brokered the deal. He didn't want to name anyone involved in the deal. The developer had earlier leased the property to companies.

"Many HNIs and funds are now returning, looking at only commercial properties...to take advantage of the falling rates. The returns for such properties are as high as 12-13% compared to 3-4% in residential projects," said Farook Mahmood, chairman of Bangalore-based advisory Silverline Group Inc.

For example, a Hyderabad investor with Rs300 crore is scouting for commercial properties in Bangalore, said Mahmood, without elaborating.
There is huge demand from HNIs for buying office properties, said a Unitech spokesman. "We are in contact with a group of HNIs with a portfolio of Rs1,000 crore each, who are looking at lucrative deals," he said.

Unitech, also cash-starved, has been selling office properties and hotels the past two quarters in and around New Delhi and Mumbai. Domestic property-focused funds, which earlier targeted residential projects, too, are looking at commercial properties now. Red Fort Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd, for example, has invested Rs400 crore in three commercial properties in New Delhi and Mumbai and is looking for more.

Source: Live Mint Big-Ticket : Office, Retail Space Is Hot Property For High Networth Individuals (HNIs)

The lands under the scheme are located at 41 km from Greater Noida near Javer town. It will be beneficial to industries like IT, biotech, sports, entertainment and service. The scheme includes plot sizes ranging from 25 to 250 acres. Keeping in mind the global recession, the terms and conditions have been kept very flexible. Conditions with regard to the applicants, payment plan, tax and interest have been relaxed this time.

According to sources, sites have been selected for setting up Yamuna- I race track and residential areas by the side of Yamuna Expressway. The additional CEO of the Yamuna Authority Y.K. Behl said decision about the size and number of plots would be taken soon. The rate of the plots has been fixed at Rs 1,650 per sq mt.

The Yamuma Expressway Authority had earlier floated schemes like mini- SDZ, micro-SDZ and SDZ, but they had to be rolled back as they failed to evoke resonable response.

Announcing a 100-day plan of action for her ministry, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation(HUPA) Minister Kumari Selja on Wednesday said the government would develop a model legal framework for consideration by states and union territories for according property rights to slum dwellers and urban poor in the country, adding that "Rajiv Awas Yojana" envisaged a slum-free India in five years.

Selja said property rights meant an access to housing, adding that the scheme would focus on according rights to those living in slums and states would provide basic amenities such as water supply, sewerage, drainage, internal and approach roads, street lighting and social infrastructure facilities.

"We are proposing that master plans have to include reservation of land to build houses for the poor and also for their economic activities like street vending," she added.

As per the plan, the property rights model will draw best practices both within and outside the country, which will be circulated to states to enable them to establish their own legal regulatory frameworks suiting local conditions.

The model legal framework for property rights proposes to include reservation of land for housing and informal sector activities by urban poor in city and zonal plans. It will cover provision of security of tenure and also making land available for affordable housing, basic amenities and informal sector activities though the process of urban planning. Admitting the past policy as faulty as it could not cater to the needs of poor people in urban areas, Selja said it had resulted in mushrooming of slums in cities. Master plans have led to exclusion of the poor from the city development process and driven them to precarious and illegal settlements, she said.

There are about 81 million urban poor or slum dwellers in the country as per the 2004-05 Census. HUPA also announced launching of a skill development programme for 10 lakh urban poor.

She said that earlier regimes had deliberately ignored setting up memorials of Dalit icons and instead built massive memorials for leaders of their own parties and communities. Ms Mayawati said that had the earlier governments given Dalit leaders their due and set up impressive memorials and statues befitting their stature, her government would not have gone ahead with their construction.

Job loss is one of the worst fallout of any economic slowdown. What began as a housing mortgage crisis in the US last year quickly sipralled into a global economic meltdown and from September 2008 companies across the world began downsizing their workforce to cut losses.

India too felt the tremors with close to 50,000 laid off in a span of two months, according to executive search firm Redileon Search Partners.

Sectors that have witnessed the axe include real estate and construction whic saw 79 per cent cut in its workforce. Job is export and trade, too, are down by 79 per cent while IT and hospitality sectors have witnessed a dip of 50 per cent. Banking and financial sector saw job cuts by 22 per cent.

But numbers alone don't explain the full story.

''One afternoon when I went to office… I was suddenly called by the editor and all of a sudden he said that you have to go,'' says Barid Baran, who worked as corporate communication manager.

Source: ibnlive.in.comIndian job market better off than western countries

Quoting Indian Association Of Amusement Parks & Industries (IAAPI) figures, Barbar told FC Estate the Indian amusement park industry is clocking a volume of about Rs 4,000 crore. The amusement and theme park industry in the country are estimated to be worth Rs 10,000 crore by 2020.

Known for its `Appu Ghar' project, IRPPL is at present concentrating on completing the various zones of `Worlds of Wonder' and positioning it as one of the biggest amusement parks in Asia and as a complete family entertainment centre. The company is also developing Delhi NCR's only one-stop shop for retail, fine dining, shopping and entertainment. IRPPL has also teamed up with Time Warner's Cartoon Network channel to conceptualise the children's zone of the park at Noida Entertainment City, Barbar said.

Worlds of Wonder will comprise four zones, namely Road Show, La Fiesta, Kids Zone and a water park based on the Calypso theme. Each zone has its own set of rides designed to suit the taste of a particular age group. At present, Road Show and La Fiesta are fully operational, he added.

"In the present scenario, one of the most lucrative formats is the concept of new age, world-class amusement parks-cum-malls. What we had till a few years ago were low-standard and low-cost amusement parks, but now the trend is more in favour of internationally-styled, world-class parks. And if malls accompany these parks, it also results in impulse buying. While there is an overall impact of the slowdown, integrated leisure destinations such as are least impacted," Barbar said.

Asked if a broader, seamless integration of residential, retail, entertainment and amusement is also possible in case of large housing complexes and satellite/mini townships, more so with Unitech being one of its co-promoters, Barbar said, "It is absolutely possible in terms of concept. However, in some cases, the residents of the township may like to live in a more secluded and calm place."

Leading developers like DLF, Parsvnath, Unitech, Tatas, Puravankara and Akruti are banking on the volumes this segment promises to generate.

The 11th Five-Year Plan estimate of a shortage of 24.7 million units in urban housing, mainly for economically weaker sections (EWS) and the lower income group (LIG) has added to their excitement and expectations.

But while everyone's talking of affordable housing, no one's sure what it exactly means and what's in store for it. What is affordable in Mumbai may not be affordable in a tier II city.
There is no official definition provided for it by either the government or a housing agency.

Says Crisil Research head Sudhir Nair, "We believe affordable housing is a dwelling unit that can be purchased by at least 60 per cent of the families within a city. Here, we also assume that the bottom 40 per cent (the low income category) would be unable to afford a house, whereas the top 20 per cent (the high income category) would have the funds to buy any house, anywhere in the city."

HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh's letter in the company's annual report says the real agenda for affordable housing has still not been brought to the table.

"Affordable housing is not about box-sized, budget homes in far-flung places where there is no connectivity to work places and little surrounding infrastructure. Affordable housing has to be able to cut across all income segments and has to make economic sense in terms of proximity to the work place. The agenda for affordable housing requires a combined public private collaboration and a strong political will to enforce change," Parekh adds.
There are also concerns that funds raised for affordable housing may not be utilised for the projects they are meant for.

Source: mydigitalfc.com House for Mr India

"Since March, we have seen movement in the market. Before that, the confidence and sentiments were very low in the real estate market for almost seven months due to global economic slowdown," Global property consultant CB Richard Ellis Chairman and Managing Director (South Asia) Anshuman Magazine said on the sidelines of a CII function.

Magazine said the people have started slowly coming back to the real estate market, mainly attracted by the incentives given by the developers in housing, lower interest rates and price correction.

He, however, said that situation would remain challenging in the real estate market this year and the market is expected to improve in 2010.

Source: The Indian Express Property market showing signs of recovery

The Corporation has in any case planned the 14.47-kilometre Gurgaon stretch along malls to ensure higher footfall for both the Metro line and the commercial outlets.

M-G Road station: What's special?

• Escalators on both sides of entry and exit points of foot overbridge

• 1,500 sq m parking space

• Viaduct on stretch made with different curvature to absorb sound waves and reduce noise pollution

• 14.47-km Qutub Minar to Gurgaon corridor slated to be commissioned by January 2010

• 90% civic work, 70% track -laying work complete

• Line will have 10 stations

• 1.6 lakh passengers per day expected on the line by 2011

• Delhi Metro plans to construct compatible foot overbridges for its other stations on phase-II lines, like on the Indraprastha-Noida corridor

• AIIMS station, which has two hospitals on either side of the road, might also get a foot overbridge

If this commuter circulation plan proves successful, officials said Delhi Metro will consider connecting more stations to such commercial and residential hubs.

Source: The Indian Express Metro to connect malls with stations in Gurgaon, Noida