Tatas, Birlas eye land at Kansal village

Close to Chandigarh and having a hilly background, Kansal village has become a hot investment option. Big-time real-estate companies are wooing people with land holdings to consolidate and sell the contiguous land. Tata Housing Development Company and the Yash Birla group are evincing keen interest to float their housing projects here, say sources.

The Tatas, who have housing projects in Goa, Chennai, Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai, are now looking up north for their housing project. Talks are on and in final stages of negotiations for acquiring land at Kansal. "The company in the business of premium residential complexes, townships, holiday homes, commercial, technology parks, shopping malls and hotels plans to build both residential and commercial project. The minimum area required for the projects would start at five acre."

Local property dealers confirm that the company is in the final stage of negotiations for acquiring land in the periphery of Chandigarh, which is approximately 70 acres for its housing project. With a lack of contiguous chunk of land in the periphery, the real-estate majors are now consolidating co-operative housing societies in the village to make the realty dream come true.

Among the co-operative societies are one of 120 Punjab MLAs with 23 acres, an ex-defence officers’ society with approximate 25 acres and the rest from another housing society registered in the name of the university teachers. While most members want to cash in on the returns, the agents of these companies are still finding it tough to convince the others. Strategically located, the project is likely to come up adjacent to Chandigarh on the Kaimbwala-Saketri road.

According to sources, to acquire this land the members are being offered Rs 70 lakh each along with an apartment in the project to come up. "Seems an interesting option. We bought the land way back in 1992 for a mere Rs 3 lakh. The last that I heard of such a proposal was sometime back when the Ansals were interested," says Col Ajay posted at Pune. But ironically, a lot of members are yet not aware of any such deal. The Yash Birla Group Infrastructure Company is going to come with only residential project in Ambala, Mohali and Chandigarh, say company sources. "The residential project will be spread over minimum 25 acre of land and the townships over 100 acres," they add.

Source: //indiatimes.com

Administration promises ‘balanced policy’

PROMISING a “balanced policy’’ for the mutual interests of the tenants and the landlords in the city, the Chandigarh Administration today said they would look for an amicable solution for the two parties after the Rent Act notification issued by the Administration was quashed by the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The Administration, which is forced to do a rethinking on the issue of rent of commercial tenants in the city, however, said the final decision would only be taken “after receiving the copy of the Supreme Court judgement.”

Sources said the Administration may seek legal opinion on the matter before deciding on the future course of action.
While the tenants continue celebrations over the new decision, the landlords said the tenants are not victimised at all and have demanded a review of the policy.
“I have eight buildings on rent in the city and in one of the buildings, which is in fact rented to the state government, the rent, fixed several years ago, continues to be Rs 18,000. Compare it with the rates today! The rent from the same building would not be less than Rs 4 lakh. What is my fault? I am loosing so much money,” rued MPS Chawla, of Industrial Area, Phase II.
The landlords added that around 40 per cent of the landlords in the city are still continuing with the old rent, letting go of the current market rent, especially after the boom in real estate chandigarh.
“With quashing of the notification, all the litigations by the landlords too have met a dead-end,” added another property owner.

Source: //expressindia.com

A billion-dollar dream come true

AT 21, he was probably Canada’s youngest Indian-Canadian millionaire. At 41, he is close to becoming Canada’s first Sikh billionaire.
"Yes, I will be Canada’s first Sikh billionaire," laughs this self-made man, sitting in his suite at Four Seasons’ Hotel in Toronto.
What is his business philosophy? "We specialise in ownership of apartment buildings. We buy rundown, badly managed buildings, improve their interior and exterior, introduce advanced systems to bring down operating costs and then rent them out at higher rates. We are consolidating the mid-market apartments. Our business may not make sense from the Indian perspective where you can never throw out a tenant. Here it is a free market and we can throw out the tenant any day."

Ten years ago, Dhillon bought a 2,300-acre island in Belize (Central America). "I am developing it into a world-class tourist resort, with hotels, golf clubs, casinos, condominiums, high-end houses and other facilities. Among my neighbours are Madonna, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The island has pristine beaches and the world’s second biggest barrier reef. For my work, Belize Prime Minister Said Mussa appointed me their honorary consul-general in Canada seven years ago," says Dhillon, who was also honoured as the Businessman of the Year in 2004 by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce.

The booming India, he says, is on his radar. "My younger brother has successfully launched a venture capitalist fund in Mumbai and I am planning an Indian real estate fund to develop colonies in India. I am always tuned in to India as I have a lot of relatives in Chandigarh and Patiala. My parents spend their winters in Chandigarh. Kewal Dhillon, vice-president of the Punjab unit of the Congress, is my cousin. I am attached to my Sikh faith, and I have a special spiritual connection with Sai Baba. I also read Osho a lot."

The multi-millionaire Sikh ends on a warning note. "India should be quick to tap its NRI diaspora as China has done, financially, and intellectually. Look at Wall Street...it has 25 per cent Indian kids...India has a huge potential. Again, the euphoria of boom is fine, but I am worried about the 50 per cent population of India which is below 25. Unless you streamline your policies, you may have a revolution on your hands. Because these guys have grown up watching MTV as the Coca Cola Generation, and they will make demands on the system. And where are the jobs for them?"
Is anybody listening?

Source :// tribuneindia.com

Developing story

Though the Parsvnath Developers IPO is aggressively priced, it could bring listing gains and can also be a rewarding long-term story.

As the speedy pace of new construction continues in towns and cities across the country, real estate stocks are attracting a lot of investor interest.

Improved living standards and rising consumerism of middle classes is driving demand for housing projects as well as commercial complexes like shopping malls and multiplexes.

The demand for office space, especially for the IT and the BPO industries, is growing at a fast clip. And with mega real estate projects and high property prices, real estate players are sure to see good times.

One such company is Parsvnath Developers, which has operations across 41 cities and 14 states of India, and has built nine housing projects and eight commercial complexes. With huge demand for real estate as well as real estate stocks, Parsvnath Developers is tapping the capital market to fund its future construction plans.

Source : //business-standard.com