Jaayadaad plans 600 retail shops at home, abroad

Real estate marketing company Jayadaad.com has plans to redefine realty in the country. It will spend Rs 120 crore over the next two years on a chain of 600 retail outlets across the country and overseas. The company plans to launch 20 such outlets in Punjab and Chandigarh as part of its focus on northern India.

Jayadaad.com has already identified 20 franchisees for this in the region. By June, the company plans to open outlets in Mohali, Panchkula and Chandigarh. Tie-up talks are at an advanced stage for retail outlets in Gurgaon, Hisar and Faridabad, too, according to company spokesman.

He said the company had already spent Rs 30 crore on retail expansion and that, another Rs 90 crore would be invested over the next two-years. "At present, we are the sole marketers of the Nitishree and Hansmukhi projects in Punjab and we are about to launch other projects worth Rs 2,000 crore from Jalandhar and nearby areas. We are targeting at least Rs 5,000 crore worth of projects from this state in the near future," he added.

One of the pioneers of franchising and branding in Indian realty, the company aims to have pan-Indian presence in the real sense of the term. "In the next two years, every district in India would have a company's outlet and our endeavor is to be present in 28 overseas destinations that have the NRI diaspora," the spokesman said."The company is sure to achieve a target of property deals worth Rs 1,200 crore in the first six-months of the current financial year," he said. The company has established an elaborate network of 50,000 dealers and 3,000 realty advisers across the country.

Resource://financialexpress.com

Factors like infrastructure, cost of living & operating costs attract firms

Kochi, Chandigarh and Nagpur have emerged as the top three IT/ITES commercial real estate destinations among Tier III cities in India, says a recently released report by property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle.

While Chandigarh Properties has seen Dell and Infosys set up offices there, Nagpur is today home to Persistent Systems, Lambent Tech and Infospectrum.

Kochi leads the race with companies like OPI, TCS, Wipro, NEST, IBS and US Software having set up base in the commercial capital of Kerala.

Says Abhishek Kiran Gupta, senior manager, research, Jones Lang LaSalle and the author of the report, “Some of these cities such as Kochi and Nagpur have a number of colleges and institutions imparting professional education and with the overall high literacy rates, Kochi (94%) and Nagpur (88%) may provide larger english-speaking talent pool suitable for the IT/ITES businesses.”

Some of the other IT/ITES companies who have set shop in Tier III cities include Patni Computers Systems (Ahmedabad), CSC (Indore), Genpact (Jaipur), HSBC (Vizag), Cognizant Tech (Coimbatore), TCS and Tata Tech (Lucknow) and Infosys and Wipro (Mysore).

Other factors that may be considered to evaluate cities for business location attractiveness include infrastructure support, governance, cost of living, quality of life and operating costs. Some of these cities such as Kochi, Ahmedabad and Jaipur, by virtue of historically being regional commercial hubs and possessing relatively mature real estate markets, entail higher real estate costs compared with the cities of Chandigarh and Nagpur.”The cost of skilled IT/ITES manpower is relatively higher in Kochi and Nagpur compared with other Tier II locations though availability could depend upon the type of skill sets required by respective businesses,” says Gupta.

Further, the report also says that the services sector is the largest and the fastest growing sector in India today.

“India and its real state sector have been on a high growth curve since the beginning of this decade. The average growth in real GDP over the last six years has been 7.1% and as per government estimates, is expected to grow stronger to 9.2% in 2007,” it said.

The services sector maintained its growth momentum and expanded in real value terms by 10.3% over the last year, contributing to more than 60% of the 2006 GDP composition, the report added.

The advantage that Tier III cities have is cost arbitrage, opportunities for off-shoring facilities, although profiles vary across locations. IT/ITES giants like Wipro, Satyam, Infosys, IBM, Microsoft and Genpact have already established their presence in many Tier III cities across India.

Other cities such as Mysore, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Visha-khapatnam, Indore and Baroda are also on the radar of IT/ITES, creating a wide array of choices for entry or expansion location within India.

Source://financialexpress.com

No stamp duty for legal heirs in Punjab

The Punjab government Friday waived off the stamp duty on the transfer of urban properties to legal heirs provided the transfer deed is done during the lifetime of the owner.

Revenue and Rehabilitation Minister Ajit Singh Kohar said that the step will help curb rising number of property disputes.

People earlier had to pay the stamp duty of six percent even while transferring property in the name of legal heirs during their lifetime.

Kohar said revenue officers were being directed to fully satisfy themselves regarding the genuineness of transfers eligible for the waiver.

Source://newkerala.com

Punjab to become most preferred destination in three years

If all goes well Punjab would become most preferred tourist destination in India in the next three years. This dream has been cherished by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

In the first phase, Punjab Government has decided to develop Ropar, Ludhiana and Kapurthala as 'leisure tourism' centres, thereby making optimal use of panoramic beauty on the adjoining banks of river Satluj and Beas passing through these districts.

Badal Tuesday spent most of his time in the office discussing future tourism plans with senior officers. Interestingly, his predecessor Captain Amarinder Singh had also promised to make Punjab tourist destination but his government ended selling properties of Punjab Tourism Development Corporation(PTDC). The state capital Chandigarh in the meantime has made a mark in promoting tourism as well the neighbouring Haryana which is successful model of tourism promotion.

Badal after meeting with the officials said that Punjab would be developed as the most preferred tourist destination within the next three years as the state has tremendous untapped tourist potential. He asked the Secretary Tourism to prepare a master plan to develop tourism across these river sites and also explore the possibility to develop Ranjit Sagar dam as a tourist spot.

The Chief Minister also discussed the ways and means to promote water sports of rowing, tubes & towables and boating on these sites. Badal said that the sole objective to promote tourism in the state was to contribute to the economy of the state by not only creating enough employment potential for the natives but also help the tourist to get a feel about the culture and history of Punjab and get more closer to that culture.

Badal was informed that the department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs was all set to develop pilgrimage circuit at an estimated cost of Rs.9.20 crore of which GoI share was Rs.8 crore and state's share was Rs.1.20 crore. It would cover Anandpur Sahib, Kirtapur Sahib, Chamkaur Sahib, Fatehgarh Sahib, Talwandi Sabo, Muktsar, Sultanpur Lodhi, Goindwal, Khadoor Sahib, Baba Bakala, Sri Hargobindpur, Dera Baba Nanak, Batala, Amritsar, Rauza Sharif (Fatehgarh Sahib), Devi Talab (Jalabndhar) Batal Church (19 th century) in Gurdaspur district. Likewise, Freedom Trail depicting the country's freedom struggle including Nabha, Jaito, Malerkotla, Khatkar Kalan, Feorzepur, Aliwal, Ferozeshah, Misriwala, Mudki, Sabraon and Faridkot town had been envisaged at an total outlay of Rs.9.04 crore of which Rs.7.84 and Rs.1.20 crore was GoI and state share respectively.

The Chief Minister assured the department of Tourism that there would be no constraint of funds for the promotion of tourism and said that he was in constant touch with Centre for seeking early clearance for the expansion of International Airport Amritsar to further boost the potential of tourism in the state. He appreciated the destination plans of Amritsar, Wagah, Patiala, Kapurthala and Ropar under heritage tourism being developed by the department in a phased manner. The Chief Minister also asked the department to expeditiously implement the prestigious projects of Amritsar Convention Center, Hotel Institute at Mohali and the launch of luxury train on the pattern of 'Place-on-Wheels' in Rajasthan in partnership of Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd. (IRCTC).

Talking part in the deliberations, Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabrian said that the state tourism department has chalked out a detailed programme to promote rural tourism and identified village Chat in district Patiala, Chamkaur Sahib in district Ropar, Jayanti Majri in district Mohali and Boothgarh in district Hoshiarpur besides a multi-dimensional complex at village Andhretta (Kurali) in collaboration with Rural Development department.

Source://punjabnewsline.com