Saturday 25 November 2017

Maharashtra to pay 5 times for agricultural & non-rural land

The decision would help in acquisition of land for big ticket infra projects like the Rs 46,000-crore Mumbai-Nagpur super expressway and other projects in the state



MUMBAI: In a decision that is likely to speed up acquisition of land for infrastructure projects in Maharashtra, the state government has cleared a move that would see agricultural land and land in no-development zones (NDZs) in non-rural areas fetch five times the market value.

The file was cleared by chief minister Devendra Fadnavissome days ago. The decision would help in acquisition of land for big ticket infrastructure projects such as the Rs 46,000-crore Mumbai-Nagpur super expressway and other projects in the state.

Government officials said the file suggesting a hike in compensation was put up by Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation as people in non-rural areas were demanding the same amount of compensation (five times) that the state currently gives for acquiring land in rural areas.



However, in places such as Nagpur and metropolitan region Kalyan and other areas which have a development plan but are not under any municipal limit, the current compensation for land is only 3.75 times of the ready reckoner rate or rate of the last purchase, whichever is higher.

“This led to a difficulty in acquiring land for projects such as the Nagpur-Mumbai expressway as those who owned the land asked why the government was paying them less than what people in rural areas get. We studied the demand and found that it made sense and hence we have decided to implement it,” said a government official.

The state government gives a compensation five times of the land value to those who willingly (negotiated purchase) hand over their land to the state.

However, the increased compensation will not be applicable for land within municipal council and municipal corporation limits. “This will not be applicable here, as the ready reckoner rate in municipal limits is already very high,” said the official.

Officials hope that the new move by the state government would give a fresh impetus to land acquisition for the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway project.

The state wants to acquire 10,000 hectares of land for the project but has struggled to secure consent of landowners on the route. It wanted to start construction on the route by December. However, it has now pushed the deadline to January 2018 as land acquisition is still not complete.





Tuesday 21 November 2017

RERA helps Haryana mop up Rs 1,170 crore as EDC from realtors

HRERA cannot directly claim EDC but it is issuing letters to developers through the department of town and country, saying registrations won’t happen unless EDC dues were cleared.



GURUGRAM: The interim Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (H-Rera) has recovered Rs 1,170 crore in external development charges(EDC) from developers across the state in just three months, from August to October this year.


According to officials, the amount has been recovered from developers who had not paid the mandatory EDC for their real estate projects in the state but had to do so to get their new projects registered under the new real estate law.


HRERA cannot directly claim EDC but it is issuing letters to developers through the department of town and country, saying registrations won’t happen unless EDC dues were cleared.


Dilbagh Singh Sihag, executive director of the interim H-Rera, said the EDC collection was a major achievement for the newly formed body and might cross the Rs 2,000 crore-mark as more registrations happen under the new law. He, however, did not specify the number of developers from whom the charges have been recovered.


EDC is collected by the government for infrastructure development.


The interim H-Rera was instituted in July and the state government has promised to appoint the permanent body by the end of the year. “Even though the permanent H-Rera is under formation, we have been working full time and issuing notices to all erring developers over EDC and for not registering their projects under H-Rera or advertising projects without registration under the act,” Sihag said, adding the H-Rera website would be ready in another two months.


Sources from the industry confirmed the government had been issuing letters repeatedly to developers, asking them to pay EDC. State finance minister Capt Abhimanyu Singh had said at an event earlier this year that developers owed the government Rs 17,000 crore in EDC, in Gurgaon and Faridabad alone. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on a recent visit to Pataudi had also asked developers to clear their dues.


Opposition leader Abhay Singh Chautala had recently written to Khattar, asking him to not appoint retired bureaucrats who were connected to “controversial” land deals in the state in HRera. Following this, a retired Haryana Civil Services officer had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court, alleging that the appointment criteria was tailormade to suit a few officers. All this has delayed the setting up of the permanent HRera and it remains to be seen if it gets done by the end of this year.


Realtors owe the state government Rs 18,563 crore in the form of EDC. Of this, the realization of Rs 4,322 crore is under doubt because of legal challenges.





Saturday 11 November 2017

Over 1000 new FPIs registered with SEBI



Over 1,000 fresh foreign investors were registered with Sebi in April-September 2017-18, primarily due to their continued interest in the Indian capital markets, latest data from the regulator showed.

This comes on top of close to 3,500 new foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) registering with Sebi in the past financial year.

According to Sebi data, the number of FPIs with the regulators approval increased to 8,826 at the end of September 2017, from 7,807 at March-end, resulting in an addition of 1,019.

“The reason for increasing FPI registrations is continued interest in the Indian equity, bonds and real estate,” said Arvind Chari, head, fixed income and alternatives, Quantum Advisors.

“Besides, the end of the earlier FII/sub-accounts regime, which ended in September 2016, necessitated all such entries to register as FPI,” he added.

Further, market experts are of the view that several measures taken by the Sebi added to Indias attractiveness.

Also, foreign investors have pumped in more than Rs 95,500 crore into the Indian capital markets – equity and debt – during the period under review.

In June, the board of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) decided to ease the entry norms for overseas investors by permitting direct access to FPIs from eligible jurisdictions.

Recently, Sebi raised FPIs investment limit for government debt, permitted them to invest in unlisted corporate debt as well as securitised debt instruments and allowed direct entry to well-regulated foreign investors to invest in corporate bonds.

In a big revamp, Sebi in 2014 released norms that clubbed different categories of foreign investors into a new class called FPIs. They have been divided into three categories as per their risk profile and KYC (know your customer) requirements while other registration procedures have been made simpler.



Tuesday 7 November 2017

North Mumbai to be the next place for realty growth



Owing to massive infrastructure push by the state government towards easing commuting in western and eastern corridors of the megapolis, northern region will continue to be at the epicentre of real estate activities in future.


“North Mumbai has been very active on real estate and infrastructure front off late. Connectivity with this region has improved substantially due to the various projects undertaken by the government,” Jone Lang LaSalle Head Research and REIS Ashutosh Limaye said.


The north Mumbai region spans from Bandra to Dahisar, from Kurla (Chunabhatti) to Mulund and from Kurla up to Trombay Creek.


According to JLL, north Mumbai has about 15 million sqft (square feet) of Grade A office space and more companies are choosing to move to this area.


“North Mumbai is unlocking its potential to new scale and will continue to be at the epicentre of the real estate and infrastructure activities in future as well,” he said.


According to JP Infra Chief Operating Officer Ajay Nair, the infrastructure projects undertaken in this region will result in increased residential and high quality social infrastructure developments in all the new micro markets here.


Coastal road, Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, Mulund Goregaon link road, Colaba-Seepz, Dahisar to DN Nagar and Dahisar east to Andheri metro corridors and elevated roads are some of the major projects the government has undertaken to improve the east-west connectivity.


“Infra push has resulted in real estate boom in northern Mumbai offering amenitised products even in lower ticket bracket from branded developers for work-life balance and luxury living,” Omkar Realtors Director Devang Varma said.


Ravi Group Director Gaurav Shah said that from the perspective of investment in residential in south Mumbai is very capital intensive and therefore the northern region is becoming as a preferred investment destination.


He further said, south Mumbai is continuing to face a space crunch and non-availability of smaller tickets size apartments and, therefore, the micro markets like Goregaon, Malad, Kandivali, Mira Road, Powai, Vikhroli, BKC East, Ghatkopar and others are witnessing an emergence of budget homes offered by varied developers like JP Infra, Sai Developers, Lodha Builders, Ravi Group of Companies with options ranging from 1, 1.5 and 2 BHK apartments in the price bracket of Rs 40-70 lakh.