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)

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

Leader of the Opposition V. K. Malhotra expressed concern saying some students were worried that DCE, which so far came under Delhi University, would lose its status now by moving out of the purview of a Central university and come under a State university. He also wondered if the new university would be a deemed university. Ms. Dikshit said Delhi Technological University would be a full university. "Also DCE despite being one of the best four colleges could not grow under Delhi University but now the path has been paved for its expansion as the intake of students would also go up in the new campus," she added.

"The National Knowledge Commission in its recommendations to the nation, which we in Delhi have taken up for implementation in our blueprint for action, has emphasised for synergy between education and research. This calls for revitalisation of our technical education institutions. Keeping this in view, it has been decided to upgrade Delhi College of Engineering into a State University under the name of Delhi Technological University."

The House was also informed that new courses would be offered from this academic year 2009-10 starting in August, adding 458 new seats -- 240 new seats in the B.Tech. programme, 168 new post-graduate seats in the M.Tech. programmes and 50 new Ph.D. and teaching-cum-research fellowships.

About the progress of regularisation, the meeting was informed that the Archaeological Survey of India had cleared 1,577 colonies while the Forest Department had cleared 1,334. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi had received information about 50 per cent built-up status in respect of 511 colonies and it had also assured that the final report would be submitted in the next three months.

At the start of the meeting, which was also attended by Urban Development Minister A. K. Walia, the Principal Secretary of the Department gave an account of ongoing development works in unauthorised colonies which are likely to be regularised soon. He presented a status report stating that 1,218 of 1,639 unauthorised colonies were issued provisional regularisation certificates and an amount of Rs.2,800 crore had been kept aside in the 11th Five Year Plan for undertaking development works in unauthorised colonies.

It also stated that Rs.1,977 crore had been released since 1998-99 to various agencies for these development works. While work concerned with water supply pipelines had been completed in 490 colonies, water supply had been released in 373 colonies. Besides, such work was in progress in 107 colonies and the proposal was in the tendering stage in another 131 colonies and in estimates stage in 231 colonies.

As for sewer lines, it was mentioned that they had been laid in 26 colonies, work was in progress in 45 colonies, proposal was in the tendering stage in 14 colonies, in estimates stage in 20 colonies and study in respect of technical feasibility had been completed in 203 colonies.

As for power supply, the meeting was informed that the Capital's private distribution companies had already provided electricity in 1,384 unauthorised colonies.

The MLAs presented various suggestions pertaining to provision of outflow of water, laying of water and sewer lines, formulation of a policy on road-cutting, increasing the number of employees for sanitation purpose, identification of plots for schools, and setting up of dispensaries and community centres in unauthorised colonies.

They also demanded re-organisation of divisions and sub-divisions of development agencies in keeping with the new delimitation of Delhi Assembly segments.

There is a hint of a cautious move to deregulate fuel prices in the government's decision to hike retail prices of autofuels now. Also interesting is the timing of the move, on two counts. The West Bengal civic elections are over, and so crucial coalition partner Mamata Banerjee's opposition to such a move will be muted. More significantly, the hike in autofuel prices on the eve of the Budget paves the way for the government to perform two kinds of fiscal reforms. One, to include fuel subsidies in budgetary accounting, instead of fudging the figures by counting oil bonds meant to finance fuel subsidies as off-budget items. Two, to keep the now expanded fiscal deficit down by reducing the amount of subsidy on retail fuels.

The last time autofuel prices were increased was on June 4, 2008, which was followed by two quick rounds of price reduction in December 2008 and January 2009, well before the general elections were announced, as global crude prices came down sharply. As a result, petrol got cheaper by Rs 10 a litre and diesel Rs 4 a litre.

The government is also considering to compensate state-owned oil marketing companies--IOC, BPCL and HPCL--through budgetary provisions. This will be a departure from the current ad-hoc practice of compensating them through oil bonds.

Fuel prices were increased after consulting UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, oil minister Murli Deora said at a press conference.

Source: Economic Times Petrol costlier by Rs 4, diesel Rs 2, LPG spared

R P Mullick, president, FoS, said, ``Since it's raining and the weather is much better now, we have decided to resume classes IX to XII from Thursday. All the 300 schools under FoS will open early now.'' Schools like DPS, Amity International, Ryan International, Springdales will still reopen on July 8.

Vinay Kumar, principal, DPS Vasant Kunj, said that changing the dates now will create confusion. ``We will open again on July 8 only. There is no point changing the dates now. We will go with the government order,'' said Kumar.

Bharti Sharma, principal, Amity International, Saket, agreed. She said, ``Weather is such an unpredictable thing. Once we delayed the reopening, many parents might also have changed their vacation schedules. Now calling the students before July 8 will also upset their plans.'' She added, ``It was just a matter of three extra holidays for us. That can be adjusted.''

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

"The government is already on the right track. It is planning to increase the income-tax exemption limit available for interest payment on home loans to Rs 2.5 lakh a year. However, there are still a number of issues to be sorted out," says Anuj Puri, chairman & country head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj.

Santosh Kumar Rungta, president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai) says, "The real estate sector alone can contribute 1-1.5 per cent to the GDP if the government makes efforts to solve urban housing problem while moving towards a slum-free urban India. We are seeking fiscal incentives to encourage `affordable mass housing' with unit sizes ranging between 300 sq ft and 1,000 sq ft."

The industry realizes that the government will have to face a daunting task in coming out with a balanced budget. "We understand that the finance minister's task to balance between industry requirements and widening fiscal deficit will be challenging and trust that the decision would be taken after careful consideration of many aspects. However, we hope that levy of fresh taxes, which could adversely impact the sector, would be avoided. Chances of service tax being increased to 12 per cent, cenvat rate being reversed to 10 per cent and excise duty on steel and cement being brought back to 12 per cent, are high," says Sachin Sandhir, director and country head of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveryors (RICS) India, an organisation of property and construction professionals.

Affordable housing-related sops and tax holidays for those involved in the sector are on top of the agenda. Other demands include further relaxation of ECB and FDI norms, rationalisation of stamp duty and registration charges, confirmation on abolition of service tax on renting immovable property, already announced by the high court, clarity on extension of tax waiver for STPI units and extension of tax holiday under section 80-IA (4) (iii) for developers who build industrial parks, which in turn would boost the recession-hit IT industry
"By considering the hiking of income-tax exemption for interest payment on housing loans, the government has hit the nail. Grant of infrastructure status would bring relief to the hospitality industry and boost upcoming hotel projects in the country. The budget should take a decision on FDI in retail. We hope that VAT on cement/RMC would be reduced to 4 per cent, says Mahesh Iyer, chief financial officer of Mumbai-based Phoenix Mills.

Source: mydigitalfc.com Betting big on affordable housing sops

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

The MCD as of now has data of 9.46 lakh taxpayers but it estimates that the total number of property owners in the city are three times that figure. "The Delhi Jal Board has details of 14 lakh property owners to whom it supplies water but our understanding is there are 27 lakh property owners in Delhi," Rakesh Rajora, member of the MCD's high-powered committee on property tax and councillor from Vasant Kunj, said.

After the Survey of India assured the Corporation that its data will be made available from this month, the MCD is now planning a massive amnesty scheme to encourage defaulters to pay up. The amnesty scheme, to be discussed in the MCD Standing Committee on Thursday, will be implemented with retrospective effect from April 1, 2004 the time the unit area method was started.

Source: The Indian Express MCD plans amnesty to net property tax evaders

"We will develop a model legal framework for consideration by states and Union Territories for according property rights to slum dwellers," said Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja in New Delhi on Wednesday while announcing 100-day plan of action for the ministry.

There are about 81 million urban poor or slum dwellers in the country as per the 2004-05 census.

Spelling out her action plan she said, "Ministry will formulate 'Rajiv Awas Yojana' for slum dwellers and the urban poor in an effort to promote a slum-free India in five years.

Clarifying that the property rights means access to housing by the slum dwellers, she said the scheme will 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.

Source: The Indian Express Property rights for slum dwellers proposed: Selja

Reacting to the latest changes in ECB policy, real estate major Unitech said that while the move was "positive", it would not make a big difference in the short-term.

"There would be no immediate benefit due to the global financial market conditions. However, this offers an additional avenue for SEZ developers to get funding requirement at a lower cost", a senior Unitech offical said. Currently, Unitech has five IT-SEZs in the country.

The Government on Tuesday modified its external commercial borrowing (ECB) policy to allow SEZ developers to avail ECBs for providing infrastructure facilities within the SEZ.

The SEZ developers can avail themselves of ECBs only under the approval route, according to a Finance Ministry release. However, ECBs will not be permissible for development of integrated township and commercial real estate within the Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

Meanwhile, the country's largest real estate company, DLF's Group Executive Director, Mr Rajiv Talwar, pointed out that while money was available overseas, the current viability of new SEZ projects was itself is under question due to the slowdown seen in exports. Currently, DLF has five SEZs that are fully operational while it had recently got Government approval for de-notification of five other SEZs..

Hitherto, ECB was not permissible for the development of the SEZs. Only the units in the SEZs were permitted to access ECBs and that too for their own requirements.

As part of the review of the ECB policy, the Finance Ministry has also decided to continue the existing policy of permitting development of integrated township as a permissible end use, under the approval route, until December 2009.

Under the existing ECB policy, utilisation of ECB proceeds for the real estate is not permitted. However, as a sector-specific measure, the use of ECB proceeds for the development of integrated township had been permitted in January 2009 and the policy was due for review in June 2009.

The Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZs (EPCES) Director General, Mr L.B. Singhal, termed the Centre's move as a "good step forward", pointing out that SEZ developers can now access ECB funding for infrastructure facilities in a SEZ.

"SEZs by nature are infrastructure projects. One of the stated objective of the SEZ Act is to create infrastructure. In the first place, the ECB window should not have been withdrawn for SEZs", Mr Singhal told Business Line.

Mr Singhal also said that RBI, along with the guidelines on the latest ECB policy changes, should issue directions to the effect that the terms and conditions for lending by commercial banks to SEZs should be the same as those specified for infrastructure financing.

Real estate in India is the second largest employer next only to agriculture and its size is close to $12 billion, growing at 30 per cent per annum. Growth in the sector has a direct impact on its ancillary industries of steel, cement, etc. In the backdrop of its importance to the growth of the Indian economy, it is vital for the government to nudge growth in the sector to newer heights through fiscal stimulus which would also help make affordable housing a reality and within the reach of the proverbial "aam aadmi".

As a first step, the government should accord "infrastructure status" to the housing sector and appoint a regulator to act as a single window for overseeing and monitoring the affordable housing agenda. After being hit by the global financial meltdown, real estate developers have now recognized the growing demand for affordable housing. To provide further impetus to this direction of development, the government should consider reinstatement of the tax holiday benefits under section 80IB-(10) for affordable housing projects.

A rise in the limit of interest on housing loans from the existing Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh and a corresponding increase in the tax deduction limit for the principal loan amount would further go a long way to enhance the common man's appetite for home loans by lowering their tax outflows and hence, making their dream home a reality.

Large-scale developments such as SEZs and industrial parks are the answer to India's next round of industrial growth. The existing law provides unequal tax structures for SEZs and industrial parks. Despite the latter being granted "infrastructure status", restrictive and stringent application of tax incentives coupled with delays in timely clearance of applications has seen far and few takers for development of industrial parks. The Budget should provide tax incentives similar to SEZs should to industrial parks. Given that such large developments are a key factor to growth of India's industrial/commercial sector, there is definitely a case for extending the tax holiday benefits for industrial parks which expired in March 2009, to March 2015 and relaxing the tax holiday provisions.

In the current economic slowdown, Real Estate Mutual Funds (REMFs) could provide the necessary financial support to the cash starved housing sector. However, since its introduction a year back, REMFs have not found any takers due to unclear regulations and absence of guidelines for their tax treatment. Recognizing the need for REMFs as an important capital contributor for the sector, the government should consider aligning the regulations to global best practices, including providing a tax pass through status for registered REMFs.

Separately, outdated and draconian provisions such as Section 50C should be repealed as they result in an unfair basis for taxation. In today's times, where real estate transactions are governed by market dynamics, applying a notional basis for taxation causes undue hardship to the taxpayer. Section 50C deems the transfer value adopted for stamp duty purposes (i.e. the circle rate) as the consideration for transfer of a capital asset being land or building, where such value is higher than the actual sales consideration. The irony is that these values fixed more than 5 years back have not been brought down even when prices in the real estate market have fallen.

On the indirect tax front, in light of recent clarification issued by tax authorities, credit of service tax paid on construction activities is not available as the output in such case is an immovable property, which is neither `service' nor `goods'. This clearly results in input cost burden on developers due to denial of credit of service tax paid on construction activities against output service tax liability. The aforesaid clarification is against the scheme of the CENVAT credit law as the definition of `input service' specifically includes services in relation to setting up, modernization, renovation etc. Accordingly, in order to reduce costs, it should be clarified that credit of service tax paid on construction services would be admissible against output service tax liability of the developer.

In the backdrop of the wish-list provided above, it would be a tough balancing act for the Finance Minister but given his background as a seasoned politician and his experience in the North Block, the real estate industry is looking forward to his guidance in the forthcoming budget to steer clear of the current crisis.

The housing sector, the largest revenue contributor by far for real estate developers in India, has been hit by slumping sales and falling unit prices as the country's growth began to slow amidst the credit crunch.

"The distress is more locally generated and more to do with property prices," Raja Kaushal, executive director and chief operating officer of BNP Paribas Real Estate India.

Duplicate service taxes need to be brought down for developers, while transaction costs need to come down for home buyers, he said.

Real estate companies such as India's largest listed real estate developer DLF Ltd (DLF.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), Tata Housing, Puravankara Projects (PPRO.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Unitech (UNTE.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) have rushed to launch middle or low-income housing projects to drive cash flows amidst the liquidity crunch.

The government needs to initiate public-private partnership in low income housing by providing land banks, available with the government, to the developers, Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry said in a note.

It also wants the bracket for priority lending for houses increased to up to 3 million rupees from 2 million rupees.

"We don't need to generate demand, it just needs to come at the right prices," Kaushal said.

LENDING

Mortgage lenders want an increase in the bracket for tax concessions on housing loans to 250,000 rupees. Tax payers now get a relief of up to 150,000 rupees for interest payments.

Analysts say that this will help spur demand and benefit buyers as well as help boost sales for the industry.

A separate tax relief for capital repayment should be provided for, R.R. Nair, chief executive, LIC Housing Finance (LICH.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), said.

Besides the relief to consumers, the government needs to increase the tax exemption limit to mortgage lenders.

Kapil Wadhawan, managing director of Dewan Housing Finance (DWNH.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), said the exemption limit for a tax free reserve should be raised to 40 percent of the pre tax profits or revenue. The exemption was slashed to 20 percent 2 years ago.

"I think one way (to) actually pass on the benefits to the customers is to reduce the base of interest instead of tinkering too much with individual tax slabs," he said.

However, demands on exemptions may not be answered, analysts point out. "Their margins are fairly high, they're higher than software, so why (should they) get benefits," Shailesh Kanani an analyst at Angel Broking.

The companies also want tax relief for five year deposits like that given to banks, Wadhawan said, adding this would help raise cheap long term funds.

Cheaper funds need to reach National Housing Bank, the state-run funding agency for housing firms, to lend to housing finance companies at lower rates, he said.