The income tax department on Thursday carried out search operations on real estate developer Suncity Projects for alleged tax evasion. The company is promoted by Subhash Chandras Essel Group, along with the Action Group and Odeon Builders.

Searches were carried out in the official premises of the groups along with the residences of the promoters in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. The income tax department clarified that the search operations had nothing to do with the Zee Group which is owned by Chandra. The Delhi residences of Lakshmi Goel and Jawahar Goel, brothers of Zee Group head Subash Chandra were also searched, income tax department sources said. Despite repeated attempts, they could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, Suncity Projects was also unavailable for comment.

The realty company plans to invest about Rs 6,000 crore over the next four years in constructing SEZs and townships across the country. It has formal approvals for an Information Technology SEZ in Haryana and two in-principle approvals for multi-product SEZs in Haryana and Rajasthan. The company has acquired 4,000 acre of land in different cities where it would be developing over 10 projects in all verticals such as housing, commercial, shopping mall, hotels, SEZs and townships. The group is also developing six townships at Rohtak, Jaipur, Kaithal, Rewari and Indore of various sizes ranging from 100 to 500 acre. The company could not be reached despite several attempts.

Source : financialexpress.com

The much-awaited, state-of-the art solid waste management plant at Bandhwari, Gurgaon, will soon be a reality as the ministry of environment and forests and the Pollution Control Board have given it a green signal.

Authorities said the plant is to be constructed near abandoned mines about 15 km away from the main city and habitation is more than 500 metres away from the proposed site.One mine can be used for about 25 years and the approved site is non-fertile land with habitation 500 metres away. The depth of the mines is more than 50 feet and there is no drainage problem. It will not pose any danger to the underground water reservoir, said a senior municipal officer.

G Anupama, HUDA administrator said: Now that we have all clearances for the Bandhwari dumping site, we are waiting for approval from government to start the tendering process. The hi-tech waste disposal system will be built on around 30 acres of land and the proposed duration of construction is one-and-a-half years.

More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

After the collapse of Lehman Brothers, real estate firms including Peninsula Land, HDIL, Unitech and Future Capital have approached investors including leading private equity funds to raise investment for their projects.

Sources reported that Lehman’s third party fund, Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners, had committed an investment of over $1 billion to these companies, according to the Business Standard.

Lehman, which manages funds worth $4 billion overall, was supposed to finance the country’s second largest developer,Unitech, with $525 million for its two projects of one million square feet in Mumbai, one in Santacruz and the other in Worli. $175 million was invested by Lehman in the initial phase of Unitech’s Santacruz project for a 50 per cent stake. According to an official from Unitech, the company also had talks with Lehman Brothers, aiming to raise funds for a 25 million square foot commercial property project in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Kolkata, which has now come to a standstill.

More : itexaminer.com

Indian property prices, which had taken off like jet planes, appear to be losing altitude after bad debts owing their origin to real estate brought down the US financial market to its knees.

Marketmen see prices cooling and projects being held up for want of cheap funds, but dont expect the market to crash.

Raising funds from American and Western European investors, who accounted for a bulk of overseas money coming to India, will be difficult. Developers will have to look at new avenues like middle-east and Korea, said Global realty consultant Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj country head Anuj Puri.

More : economictimes.indiatimes.com

It is a phenomenon that has no name. Not as yet. But the dark clouds symbolise the crisis enveloping the real estate sector. The symptoms of a slowdown and forebodings of a correction ahead are easy to spot.

It is not just in the slide of real estate rates but, more importantly, the aggravation caused by the absence of buyers. And buyers, hurting from unreal price rise and hit by the 35 per cent spiral in cost of home loans—from 7.5 per cent or Rs 806 per lakh equated monthly instalment (EMI) in 2005 to 12 per cent or Rs 1,101 per lakh in 2008-have stayed away.

So, desperate, builders are throwing in a range of goodies to push through sales. From offering luxury sedans to plots of land, EMI holidays to sweetheart deals, like free furnishings, builders are going all the distance to lure elusive buyers and boost the stagnant property market.

More : indiatoday.digitaltoday.in

Narayana Hrudayalaya, the Bangalore-based cardiac care hospital, is set to unlock its real estate holdings to raise Rs 500 crore for expansion.

The hospital, owned by cardiac surgeon Devi Shetty, is planning to build a 5,000-bed hospital — christened Health City — each in Kolkata, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Raipur, Jamshedpur, Bhopal and Delhi in addition to the one in Bangalore.

Narayana Hrudayalaya currently owns three hospitals in Bangalore and Kolkata with a total bed capacity of 2,500. The first Health City is already being built at Bangalore with specialities, including cardiac, cancer, orthopaedics, eye care, neurology, and child- and women care.

More : business-standard.com

What happens when the biggest corporate entity of the country sets out to establish the grand daddy of all SEZs? And, that too in the SEZ capital of the country, Gurgaon, which has an incredible 52 SEZ proposals in the pipeline?

The Reliance sponsored 25,000 acre SEZ, hailed as the Shenzen of India, should have been a cakewalk — the state government was a junior partner, the legendary Reliance coffers were in play, the farmers were well habituated to selling off their land for industrial use and huge job opportunities were promised.

But after two nerve-wracking years, the dust is just settling down as the first segment of 1300 acres of land (5% of the total) was recently enclosed with razor-wire rolls. This land belonged to farmers of five villages — Khandsa, Narsingpur, Mohammedpur, Gadauli Khurd and Harsaru. It was taken over by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) in 2004.

More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The slowdown in the real estate sector remains unending with retail and office rental prices across the country witnessing a sharp drop. During the last two months, there has been a 25-50 percent drop in both retail and office rental values in some micro markets such as Gurgaon and Greater Noida. In Saket (south Delhi), the rates have dropped by 30-35 percent. Overall, the rental rates in cities such as Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore have also dropped by 25-30 percent, reveals current market statistics.

The market is going to witness a 25-40 percent drop in the retail rentals as all big or small retailers are finding it tough to survive in this very high rental market, says Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group. Many smalltime or vanilla retailers may have to close their shop in this kind of condition. We have changed our business model and are now operating on a revenue-sharing model in malls. Productivity is a key factor for any retailer to operate efficiently in a mall, in case of a leased deal, he added.

According to industry sources cited by The Economic Times, initially, most malls in the same micro-market had similar rental rates. But as they became operational, the rentals started to get aligned with revenues and footfalls. In the office space, the second quarter of this year witnessed a total supply of 4.3 million sq ft in the NCR region, of which 60 percent was for IT/ITeS but interestingly, the demand was down to 3.3 million sq ft only.

More : siliconindia.com

For those who thought the worst was its pouring bad news for the real estate over, theres more bad news. The slow- tate industry. In a market where prices down in the real estate sector is far from are moving southwards, over-supply is over. Rather, the worst seems to be knock- the new problem which has come to ing on the door, with retail and office rental prices across the country witnessing a sharp drop.

In fact, current market stats reveal that there has been a drop in both retail and office rental values in the last two months which varies from 25% to 50% in some micro markets such as Gurgaon and Greater Noida, where malls and office space have seen a dip of 25-50%. Overall, the rental rates in cities such as Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore have also dropped by 25-30%.

Kishore Biyani, CEO of the Future Group, feels the rentals may see another 25-40% drop. The market is going to witness a 25-40% drop in the retail rentals as all big or small retailers are finding it tough to survive in this very high rental market, Mr Biyani told dential units in prime localities that SundayET.

More : economictimes.indiatimes.com

The Bengal government may be forced to rework the compensation package offered to Singur farmers, but only 20 km away at Dankuni, its a different story altogether. Farmers affected by DLFs township project have been offered unattractive packages, which is proving to be a hurdle in the path of the project.

The state government is charging DLF Rs 56 lakh per acre for the Rs 33,000 crore township project. But to the farmers, it has decided to pay a paltry sum of Rs 7 lakh per acre for fallow land, Rs 12 lakh per acre for multi-crop land and Rs 14 lakh per acre for homesteads. Wheres the difference going? The government is pocketing it as development charge.

DLF entered into an agreement with KMDA to build the new township, which, when completed, would become the countrys largest public-private-partnership project. DLF has also assured one job to every displaced family. It bagged the project in February 2007. But till now, the government has got consent to acquire only 20 acres. Now, DLF is getting restless, as the delay will affect the projects viability. It is putting more pressure on the government to complete taking over the land.

More : timesofindia.indiatimes.com