Lending to Real Estate Sector gets Expensive

RBI today hiked the repo rate by 0.25% . This is unlikely to hurt banks lending in normal capacity. However, if banks overstretch, then they have to borrow from RBI which will be 0.25% higher.

In the monetary policy review today, RBI raised the repo rate, the rate at which it lends to banks, by 25 bps to 7.25% while keeping the reverse repo, the rate at which it borrows from banks, unchanged at 6%.

"Banks having liquidity problems may charge a higher price for Personal, Real Estate and Equity Market loans," Allen Pereira, executive director of Oriental Bank of Commerce, told PTI.

K Raghuraman, executive director of Punjab National Bank, said RBI's repo rate hike is a caution on credit growth, specially for banks who are aggressive in the market.

The Land Sharks of corporate India will find it tough to borrow for their shady Land Bank deals. Good Job Done, Dr Y V Reddy! We don't want a Japan like situation in India where the collapse of the Japanese Real Estate market led to the collapse of their Banking System and then their entire economy in 90s.

Sitaram for Chinese Model of SEZs in India

We were the first in the world to compare and contrast the difference in SEZ act between China and India late last month. Sitaram Yechury, Leader of CPI visited China last week to study why SEZs were successful in China and has said the same words we did.

Sitaram calls for separate tracts of lands to be owned by government and infrastructure be developed in those areas then inviting Foreign and Indian industrialists to setup their manufacturing base. Instead what has now happened is the corrupt governments of Mahrashtra and Andhra Pradesh have acted on behalf of corporate India killing the poor Indian farmer. Without citing the name of Mukesh Ambani, Sitaram said, "If a private company gets to own 10,000 hectares of land, we are re-inviting Zamindari system 60 years after independence".

Mukesh spoke of big plans at World Economic Forum in Davos, and why has he become a Land Shark rather than being an industrialist ? The days of getting rich by corrupt means by bribing hands of Netas and Babus are behind us. Wake up Land Sharks, go manufacture :-)

Hewlett-Packard Company surrenders SEZ license in India.

Right from day one, I have shouted at the top of my voice that SEZ act in its current state was a land grabbing act and was against industrialization. When they talk about modifications to the act to bring transperency in deals, State Governmnts have become the corrupt agents between corporates and the land owners, mostly farmers.

Some ethical managements don't like such business practices and have put a hold on their SEZ plans. Silicon Valley giant, Hewlett-Packard Company today surrendered its IT SEZ license back to the commerce ministry. HP India had got an approval in June this year to start an SEZ in Bangalore. HP had thought of a mega 1 Million SFT IT park but the project was simply not viable.

In an interview to CNBC TV 18 today, G K Pillai the Commerce Secretary and optimistic man behind SEZs has said 25% of the SEZs will fail to take-off and they may surrender their licenses. The SEZ shake-out has begun lets see who will survive.

Related Stories:
RBI Concerned over SEZ Policy.
Best Policy is not to have any SEZ
Special or Scam Economy Zones of India

Jaaydaad.Com introduces Real Estate Retailing in India

After Pantaloon Retail India Limited and failed dreams of Reliance Retail, Global Infocomm has ventured into organized retailing of Real Estate in India.

Global Infocomm, is planning to open 600 showrooms with a PAN-India presence. The company is launching from Uttar Pradesh, which, is a very bad move considering the law and order and backwardness of the state. They should have started from Maharashtra or Karnataka the most sought after states for urban development these days.

The company also has a B2C portal JaayDaad.Com. The portal enables you to BUY, SELL or Rent properties immediately but I didn't find much listings as their are on 99Acres.com.

Mega Real Estate Deals Hit Indian Real Estate

With the beginning or operation Land Grabbing by Real Estate land sharks in India, greedy banks and financial institutions from all over the world have joined the bandwagon to finance these mega real estate deals.

After George Soros' Quantum Fund picking up stake in Anant Raj Industries, CitiBank has bought 5.75% stake in Ansal Properties and infrastructures Limited. UK based Trinity Fund has bought a whopping 16% stake in Kapstone Corporation. The Citibank deal is valued at Rs175 crores. Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Limited will issue preferential shares at price of Rs610 on Face Value of Rs5. The Trinity Kapstone deal is valued at Rs85 crores.

Operation Land Grab begins in Andhra Pradesh

The picture on your left shows a piece of agricultural land in Rambilli Mandal in Vishakapatnam which has been acquired for a multi-product SEZ by the corrupt state government of Andhra Pradesh on behalf of SRF Limited the promoter of SEZ. The SEZ is 1040 hectares in size.



This piece of fertile land is in Ravivaripodu village of Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. Farmers want to know how they have been getting good yield for years if the farmland was 'dry' ?

The State government has manipulated land records and has marked fertile agricultural lands as dry and arid lands unfit for agriculture so that they can grab it at throw away price. [Via MM]

Govt BANS pre-launch offers on Homes.

The Union Urban Development Ministry has finally woken up to the woes of large number of Middle Class Indians taken for a ride by Shady Builders and Real Estate Developers.

What non-reputed builders usually do is, collect large sums of money as advance and use the money for their own purpose or divert it to other projects. Also the greedy real estate brokers in order to make quick bucks has become a speculator who keeps trading in pre-launch offers. To curb all such ir-regularities, the government has proposed a bill which will put an end to this. A clear-cut date of completion will obviate the scope for speculation.

Sanjay Verma MD of Cushan and Wakefield said that,
"A lot of speculative buying and selling had been taking place in the pre-launch residential business. This high level of continued speculative buying has put certain degree of selling pressure in the market. Therefore, the move to curb pre-launch mechanism will provide for a healthy & stable growth for the realty sector in the coming years".

Hopefully the Babus and Netas who are also part of the Land Bank Scam will protect the middle class interest. Via ET

DLF to reissue debentures to small investors

Earlier in August we had exposed the DLF Debenture and IPO scam on our blog here. DLF, the New delhi based Real Estate company has agreed to re-issue debentures to small investors who were cheated in the earlier issue.

The company has called for a EGM to approve the issue for small investors who were earlier cheated by the greedy management of DLF and its shady promoters. This is all a makeup before its $2 Billion IPO which they want to go for. Investors kindly be aware of this shady real estate company.

Professor Jagdish Bhagwati slams Indian SEZ Policy

Dr. Jagdish N Bhagwati, Professor of Economics and Law at the Columbia Business School in New York has said that, their is no need for SEZs in India.

He said,
"Give the current progress in reforms undertaken in earnest since 1991, there is no need to establish SEZs. It made sense to have SEZs in the pre-reform era when policies of the country as a whole could not be tweaked. That period warranted the setting aside of certain exclusive economic zones with low trade barriers and other favourable policies to enhance growth"

Map of proposed Reliance Maha Mumbai SEZ

Ambani brothers are now fighting to build the 25Km long bridge which will connect Mumbai with Navi Mumbai. Mukesh certainly doesn't want Anil to build the bridge as it will be the life line for Mumbaikars travelling to Reliance SEZ. Looks like Mukesh's lobby has gotten Anil dis-qualified on technical grounds. L&T-Gammon India and IFFCO are the other two bidders to build this 3+3 lane expressway and bridge.

Heavy demand for Bangalore's Central Business District

The Central Business District of Bangalore comprising MG Road, Brigades, Lavelle Road, Vittal Mallya Road and Commercial Street are in huge demand. Indian and Foreign realty firms are wooing current land owners with unseen money in the past.

Here are the commercial Lease/Rental rates for retailing, Banking and other established commercial activity in Bangalore's commerical district.

M G Road Rs200-250/SFT/Month
Brigade Road Rs225-Rs300/SFT/Month
Vittal Mallya and Lavelle Road Rs175-Rs250/SFT/Month
Commercial Street - Rs200-Rs250/SFT/Month

Other Areas
Airport Road Rs50-Rs75/SFT/Month
Outer Ring Road Rs100-Rs150/SFT/Month
Kormangala Rs100-Rs150/SFT/Month Kormangala is earthquake prone.
IndiraNagar Rs150-Rs200/SFT/Month
Jaynagar Rs125-Rs150/SFT/Month

Once UB City is completed, prices are likely to shoot up on Vittal Mallya Road as well. If you are looking for commercial real estate in Bangalore, then blindly BUY in the central business districts as they will be very well connected with Metro Rail and will be at par with any downtown in the world.

Mega Renewable Energy SEZ in India

The government of India is planning to build a mega renewable energy device manufacturing SEZ with an investment of Rs30,000 crores or $6.5 billion. This is one of the TRUE SEZs the country badly needs. The SEZ will come up at an area of 1,000 acres in one of the following states - Karnataka, Mahrashtra, AP, MP or TamilNadu.

RBI issues notification on Loans to SEZ

Earlier last month India's highest banking authority had issued a notification stating that debt lending by Banks to SEZ projects be treated as commercial real estate loan. RBI in its notification dated 10-OCT-2006, has changed its mind after several industrialists protested with commerce and finance ministry. New notification says, "exposure of banks to entities for setting up SEZs or for acquisition of units in SEZs which includes real estate would be treated as exposure to commercial real estate sector". Don't worry our Land Sharks will find a loophole to get cheap money from banks. In broader interests, a regulatory like SEBI should be setup.

Eon Free Zone - IT and ITES SEZ In Pune

Eon Free Zone is the largest IT and ITeS SEZ in India. It is situated in Kharadi, Pune. The total campus area is 18 hectares. Each of the four clusters(A, B, C, D) are of 1 Million SFT in size. Cluster - C will be the first one to be completed by March-2007, followed by Cluster - D in October - 2007. Cluster - B and A are expected to be operational by April and october 2008 respectively.

The EON SEZ has clearance from the central government under the SEZ act and establishments located here can avail all the tax benefits as well. The total project cost is estimated to be around Rs850 crores. It will also house a 400 room hotel, Air Taxi service between Pune and Mumbai airports and 200 serviced apartments with all other common amenities like health club, banks etc.

Here is a complete presentation of the EON Free Zone.

Google Earth comes to farmers rescue

Pen Taluka farmers have turned to Google Earth to prove that their lands are fertile. Google Earth is powered by world's superior technology and is one of the largest archives of satellite pictures of the world updated regularly.
The evil land sharks of Maha Mumbai SEZ along with state government, have marked large tracts of fertile land as salty crek water so that they can acquire the land at throw away prices. Farmers sought the help of Google Earth and produced satellite pictures proving that their lands are fertile.

After a flawed SEZ policy, it's now time to fabricate land records and only god knows what else these hungry land grabbers will do.

DLF Plans to invade Chennai and TamilNadu with SEZ Plans

After Anil Ambani's $3 Bilion real estate and infrastructure investments, its now time for the DLF - Land Sharks to invade Chennai.

DLF founder K P Singh's son, Rajiv Singh is seen in talks with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi. During the meeting, Mr. Singh offered to develop roads, bridges and airports across the State through public-private partnership. DLF plans to invest $2 Billion in Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister was keen that large-scale multi-product SEZs were taken up by groups like DLF. He asked the company to present more concrete and detailed proposals to the departments concerned.

Sitaram Yechuri and NCP for SEZ on Barron Lands

After CPI(M) protesting against SEZs, NCP has joined hands saying no fertile land shall be used for SEZ. Only Barron lands can be used. Sitaram Yechuri said that "Farmers should be paid 52% more than the current market price of the land and land should not be acquired without taking the farmers into confidence."

Former PM, V P Singh has sought a regulatory authority on SEZs, just like the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. This is fantastic demand as it will bring transparency in the deals.

Is it possible to build the Indian Infrastructure with Poor Health ?

The Prime Minister addressing a conference on Building Infrastructure: Challenges and Opportunities told that India needs investment to the tune of Rs1,450,000 crores by 2012. The thrust areas are Roads and Power. PM also invited for private participation and has promised to look into the controversial SEZ issue.

Few questions directly to the PM of India.

Dear Sir,
I have tremendous respect for you and it pains for me to pen the following few sentences. I have carefully thought about it and my conscious tells me that I am not wrong and hence I am putting it before you willing to face any consequence.

Sir, you are blind about the health issues Indians including your son-in-law and grand- children are facing today. Before building India and its SEZs, every human born in India has the right to life according to Article 21 of the Constitution of India. It does not mean mere survival or existence. It encompasses the right to live with dignity. Your government has been a total failure when not hundreds or thousands but whole states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu and Kerala suffered from Chikungunya. I see no action from your government at all.

After Chikungunya, Indians are now facing a deadly disease of Dengue killing 19 people so far. How do you expect your fellow countrymen to build India with such poor health conditions ? Or, can you kindly be frank and tell us if this is a sacrifice millions of Indians have to undergo ? We(I am willing) will happily do so when it is either told by you or the Supreme Commander of India. Your wish is our command.

Jai Hind!

China Vs India, SEZs Comparison and Review

The Chinese started their liberalization and industrialization with the formation of SEZs in late 70s and early 80s. Unlike India, where SEZ is being incorporated 15 years after the start of liberalization process.

China had a Master Plan and an economic framework on how to build and proceed with SEZs, most probably inspired by the success of Asian Trading Hub, Hong Kong. The Dragons started building massive cities for manufacturing and industrialization under their SEZ framework. Dragons also rolled out red carpet for foreign companies to build and operate from these SEZs.

If you look at the Map on your left, China has only 5 SEZs, India has approved 200 and still counting. All the Chinese SEZs are located along the coast line. Indian SEZs are mostly concentrated near major cities and more than half are being developed by Real Estate Companies in order to make a quick buck by grabbing land at cheap prices under SEZ land acquisition act which is a scam in itself. KPMG India, Tax Head, Sudhir Kapadia said, "They(Chinese SEZs) are close to ports and trade nations like Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. A lot of thought has gone into the location of these SEZs. "

Dragon SEZ blueprint says, Size Matters for SEZ. Shenzhen is the largest SEZ in China and is spread over 493 Sq Kms.(49,300 hectares). While the largest SEZ in India, Reliance - Navi Mumbai and Maha Mumbai SEZ, is mere 14,000 hectares. Exports from Shenzen SEZ reached $100 Billion in 2005. Total Chinese exports for 2005 was around $700 Billion which implies Shenzen contributed 15% of Chinese exports.

Chinese SEZ initiative is government driven, Indian SEZs are driven by private sector. Check out my earlier post on praise for few MIDC SEZs and I called them True SEZs :-)

Dr. J J Irani, former CMD of Tata Steel and currently one of the powerful Directors on Tata Son's is of the opinion, "India should also go slowly like China has done".

Mohandas Pai, Executive Director, Infosys Technologies said,"We should look at entire districts, with a port and a hinterland for SEZ. We should make large-scale investments in that so there is synergy, and we should ensure that manufacturing has priority, followed by services, but the vision has to be much larger. The way it is today, the vision is too myopic, and too small, and I am afraid we will not get the benefit that China did".

Stay tuned, I will post the number of Real Estate Sharks that have joined the SEZ bandwagon pretty soon. Your thoughts and comments are most welcome.
India SEZ, China SEZ, Reliance SEZ, Shenzhen

Reliance Haryana and Mumbai SEZ Size

Many were looking for the size of SEZs developed by Reliance.

Reliance Haryana SEZ has been approved for 10,000 hectares.

Reliance's Mumbai SEZ = Navi Mumbai SEZ + Maha Mumbai SEZ together is proposed to be 14,000 hectares. The combined will be the largest SEZ in India but still far smaller than China's Shenzhen SEZ which is 493 Sq Kms or 49,300 hectares. Navi Mumbai SEZ is already operational and Reliance has bought one of the promoters and will thus get a backdoor entry.

Check out the conversion chart here.

Maha Mumbai SEZ in Trouble

Mukesh Ambani's "Maha Mumbai SEZ" in fresh trouble now. Ministry of Commerce itself has filed objections against Maha Mumbai SEZ.

The Ministry has raised the following objections, Huge Agricultural Land acquisition from surrounding villagers, who have filed a complaint with Ministry of Commerce. Several thousand workers of existing JawaharLal Nehru Port Trust are affected. Large Export oriented business houses have been affected and have thus filed complaints directly with commerce ministry.

Commerce Secretary G K Pillai has asked the Board of Approvals to direct the Maharashtra State Government to look into the land acquisition issues and has further stated that No Government Lands should be sold but instead leased to the SEZ developer. Gujarat Government was the first to start lease Government Lands to SEZ developers for a period of 30 years.

Petition against Reliance SEZ in Punjab Haryana High Court

The fate of Reliance Industries Limited SEZ in Haryana will now be decided by the High Courts of Punjab and Haryana. We first exposed about the hush-hush land deal between Reliance Industries Limited and Haryana State Industries Development Corporation directly under the control of Haryana Government.

In a separate development, a public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court of India seeking quashing of all land acquisitions for SEZs. Advocate Manohar Lal Sharma filed the petition, after state governments misused their power by using police force against farmers to forcibly evict them from the lands they own and the livelihood they earn from. The situation is similar to early 90s in Mumbai when underworld mafia was used to evict land owners. State Governments have become the mafia of the new age.

Industrialization not at the cost of our own farmers and our own fertile lands. Revisit the SEZ policy now.

SEZ India ,
Reliance SEZ ,
India Real Estate ,
Haryana SEZ

Land Shark, DLF rethinks of Punjab SEZ

Every Morning Indian's wake up to read a new land bank scam. DLF - Building India(by looting Indians) is rethinking twice about it's Punjab SEZ.

DNA reports that, Though the Centre has approved the SEZ in Amritsar, DLF may find the going tough without full support from the state government. Earlier, the government had promised to help DLF buy land for the SEZ at concessional rates.

Comments: concessional rates ? Are you F*cking Insane ? First, you are throwing the peasants out of job, then seizing their land by just giving peanuts ? Also India we lose productive farm lands. Why not hire hitmen like the Mumbai underworld to get rid of farmers ? Any government that is involved in such a scandal must be brought down immediately.

DNA, Adds, Now DLF may be required to pay farmers the market price for the land. It had proposed to acquire 1,232 acres of land. Farmers organized rail roko agitations in protest.

JD(U) leader, Sharad Yadav has called the SEZ Act as the largest Real Estate Scam in the world. He has also asked PM to intervene and scrap the SEZ act.

SEZ India ,
DLF India ,
India Real Estate ,
India Land Bank Scam