Puravankara names Jack Nazareth as COO

Developer and infrastructure company Puravankara Projects Ltd has appointed Jackbastian Kaitan Nazareth as its chief operating officer. Prior to joining Puravankara, Nazareth was the executive director of Sobha Developers Ltd, overseeing their international operations based out of Dubai…. 

Despite a steady revival in the real estate sector, realty stocks have been on a slide for the last few weeks. As a result, the BSE’s Realty Index, one of the popular benchmarks used to keep tabs on the performance of realty stocks, has lost about 10.5 per cent since the start of the month. Stocks of some of the leading real estate developers are down 10-20 per cent…. 

The housing ministry has sought an allocation of Rs 1,000 crore in the Budget 2010-11. This marks a jump of Rs 150 crore from Rs 850 crore that the ministry received last fiscal…. 

We feel that finance minister has indeed a very tough task this time because while on the one hand, there is a fiscal deficit, on the other hand, the initiatives what this government has taken to bring up the people who have so far not been able to be brought back into the main stream via certain social welfare schemes needs to be continued…. 

We are hopeful of a positive 2010 for the India real estate sector. Overall, there should be a focus on the real estate sector in general and housing, in particular because real estate contributes more than 7.5 per cent to the GDP. Also the real estate industry generates about 30 million jobs, which the government can hardly ignore…. 

Coming out with its expectations from the union budget, the Sahara India group said that the pent-up demand for affordable housing in the country should be given top priority…. 

Real estate players have called upon the government to continue with its reform agenda in Budget 2010. Cash-starved realtors are also looking for more sops to be able to roll out new affordable housing projects and integrated townships…. 

Urging finance minister Pranab Mukherjee not to be swayed by concerns on rising inflation, DLF chairman K P Singh said the government needed to focus on growth in the forthcoming Budget to achieve 9-10 per cent economic expansion during 2010-11….

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) recently submitted its proposal for the Union Budget 2010-11, to the finance ministry seeking incentives for a vibrant and sustainable property market…. 

Abhisheck Lodha, MD, Lodha Developers expects that Budget 2010-11 would announce tax incentives to the real estate sector, besides a much needed reduction on Stamp Duty. This will lead to further investment in affordable housing projects which is expected to fuel urban development…. 

We suggest setting up of a single window clearance for all real estate projects, completely doing away with all tedious procedures…. 

There is an urgent need for a tax holiday to be declared to make affordable housing for low and medium income groups a reality…. 

Fiscal incentives for the development of real estate sector along with the liberal investment and policy reforms have brought it to the to the centre stage…. 

The real estate industry suffered a severe blow during the economic slowdown last year. However, it also created new opportunity in areas that were largely untapped until recently…. 

Real estate and housing are a critical part of the economy. It generates huge demand ranging from steel and cement, to consumer durable goods and sanitary ware, to electrical goods and other services in the construction industry. It is, therefore, regarded as a strong indicator of the economy. So it is important to bolster this sector by considering the following measures:… 

Global economic meltdown had left the worldwide real estate sector in tatters. Nevertheless, the real estate sector in India is in the recovery mode aided by affordable housing, declining property prices, improved job market, lower interest rate, better liquidity situation and an overall improved economic scenario. However, the sector needs a budgetary push to be on the path of speedy and sustainable growth…. 

Jayesh Desai, a veteran of advisory firm Ernst & Young, is joining brokerage Enam to help set up an infrastructure fund that will be launched before the end of 2010. Desai has confirmed that he is joining Enam to head a foray into private equity investment in infrastructure…. 

RBI has called for measures by state governments to augment revenue collection through improvement in tax collections. The actions suggested include checking under valuation of property to improve collections under stamp duty and registration fees and phasing out exemptions under sales tax…. 

The stagnating real estate market in Mumbai is forcing many city-based developers to set sights on the neighbouring state of Gujarat. Developers such as Godrej Properties, Ackruti City, Ravi Group, K Raheja Group, Sahara Housing, Ajmera and Acme Group are having a number of projects coming up in Gujarat. Two factors aiding this are the lower land costs and the virtually non-existent red-tape in Gujarat…. 

In a move that Greater Noida officials admit may bring down property prices in the area, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to shift its proposal for an international airport from Greater Noida to Meerut…. 

The 135-km long Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway (also called Western Peripheral Expressway), is likely to miss its July deadline due to petitions pertaining to land acquisitions pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court…. 

Asian real estate investment markets posted a strong recovery in the second half of 2009 after witnessing a difficult start to the year, according to new data…. 

Property prices in Dubai will not witness any “significant” declines but may fluctuate in a very narrow range, according to Deyaar Development’s CEO…. 

Carrefour SA, Europe’s largest retailer, has no plans to sell shares in its real-estate unit for the time being, chief executive officer Lars Olofsson said in an interview with French television channel LCI…. 

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is examining all construction works related to Commonwealth Games (CWG) following complaints alleging large scale corruption in purchases…. 

The cement industry on Tuesday said that the government should bring the value added tax (VAT) on cement at par with other building materials like steel in the Budget and scrap import duty on coal, gypsum and other fuels….