HYDERABAD: Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) commissioner Somesh Kumar suspended deputy municipal commissioner, Qutubullapur, V Mamata, assistant city planner M Tulasiram and section officer Sreedhar Goud for failing to take timely action against an unauthorized construction in Qutubullapur. According to an official release issued here on Monday, suspension orders of the deputy municipal commissioner, the then in-charge assistant city planner (now with Circle 9, Abids) and town planning were issued as they failed to perform their duties in preventing the illegal construction (stilt+ground floor) on plot number 117 & 118 in survey numbers 208, 209, 211 & 212 of Qutubullapur circle as evidenced from the order of the High Court […]

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad district administration on Wednesday resumed 3.31 acres of prime government land in Jubilee Hills allotted to Anand Cine Services, an outdoor film unit, as the management failed to utilise it for the purpose it was assigned. The resumed land could be worth nearly Rs 100 crore. According to revenue records, the Hyderabad district administration had allotted five-acre government land (survey No. 403) on Road No.76, Jubilee Hills in Shaikpet mandal in 2001 for putting up cinema settings and parking area. The state government had set up the Andhra Pradesh Land Management Authority (APLMA) last year and asked all district collectors to identify parcels of government land allotted […]

Telangana government has plans to infuse a sum of Rs 50,000 crore to uplift the infra status in Hyderabad in the next five years. KT Rama Rao, Minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs (MA&UD) has shared that the fund would be utilised for the development of the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration area. A corpus of Rs 50,000 crore is being readied by the Telangana government, which would go into the development of the Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA) region. KT Rama Rao, Minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs (MA&UD) has shared the information. HUA region comprises the core of the city as well as its outskirts falling within the Outer […]

KOLKATA: The absence of a clear motive and strong indication that an “insider” might be involved in the murder of an elderly citizen at Deshapriya Park has sent neighbours of this upscale locality in shock. What adds to their anxiety is that Ranajit Chatterjee was being pursued by local promoters for the last two years to sell off his ancestral property worth crores now. Chatterjee refused. Police say his daughter cannot recall if he was ever threatened for this, but they will investigate this angle. “After what transpired at Short Street, we can hardly take a chance,” said a senior officer. Local residents – including actor Biplab Chatterjee – say […]

KOLKATA: The state Public Works department (PWD) have divided all its circles into three zones – North, West and South for better supervision and monitoring of development projects of various government department entrusted to PWD all over the state. The PWD authorities were mulling on the plan to reorganise all its circles with the aim to implement the concept of coming up with three zones – North zone, West zone and South zone – so that the authorities can properly monitor and supervise all development projects that have been entrusted on them by the other departments. The PWD has several circles under the PWD road division, national highway and state […]

Bengal has rationalised property valuation by doing away with the discrepancies between the registration authorities and their actual market value. The move comes into effect across Kolkata and suburbs , sources in real estate body Credai said. Earlier, the registered value of a property was anywhere between 10 and 50 per cent higher than the prevailing market rate. The difference between the market rate and the registered value was deemed as income and taxed. “As a result of this discrepancy many people were either holding back their purchases or not registering their properties ,” Harsh Patodia, President, CREDAI-Bengal, said. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/credai-hails-rationalisation-of-property-valuations-in-bengal/article5614557.ece

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has finally found a plot for setting up its second solid waste disposal ground. The civic body will use an area covering about 20 acres at Rajarhat New Town to develop a ‘waste-to-energy’ converting system that will be an alternative site to the existing Dhapa ground which has become overburdened. The KMC will soon sign an MoU with the Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) for this project. “We will sign a MOU with the KMC authorities. The KMC will develop the project on Action Area III. It will be a compact solid waste disposal ground from where energy generation will be done. The solid […]

KOLKATA: For the next couple of months from now, the Mamata Banerjee government will not acquire any land from farmers even if it is required for government projects. The message has already reached government departments after the chief minister’s press meet with Anna Hazare in New Delhi on Wednesday. The Trinamool chief will champion the cause of farmers as she did earlier. All infrastructure projects in Bengal will therefore, have to wait till the Lok Sabha polls are over. Mamata Banerjee doesn’t want any land controversy before the elections. State departments have been asked not to place any proposals for land acquisition for the time being. This even after the […]

HOWRAH: With an eye on boosting revenue, the Howrah Municipal Corporation announced a partial waiver for property and commercial tax on Tuesday. Under the waiver scheme, no penalty or interest need to be paid. The KMC has already enforced such a scheme and has benefited greatly, said Howrah mayor Rathin Chakraborty. He said the last board, controlled by the Left Front, bungled in tax collection, resulting in tax default of around Rs 200 crore. “The state is supporting us, but we must be self-sufficient. The tax outstanding will be collected without burdening civilians,” the mayor added. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Howrah-Municipal-Corporation-announces-partial-waiver-of-property-and-commercial-tax/articleshow/31431111.cms

Kolkata is all set to turn into a blue-and-white city during the Mamata government. The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) announced Monday that if you paint your house’ exterior blue-and-white, you will be fully exempted from paying property tax to the government. The Trinamool Congress-run KMC has come up with a proposal to waive the property tax for 2014-15 if a residential building or house is painted in the party’s favorite color combination — white and sky blue. “We will allow full waiver of property tax for 2014-15 if anybody wishes to paint his/her house or even apartment buildings, of course residential, in white and sky blue – the theme color […]

PUNE: If the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) wants to check further degradation of water bodies, land, public spaces and green areas in the city, it has to look for immediate solutions to recycle and reuse construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Hundreds of constructions have come up across the city and with as many renovations of flats and other properties, the debris is being dumped recklessly, much to the alarm of environmentalists. City engineer Prashant Waghmare said the PMC had not identified a dumping ground. “The civic body is trying hard to locate places around the city, but no village in the fringes is ready to give land for the debris. […]

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Saturday demolished illegal constructions spread over 4,000 sq ft in Warje. Civic officials said these included residential and commercial establishments. The premises in the side and front margins were occupied without permission from the civic administration. In February, the civic administration had acted against encroachments in Ambegaon, Bavdhan and Yerawada. Illegal constructions over 1,432 sq ft, 9,000 sq ft and 4,632 sq ft, receptively were demolished in the drive. The civic body has acted against over 3,300 illegal constructions in the last year. As part of the drive, illegal sheds and houses built in concrete on an area of 22 lakh sq ft […]

PUNE: The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Saturday demolished illegal constructions spread over 4,000 sq ft in Warje. Civic officials said these included residential and commercial establishments. The premises in the side and front margins were occupied without permission from the civic administration. In February, the civic administration had acted against encroachments in Ambegaon, Bavdhan and Yerawada. Illegal constructions over 1,432 sq ft, 9,000 sq ft and 4,632 sq ft, receptively were demolished in the drive. The civic body has acted against over 3,300 illegal constructions in the last year. As part of the drive, illegal sheds and houses built in concrete on an area of 22 lakh sq ft […]

PUNE: The anti-encroachment squad of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Monday demolished an unauthorized construction in Akurdi. Shirish Poreddy, spokesperson of the PCMC’s engineering department, said the razed construction had ground plus three floors and covered a total area of 4,500 sq ft. Executive engineer Ramdas Tambe supervised the drive. The PCMC has demolished a total of 27 unauthorized constructions within the municipal limits in the past one month. The other 26 razed constructions covered a total area of 18,000 sq ft. Out of that 19 structures were built in March 2012, while the remaining are older constructions. “The civic body has been conducting the demolition drive against […]

PUNE: The Zone 1 of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday took action against illegal constructions in Kalas and Dhanori areas, said a statement issued by Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The statement added that residential as well as commercial establishments had made these encroachments. The illegal constructions spread over 3200 sq ft were demolished in the drive. The premises inside and front margins were occupied without taking any permission from the civic body. The Kalas area had illegal construction spread over 2000 sq ft, while Dhanori had 1200 sq ft of illegal constructions. Since the start of this month the civic administration had taken action against encroachments in Bavdhan, Dhankawadi, […]

PUNE: Across the city, the rush to pay the annual property tax in advance and avail the discount has swelled the Pune Municipal Corporation coffers. Over 4.50 lakh property owners, who paid the tax before May 31 and availed of the 10% discount, helped the civic body collect Rs 400 crore in two months. “More than 50% of property owners paid the tax in the first two months of the new financial year. The good response to the scheme is due to the awareness programmes the administration undertook. The efforts to provide bills at the doorstep of residents helped boost collection. A maximum number of bills were sent to the […]

Mid-segment residential properties witnessed the highest appreciation in Bangalore in the past three years, while in the high-end category the credit went to Pune, says a study. As per the report by global real estate consultants, Cushman and Wakefield, mid-segment residential property prices almost doubled in the north-west part of Bangalore, while they were up nearly two-thirds in some areas of Pune. The study spanned between first half (January-June) of 2011 and first half of 2014. In the mid-segment, Chennai with 27 percent, Delhi region with 22 percent and Kolkata with 17 percent, also saw some noteworthy increases, while Mumbai saw the second-lowest jump with 16 percent, following Hyderabad with […]

NEW DELHI: Low-cost housing, which found several mentions in BJP’s 2014 election manifesto, is likely to get infrastructure status, making it easier for real-estate developers to get finance from banks and for longer tenures, and eventually increasing the supply of houses. While developers are in favour of an infrastructure tag to the housing sector as a whole, the government is likely to grant it only to the low-cost segment, said a senior government official, who did not wish to be named. According to government definition, low-cost houses are those with an area of up to 40 sq metres. BJP’s manifesto talks about rolling out a massive low-cost housing programme to […]

The dust has settled on the elections drama and the BJP is now firmly in the driver’s seat. By and large, this is being seen as the best possible news for the Indian real estate sector – and rightly so. Narendra Modi has the business mind-set, background and also determination which are called for to bring India’s entire economy back on track. What the real estate sector now awaits is his policy approach to the issue of housing in India. Now, as the country stands poised on the verge of a major change in economic climate, it is a good time to reflect on why boosting the housing sector is […]

Mumbai: Brookfield Asset Management Inc., a Canadian asset management company that manages investments worth $181 billion, is set to acquire all of Unitech Corporate Parks Plc (UCP), a London Stock Exchange-listed, India-focused real estate investment firm, paying `3,000 crore. A definitive agreement to this end is likely to be signed this week in London, said four persons directly involved in the deal. None of them wanted to be named. “We do not comment on market speculation,” said Brookfield Asset Management in an email response. Routhu Nagaraju, executive vice-President at Unitech Ltd, said, “UCP has announced that it will sell six projects and the process has not seen anything adverse. It […]

Investment in the real estate sector in January-March, 2014, has more than doubled to $800 from the previous quarter of only $317 million, mainly driven by corporate land sales. Around $597 million was invested in the sector a year ago. More platform deals and equity stake acquisitions can be expected. “Although India is not yet a significant player in the regional real estate investment market, going forward, we expect the entry of real estate investment trusts (REITs) to provide alternative funding channels to the sector and trigger strong growth in its investment volumes,” said Anshuman Magazine, chairman and managing director, CBRE South Asia. For the quarter ended March 2014, nearly […]

Few that have bought or even rented real estate in India would be surprised by a recent survey showing the property market here can be maddeningly murky. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index showed that while things have improved, Indian cities still have to work on transparency. The Chicago-based real-estate consultant said India needs to go further to create more clarity on the rules connected to property purchases and real estate prices. “India still scores among the lowest in the transparency of its transaction process,” the report said. Jones Lang LaSalle looked at just over 100 markets around the world and rated them on a dozen parameters ranging […]

BANGALORE/MUMBAI: After a lull of nearly three years, sale of large land parcels is picking up across the country amid a general improvement in sentiment on expectations that the new government will focus on infrastructure development. Not only developers but private equity (PE) players, too, are keen on joining hands with builders to acquire land parcels at fair valuations without having to pay a premium as corproates try to unbolt the value of their real estate properties, inspiring the realty market out of its trance. Some of the builders looking for sewing large land transactions include Tata Housing Development Company, Oberoi Realty and Runwal Group in Mumbai, DLF in Delhi, […]

According to a study by India Ratings, lack of credit availability and ongoing economic slowdown in India due to the coronavirus pandemic could lead to the residential sector witnessing weak demand in the fiscal year 2020-21.  Residential demand could remain muted in the next financial year, 2020-21 due to the increasing risks to India’s growth in case the economic impact of coronavirus continues beyond the first quarter.   Moreover, the housing sector faces a liquidity crunch and refinancing challenges due to increasing uncertainty over the availability of credit in the market, coupled with poor demand. This is in the backdrop of the recent meltdown in the financial market and rising risk […]

Buying a house or any residential property in Noida will now be a costlier affair, as the Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities decided to hike the land allotment rate up to 10-12% at a board meeting on Monday. “We have increased the land allotment rate up to 10% in Noida in all categories, except for commercial properties. Rates of commercial property in Noida will not be increased because we want to correct the rates. “Land allotment rates will be hiked up to 12% in Yamuna expressway area. The rates are unchanged in Greater Noida because they saw an increase in February this year,” said Rama Raman, chairperson of Noida, Greater […]

Meenakshi Sinha,TNN | Jun 3, 2014, 03.41 AM IST NOIDA: The Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Associations (FONRWA) on Monday protested the 10.5% hike in residential land prices by the Noida Authority. N P Singh, president of FONRWA, said, “The land in Noida is either sold out or belongs to farmers. So what land does the authority propose to increase the prices of? When they don’t have land to sell or buy, they have no right to increase the rates. It’s just a ploy to make Noida an expensive city for homebuyers and make money at the expense of its residents,” said Singh. According to Singh, the proposed increase will […]

NEW DELHI: Builders in Noida are unable to hand over more than 30,000 completed homes to their buyers, because of a National Green Tribunal order forbidding the Noida Authority from giving completion certificates to projects within a 10-kilometre radius of the Okhla bird sanctuary. Developers in Noida say they have in the past seven months since the tribunal’s order lost close to Rs 1,000 crore as they have been holding on the flats, paying interest on their loans as well as penalty to home buyers. “Everyone is bleeding,” said Vineet Gupta, director of the Ajnara group, which has around 1,500 apartments waiting to be handed over to buyers. Projects of […]

NEW DELHI: As more Indians log online to seek information before entering into property deals, Internet today is estimated to be influencing decisions worth about USD 43 billion, search engine giant Google said. According to a study commissioned by the US-based firm, over 50 per cent of real estate buyers’ decisions are influenced by Internet research. “This phenomenon of researching online for real estate information before making a decision is not limited to metros but also extended to buyers in tier II cities,” Google India Industry Director Nitin Bawankule told reporters here. The overall influence of Internet on real estate transaction value of both residential and commercial property including rentals […]

NEW DELHI: Realty firm Logix group plans to raise Rs 250 crore from foreign investors for the development of its ongoing mixed-use commercial project in Noida. The company is developing this commercial project at an investment of Rs 1,000 crore and is looking to raise FDI to complete this project. The 6-acre project ‘Noida City Center’ includes a 7 lakh sq ft shopping mall, 2.5 lakh sq ft office towers, two hotels with combined 400 rooms and 100 service apartments. “Total project cost of this commercial project is Rs 1,000 crore,” Logix group CMD Shakti Nath said. The investments are largely met through internal accruals, he said, adding that the […]

MUMBAI: Until recently, real estate portals were used by home buyers to research on floor plans and price of apartments but builders are taking this process to the next level: you can now buy a home online. With growing internet penetration, builders have realised the potential of the online space in selling homes and some have even tasted success. Mumbai-based Lodha group has generated over 100 bookings through its online portal for its new township project Palava in Navi Mumbai. “We see the online space offering the potential for us to connect with consumers in new ways across the engagement cycle, from first contact to providing basic information all the […]

In order to expedite the completion of eight stalled residential projects in Noida and Greater Noida, the National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) would soon issue a tender. The NBCC has plans to float a tender for completing the eight stalled housing projects of Amrapali, which includes over 23,000 residential units in Noida and Greater Noida with a total investment of over Rs 5,000 crore. The decision to issue the tender was made after the directive issued by the Supreme Court (SC) to take over the stalled projects in the region. Last year, the apex court had given the responsibility to State-owned NBCC to complete the delayed projects in NCR at the […]

In China, SEZs were developed along its southern coast in the areas of Shenzhen, Shantou, Zhuhai, Hainan and Xiamen which were backward small villages lacking in basic infrastructure and industrial resources. These zones were developed as manufacturing hubs and the open access to international trade sea lanes led to their success. These SEZs attracted huge amounts of foreign capital and optimised the use of management, advanced technology and equipment. In India, apart from a few port locations, most of the existing and proposed SEZs are located inland. Moreover, the Indian policy makers could only see half the picture in assuming that the foreign investors who were not comfortable with the […]

NEW DELHI: Unitech Corporate Parks, a Unitech group firm listed in London, has received bids of up to Rs 2,700 crore from six companies, including Blackstone, for sale of its IT Special economic Zone (SEZ) in Gurgaon. Listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market and set up to invest in commercial real estate of India, UCP has 60 per cent stake in the Gurgaon SEZ comprising 3.6 million sq ft commercial space. Unitech has remaining stake in the SEZ. UCP has given the mandate to property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle India to find out potential buyers. According to sources, UCP, which has put the Gurgaon SEZ on the block, has received […]

On Monday, the government rolled out the promised “package of reforms” to boost the country’s exports. The commerce ministry notified the Amended Rules, 2013, for special economic zones (SEZs) launched with much fanfare over seven years ago. However, real estate developers are not very enthused by the amended policy. The reason, they say, is not just policy, but several other factors that have stifled the growth of a sector, which posted growth of over 121 per cent in exports in 2009-10. As per the amended policy, the minimum land requirement norms have been eased, graded scale for minimum land criteria has been introduced, an exit policy for SEZ units has […]

INDORE: To ensure hassle-free establishment of special economic zones (SEZs) in Indore, the state government is all set to go for Development Control Regulation (DCR). On the lines of Gujarat, a single window clearance system is being planned for them. A decision to this effect is likely to be taken during the meeting of the state cabinet in Bhopal on Wednesday. Once cleared, the Act will empower the SEZ development commissioner to sort out the issues and give necessary permission to the SEZs that have already been allotted land by the state government and received notifications for the SEZ status. They include TCS, Infosys and Impetus. While TCS and Impetus […]

NEW DELHI: As many as 29 special economic zone developers including Tata Consultancy ServicesBSE -0.20 %, Parsvnath Infra and Navi Mumbai SEZ Pvt Ltd have sought more time from the government for implementing their projects. The inter-ministerial Board of Approval (BoA) chaired by Commerce Secretary S R Rao will consider these requests at its meeting on November 8. Posco-India Pvt Ltd, Unitech Infracon and Lodha Dwellers have also requested additional time for project implementation from the BoA, according to the agenda note of the meeting. The developers have cited reasons like global meltdown and fluctuating market conditions for delay in completion of projects. TCS, which is setting up IT/ITES zone […]

BANGALORE, INDIA – HARMAN International (India) Pvt. Ltd., the premium audio, infotainment and enterprise automation group, was awarded with this year’s TATA Motors Supplier of the Year award at the TATA Motors Annual Supplier’s Conference 2014 held in Mumbai on November 12^th. The TATA Motors Supplier of the Year award recognizes the contribution and commitment of its most valued partner and involves a rigorous selection process.

STAMFORD, CT – HARMAN (NYSE:HAR), the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today announced that Pradeep Chaudhry has been appointed Country Manager for its India operations, effective January 1, 2016....

BANGALORE, INDIA –  HARMAN (NYSE:HAR), the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today announced the launch of limited edition JBL® Raaga Synchros S500AR headphones, autographed by academy award winner...

BENGALURU, INDIA –  HARMAN (NYSE:HAR), the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today announced that it has launched its global corporate social responsibility initiative, ‘HARMAN Inspired’, in India....

GUJARAT, INDIA – HARMAN (NYSE:HAR), the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today opened an exclusive premium showroom for its high-end, Luxury Audio range of products in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This is the company’s fifth luxury audio showroom* in India and offers the most advanced high-performance audio systems available in the country.

BENGALURU, INDIA – HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated (NYSE: HAR), the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today announced that it has opened a new center of competence (CoC) for HARMAN’s...

Sustainability is a key component to everything we do at HARMAN. A good example of that is our manufacturing plant, located within Chakan, the industrial area in Pune, India. Inaugurated in 2014 as our first manufacturing plant in India, it has a ...

Summers are the best time of year, when we go for our annual vacations, plan outings and trips with family and friends and HARMAN is known to be elevating such experiences. This summer, we decided to take a delve into how our iconic brands are creating...

By Dr. Cristina Bettencourt, Head of HARMAN University   At HARMAN, we owe every degree of our success to our talented and dedicated employees. While we already have extraordinary talent across all of our operations, we never stop trying to improve by...

During the early 1900s, the city of Mumbai witnessed an unprecedented peak in social, artistic, and cultural activity. At the center of this movement was the Royal Opera House, Mumbai, India’s ‘cultural crown jewel’ and only surviving opera house. Built...

March has been an exceptionally exciting month here at HARMAN. Our celebrations of International Women’s Month encompassed inspirational stories across departments, geographies, cultures and continents. Campaigns and programs were successfully launched...

MARCH 28, 2019, NEW DELHI, INDIA – HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced its sponsorship of Delhi Capitals, one of the key teams participating in the T20 Cricket Indian Premier League 2019, through its popular...

MUMBAI, INDIA – HARMAN Professional Solutions, the global leader in audio, video, lighting and control systems, including networked AV, today announced popular fusion rock band Swarathma, Rajasthani folk singer Mame Khan and percussionist Darshan Doshi...