NEW DELHI: Is India’s real estate bubble finally bursting? The International Monetary Fund’s recently-launched data series on global housing prices hints at that. Among 52 major markets for which IMF has collated house price data, India has witnessed the steepest fall. IMF’s calculation on the annual percentage change in property prices shows that prices in India fell by 9.1 per cent, the highest among major real estate markets. The fall is even worse than in countries struggling with the ongoing European Union’s financial crisis. Property prices in Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Spain and Portugal have all come down, but at a much slower rate. Ireland, on the other hand, registered a […]

NEW DELHI: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the real estate sector could jump over two-fold in the next one year with easing of FDI rules in the construction sector, realtors’ body NAREDCO said today. Real estate developers and consultants were of the view that this move would give fillip to cash-starved realty sector, which is reeling under a slowdown since last 2-3 years. It will help developers in raising funds to complete projects. Yesterday, the Cabinet relaxed FDI rules in construction sector by reducing minimum built-up area as well as capital requirement and easing the exit norms. “Reduction in minimum built-up area to 20,000 sq meters from 50,000 sq meters […]

NEW DELHI: The Delhi state consumer panel has asked real estate firm Omaxe Buildhome Pvt Ltd to pay over Rs 11 lakh to a retired Indian Airlines official after holding the realty firm of “deficiency of service” in the allotment of a flat at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (SCDRC), presided by judicial member S A Siddiqui, asked the firm to pay Rs 11.14 lakh to Secunderabad resident Pradeep Chaudhary. Chaudhary had approached the Commission alleging “unfair trade practice” and “deficiency of service” on the firm’s part and said that despite his strong opposition, the company, on its own, changed the location of […]

This week we’re very fortunate to speak with Rayner Saggers. Rayner is a Senior Systems Engineer on the F-35 Program at BAE Systems in the UK. That’s already pretty cool, but in addition to that, he’s a pillar of the MATLAB community at BAE Systems. He is the editor of... read more >>

Kelly Kearney is a top contributor to MATLAB Answers and File Exchange.  Here is a Q&A I did with Kelly who is a research scientist for the University of Washington in their Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean.                 ... read more >>

February 29th is right around the corner. It’s been hibernating for the past three years, snuggling in its secret den between February 28th and March 1st. But it’s just about to emerge again, stretching the calendar and irritating impatient March.... read more >>

Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, engineers and scientists are finding themselves suddenly working from home or other remote locations. We’d like to help you continue to use MATLAB and Simulink productively. We hope this brief collection of resources will help you access MATLAB, collaborate and connect with others, and... read more >>

Kalyan Acharjya has been contributing to MATLAB Answers since 2017. This past year his participation skyrocketed and he is currently a Rising Star. Here is a recent Q&A I had with Kalyan... read more >>

The Chinese government policy of racial and religious profiling has forced young Uyghurs to leave China and remain in exile.

"Nigeria is a secular state and freedom of speech is one of the fundamental characteristics of a modern democratic state. Criticizing a religion is not a criminal offence."

Benin drops 17 places in the 2020 World Press Freedom Index, following the withdrawal from a key document of the African Charter of Human and People's Rights.

Making himself Exhibit A for reopening the country, President Donald Trump visited an Arizona face mask factory Tuesday, using the trip to demonstrate his determination to see an easing of stay-at-home orders even as the coronavirus remains a dire threat. Trump did not wear a mask despite guidelines saying they should be worn inside the factory at all times.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Tuesday with an infection caused by a gallstone, the Supreme Court said.

A document created by the nation's top disease investigators with step-by-step advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and other public places during the still-raging outbreak has been shelved by the Trump administration.

The Justice Department on Thursday said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for the president and his supporters in attacking the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation.

The Weld County GOP chairman has filed a complaint with the local district attorney and the Secretary of State’s Office accusing an aide to Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Buck and three others of election fraud and corruption.

ADB returned to the US dollar bond market with the pricing of a $4.5 billion 5-year global benchmark bond issue, proceeds of which will be part of ADB’s ordinary capital resources.

ADB has approved a $100 million loan to help supply renewable energy to Mongolia by installing its first large-scale advanced battery energy storage system.

ADB needs to address issues causing weak sustainability of its projects to improve performance, says the 2020 Annual Evaluation Review (AER) conducted by ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department.

ADB today announced a $400,000 grant to the Government of Fiji to help fund priority recovery activities following Tropical Cyclone Harold, which hit Fiji's western, central, and eastern divisions on 8 and 9 April.

ADB has approved a $346 million loan to India to help provide efficient and reliable power connection to rural agriculture customers in the state of Maharashtra.

ADB today approved a $200,000 (460,000 pa’anga) grant to the Government of Tonga to help restore life-sustaining services following the damage from Tropical Cyclone Harold.

ADB has approved $50 million in loan and grant financing to help the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic mitigate the significant negative health, social, and economic impacts of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH), with support from ADB, has set up a new laboratory in Pampanga province, north of the capital Manila. It will significantly increase the government’s testing capacity for COVID-19...

Tata Value Homes Limited (TVHL), a 100% subsidiary of Tata Housing Development Company Limited, today strengthened its presence in South India by developing Spanish themed residential township at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. The company plans to Invest around Rs 300 crore in setting up this township. Inspired by Spanish living, Santorini is designed by architects F+A. The township is spread across lush greenery at Sriperumbudur, one of the fastest growing corridors in Chennai. Speaking on the project Brotin Banerjee, MD & CEO, Tata Housing Development Co. Ltd., said, with rapid urbanisation and influx of global lifestyle trends more and more affluent home buyers are looking for homes to reflect the financial […]

CHENNAI: As if land grab bids and ‘double documents’ are not menace enough for property owners/buyers, the state registration department shocked the Madras high court on Monday, saying it is difficult to issue encumbrance certificates without any fault. An encumbrance certificate (EC) is the basic document which reveals the current status of an immovable property. It is supposed to contain correct ownership details of a piece of property and inform the applicant whether it is encumbered or mortgaged in favour of a bank or any individual. However, responding to an anticipatory bail petition of a landowner who ended up purchasing another person’s property as the EC did not reflect latest […]

CHENNAI: The Kotturpuram branch of Indian Bank has invited tenders for auction of a property belonging to film producer and director Gautham Vasudev Menon in Adyar. As per details on Tenders India (a government tender information system), the auction process for the property located on First Main Road in Indira Nagar, has begun with the tender value being quoted at 12.26 crore. The winning bidder, expected to put up 50 lakh as a deposit. The property is 7,091 sqft, and the market price of each ground (2,400 sqft) in the area is 4.5 crore to 5 crore. “This particular account has been a non-performing asset (NPA) for some time and […]

CHENNAI: Strong English speaking skills and a wide mix of industries that promotes cross pollination of work culture has made Chennai one of the top 12 cities in the world for real estate investments. This is the first global recognition the city has received; it is also the lone Indian city on the list. The Candy GPS Report, published on Friday, identifies 12 cities around the globe with the potential to show strong residential property price growth in the next few years. The report — produced by Candy & Candy, Savills World Research and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management — said, “Prices in these rising cities are generally much lower […]

Mumbai: During 1Q 2014, the Mumbai office markets witnessed a further decline in office space absorption indicating cautious occupier sentiment. This lack of demand can be attributed to a low level of IT/ITeS sector participation in the overall absorption, which is currently the primary demand generating sector across the cities. This quarter only about 0.42 million sq ft of Grade A office space was leased with a few mid-sized deals concluded in Central and Western Suburbs, and Navi Mumbai. Construction activities remained slow. No projects / phases of projects were completed this quarter. Developers also refrained from launching new projects due to low demand. More than 7.5 million sq ft […]

BANGALORE: Property has always been a major investment avenue of the rich. Now, some of the people one would expect to focus on enterprising ventures are also looking at rent-yielding property. Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy’s family office has bought high-end luxury apartments in Bangalore and Mumbai, said sources familiar with the development. Catamaran Ventures, which manages part of Murthy’s wealth, has previously invested in e-commerce, FMCG and education ventures. Another source said that Premji Invest, the family office of Wipro chairman Azim Premji, is also scouting for real estate assets in metros. A couple of years ago, Premji, in his personal capacity, had picked up a few properties in […]

BANGALORE: Online real estate portal CommonFloor has raised $30 million (over Rs180 crore) in its fifth round from existing investor Tiger Global. In January, the Bangalore-based company had raised about Rs 65 crore from Tiger Global and Accel Partners. Sumit Jain, cofounder and chief executive officer of CommonFloor, confirmed the investment. “We will invest in technology, product development, hiring and expanding to at least 22 new cities in the next one year,” he said. While the company did not disclose the valuation it received, Jain said that Common Floor expects to earn a revenue of $25 million in the next one year. “We have grown 100% in terms of revenue […]

Alastair Hughes, CEO (Asia Pacific) of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), who was in Bangalore to hold a board meeting of the Asia Pacific region comprising China, Japan, Australia, South East Asia and India, spoke to BusinessLine to share the real estate market sentiment and key issues on corporate leasing. How is the realty market in India as compared to other countries in Asia Pacific ? India has seen a dramatic recovery. The hangover did not last very long as it had in 2010-2011. The market is very dynamic here right now. While Asia-Pacific began to recover in 2012-2013, India went through a lull, largely due to lack of business confidence, […]

Tunisia said it inspected a Turkish plane headed for Libya with medical aid that landed at an airport near the border.

Kuwait will enact a "total curfew" from 4pm (1300 GMT) Sunday through to May 30 to help to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the Information Ministry said on Twitter Friday.

Hackers linked to Iran have targeted staff at U.S. drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc in recent weeks, according to publicly-available web archives reviewed by Reuters and three cybersecurity researchers, as the company races to deploy a treatment for the COVID-19 virus.

The United States has approved a $2.3 billion deal on attack helicopters for Egypt, but an official insisted Friday that Washington was still pressing on human rights concerns.

Palestinian leaders vowed Friday to defy a new Israeli military order which they fear could lead to the confiscation of money destined for prisoners, their relatives and the families of those killed in unrest.

The head of Libya’s U.N.-supported government Friday warned of an escalation in the battle for Tripoli after rockets struck near foreign embassies in the capital, drawing sharp condemnation from the European Union and United Nations.

The north–south railway line comprised two parts: the northern section, from Uzen (Kazakhstan) to Bereket (Turkmenistan), is 596 km long; and the southern section, from Bereket to Gorgan (Iran) is 338.5 km long. The government requested ADB to finance only the design and installation of the power supply, signal systems, and telecommunication systems for 311 km of the northern section, from Bereket to Hazar. The project’s expected impact was increased trade between Turkmenistan and other countries in the region.

The Public-Private Infrastructure Development Facility (the facility) directly supported the government of Banglahdesh infrastructure development agenda providing the much-needed long-term funds for infrastructure financing.These funds, at commercial terms with more than 20 years of maturity for infrastructure subprojects, filled a gap in the market at that time. The facility complemented the ongoing financial sector reforms and public-private partnerships (PPPs), all of which were intended to create an enabling environment for long-term infrastructure financing.

The government requested financing from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support the National Highway Authority (NHA) in constructing new roads and improving existing ones along the backbone from Peshawar to Karachi, to Gwadar Port in Baluchistan, as well as connections between Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China. Following the completion of loan preparatory activities in May 2007 and loan negotiations in October 2007, the ADB Board in December 2007 approved a multitranche financing facility (MFF) for $900 million to support the NTCIP–Tranche 1.

The Bishkek–Torugart road serves several important functions. It is part of the CAREC Corridor 1(c) extending from Troitsk in the Russian Federation to Kashi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the PRC, and is the shortest route from Bishkek to Kashi. It is the only north–south trunk road in the central Kyrgyz Republic connecting Naryn oblast, the poorest of the Kyrgyz Republic’s seven oblasts, and the city of Naryn to the rest of the country. It is the only road providing direct access to Issyk Kul Lake region, which is one of Central Asia’s well-known tourist destinations.

The State Government of Madhya Pradesh requested the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to finance the rehabilitation and upgrade of 1,080 km of state highways in Madhya Pradesh under the state road rehabilitation program. The project was to upgrade existing roads to two or intermediate lanes (two-lane standard), strengthen existing pavement, strengthen culverts and bridges, and construct new bridges and cross-draining structures. The project roads were mostly in poor areas of the state in the eastern and west central areas of Madhya Pradesh.

This paper documents the Chair's Summary of the Development Effectiveness Committee (DEC) discussion held on 7 February 2020.  DEC and the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) discussed three topics presented by IED: Evaluation Capacity Development (ECD), Independent Evaluation Methods, and DEC-IED Retrospective/Prospective Exchange.

This paper documents the Chair's Summary of the Development Effectiveness Committee (DEC) discussion held on 25 March 2020. The commitee discussed the sector-wide evaluation report ADB Support for Transport, 2010-2018.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) country partnership strategy (CPS), 2016–2020 for Papua New Guinea (PNG) sought to assist the country in planning and implementing a successful conversion of its resource wealth into inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic growth. ADB’s sovereign program, comprising approved, completed, and ongoing loans, grants, and technical assistance (TA), totaled $2.11 billion during the period 2016 to May 2019. Transport was the sector receiving the largest amount of support (72% of total financing), followed by health (15%), and energy (9%). 

This paper documents the Chair's Summary of the Development Effectiveness Committee (DEC) discussion held on 14 April 2020. The commitee discussed the 2019 Development Effectiveness Review (DEfR), and the 2019 Annual Portfolio Performance Report (APPR).

The project aimed to construct the Fiu River hydropower plant and extend the distribution grid to peri-urban households in the main provincial center of Auki in Solomon Islands. Hydropower generation was to benefit the economy by reducing fossil fuel imports and lowering the cost of power generation. Likewise, it was intended to improve energy security and minimize tariff volatility. The use of renewable energy was also aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This report validates the completion report's assessment of the project. IED overall assessment: Unsuccessful. 

The Madhya Pradesh Power Sector Investment Program in India was a multitranche financing facility (MFF) designed to support Madhya Pradesh state’s sustainable economic growth and social development by investing in the statewide power transmission and distribution networks. The MFF supported the state government in expanding its power transmission, distribution, and management infrastructure and capacity.

The Annual Evaluation Review (AER) is the flagship report of the Independent Evaluation Department (IED) on the operational performance and results of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). This is an important year for the AER as it marks the first full year of Strategy 2030’s implementation. The AER provides a synthesis of the evaluations prepared by IED in the preceding year, updates performance trends, and draws lessons and offers recommendations to guide ongoing and future operations.