India Real Estate Monitor » Gujarat

Gujarat Builders To Tour Argentina And Brazil

Pakhi Kshitij — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:22:16 +0000

As the realty sector in the country is picking up again the builders and developers of Gujarat want to leave no stone unturned to lure the buyers and provide them with unique world class features. Over 100 builders from across the state are planning to visit Argentina and Brazil as part of a technical tour to study their local Realty Markets. The trip will be 10 day long and will give the builders an idea about the way their Real Estate Markets work in their economies.

Brazil and Argentina were chosen mainly because their economies are quite similar to the one in India. The trip will give the builders knowledge to compare and comprehend the real estate activities happening in the Latin American countries.

Photo by Vitor GuersonBrazil is part of the BRIC nations; Argentina’s GDP has an economy which, akin to India, has been growing at 8-9 per cent per annum. The developers will be visiting Argentina’s capital — Buenos Aires — often referred to as ‘The Paris of South America’. They will also be visiting the largest cities in Brazil — Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo — considered as the safest opportunities for real estate investment. Rio de Janeiro, regarded as the ‘Carnival Capital’ of the world, is probably Brazil’s most famous city and the second largest in Brazil with a population of over 15 million people. Sao Paolo is the centre of government and finance in the country, and is therefore likely to be popular with those looking for commercial and office properties.

Both the countries are among the hottest destinations in the world today for commercial real estate investment. The developers will not only hold meetings with local counterparts, they will also be looking for opportunities for possible joint ventures.

Well, this is not the first time the builders of Gujarat will be taking an excursion like this. In January, a similar group of realtors from Gujarat had gone to study the real estate cycle of the debt-hit Dubai.Some of them were also trying to acquire properties in the emirate. But the builders were apprehensive about putting their money in the place as the real estate market in Gujarat gave them far better returns. Similarly, last year, about 120 realtors from Gujarat had undertaken a technical tour of Japan and South Korea.

Surely these foreign tours have benefitted the city. The quality of design of real estate structure in terms of interiors, landscaping or aesthetics have improved by and large giving the state a new look and feel.

3 Day Property Show At World Gujarati Conference

rajani — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:04:23 +0000

With Gujarat’s realty market showing signs of a slowdown, the Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers (GIHED) has its fingers crossed that the just concluded 3-day property show at World Gujarati Conference (WGC) will help keep the market afloat by raking in NRI business of around Rs 1,000 crore by March 2009.
The 50-odd Gujarat-based realtors , who displayed nearly 150 projects , are hoping that after having a peek at properties on offer , NRGs winging their way during winter break will buy into Gujarat realty .
While high-end apartments and bungalows were sought after and realtors claimed to have booked 15-20 units, GIHED vice-president Suresh Patel said the basic objective was not just to sell realty but promote Gujarat an investment destination . “Properties are not bought on impulse. It’s just a way to connect with NRGs , who usually get friends and relatives to check out property before they fly down ,” explained Ahmedabad-based Sangath group ‘s Nephal Shah, who claims to have distributed nearly 5,000 brochures .
Added Ahmedabad-based Parshwanath Realty Pvt Ltd director Rushabh N Patel, “There are many NRGs who haven ‘t been to Gujarat in years and are not aware of the rapid development .”
And despite a huge crash in property prices due to the sub-prime crisis and the fact that visitors found property prices at the show ‘inflated’, many showed keenness in buying property in Gujarat thanks to prospects of higher appreciation.
“I am sure prices are negotiable,” said conference participant Sanat Desai hopefully , even as Princeton (NJ) based architect Ramesh Patel was excited about the ‘phenomenal’ appreciation . “If I buy a house worth $ 1 million here, I will get twice the returns in 10 years, while in Gujarat I can expect it to appreciate 10 times,” he said. “Investment is the basic objective. We have a house here and don’t plan to move to India permanently even later,” said businessman Dhiraj Shah.

BOA For SEZ Approved 29 Proposals

rajani — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:15:16 +0000

The Board of Approval (BoA) for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) cleared a total of 29 proposals to set up SEZs, including three proposals for conversion of in-principle approvals into formal ones. The Board recommended grant of 23 formal and six in-principle approvals.
Prominent among the formal approvals are four IT/ITeS SEZs in Kerala by Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited, another two IT/ITeS/electronic hardware SEZs in Andhra Pradesh by Godrej Real Estate Private Limited and S2tech.com. Two more IT/ITeS SEZs were approved to be set up in Gujarat by Strength Real Estate and Gaurinandan Property Holders.
Two biotechnology SEZs in Andhra Pradesh by Lahari Infrastructure and a Biological E were also approved.
An SEZ for non-conventional energy, including solar energy equipment/cell SEZ in Gujarat by Euro Multivision was also granted formal approval.
An engineering SEZ in Tamil Nadu by Township Developers India was converted from in-principal to formal approval.
In-principle approvals were granted among others for a multi-product SEZ in Madhya Pradesh by Reliable Smart City.
The airport and aviation sector, including maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) SEZ in Tamil Nadu by Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Limited, was given in-principle nod as also a free trade warehousing zone SEZ in Tamil Nadu by Vikram Logistics and Maritime Services.

HDFC Will Organize India Homes Fair

rajani — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:12:29 +0000

Buoyed by an exciting real estate market, investors in Britain increasingly prefer India for investment looking for higher profits on the back of a slowdown in Britain’s realty market.
Navyroof.Com, a company that emphasizes investment prospects in the most upcoming areas of India to the UK investors, Managing Director A. Fassnidge said: “All the economic indicators project a bright, sustainable prospect for India”.
In the previous two years alone, property prices in India increased by 70 %.” India is also seen as an eye-catching destination because of the Indian government recently relaxing rules for foreign investment in the housing sector.
Merrill Lynch consultants have forecasted a 700 % increase in the Indian property market by 2015. Meanwhile, except in quite a few areas in London, property prices all over Britain have recorded at least a 2% drop in the previous year because of the credit crunch and a further fall in prices is predicted.
British citizens of Indian-origin are increasingly investing in places, for example Gujarat, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Pune and Jaipur. In order to guide NRIs for purchasing property, Indian builders and property agents often organize exhibitions here.
The latest to organize exhibitions is the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), which would organize a two-day show called “India Homes Fair” here from June 28.
About 18 leading developers, including Ansal, Unitech, from India will showcase flats and villas at the event.
Renu Sud Karnad, joint managing Director of HDFC, said: “Home buying is a tedious process. As pioneers in housing finance, we have well understood this need and have thus organized this exclusive event to guide our NRI customers so that they take an informed decision.”

ABS Hotels Plans Smart Hotels Project In Eight Cities

rajani — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:51:35 +0000

ABS Hotels India is all set to launch a budget brand ‘Smart Hotels’ with plans to open it in eight cities within the next two years at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Ashok Aneja, the group’s chairman, informed that the group wants to expand in the budget and resort markets.

“Smart Hotels will come up in Goa, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Pune, Gwalior, Bhopal, Lucknow and Delhi. The properties will be owned and managed by us with no external borrowings whatsoever to fund the projects,” Aneja said.

The company is also planning to grow its resort brand – Roop Hotels & Resorts – with another property lined up at Gir National Park in Gujarat in addition to the existing Roop Resorts in Jim Corbett National Park and Kumaon (Nainital) region. “We expect to tap the resort locations in Uttaranchal, Dehradun and even have Roop Hotels in Bengaluru and Dehradun,” he added.

ABS Hotels India started as a master franchisee of US-based Microtel Inn & Suites for India and has developed three three-star hotels in Bengaluru, Jaipur and Mumbai under the brand. The brand had earlier planned to construct 20 hotels in India but later stalled the plan. ABS Hotels has now grabbed the opportunity to establish its own brand with the same plans that were made with Microtel. “We have the rights on the drawings and plan of the hotels and are taking the project forward,” Aneja stated.

The company owns land banks where it would also be considering developing hotels. It has also ventured into serviced apartments segment with its 42-room Roop Residency coming up in Bengaluru this year with an investment of Rs 20 crore, he summed.

Pantaloon Will Open 110 big bazaar hyper Markets

rajani — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:57:39 +0000

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, a future group venture, will make an investment of more than Rs 1500 crore for opening more than 110 big bazaar hyper Markets in various cities across the country, Anand Adukia, Zonal Chief of the company said on Friday.

“With this launch, Big bazaar is now present in all the four major cities of Ahmadabad (five stores), Anand, Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara (one each) while the count for all India goes upto 90 stores in 55 cities in the country,” Adukia told reporters, after opening its ninth store in the city today.

The sprawling three floors of Vadodara Big Bazzar houses over 1.6 lakh products and is a destination store to cater to every single household needs of a family, he said.

“We are a consumer-driven company and we ensure that all our Big Bazzar stores fulfill the needs of the entire household under one roof,”Adukia said.

This store also houses, ‘Navras’, a national brand known for fine 22 carat pure gold and diamond jewelery.

The company intends to open one more store in Vadodara, and Ahmedabad in next couple of months along with Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Vapi among others, Adukia added.

Besides, the company also intends to open 11 more stores in Gujarat later this year, he said adding, with this, the company has made a total investment of Rs 500 crore in the state.

At present, Pantaloons caters to the lifestyle segment through its 40 stores and seven central malls.

The company is a leading retailer with a turn over of over Rs 3350 crores and is targeting 50% growth this year, Adukia added.