NEWS

NRIs to help India get Security Council seat

NRIs are using the Christmas-new year vacation period for checking out options to come back to India. And not without reason. Head hunters say that salaries pocketed by these expats have seen a 30-50 % jump over the last three years.

Says Uday Chawla, managing partner of executive search firm Transearch: This year, during the Christmas break, we received a record number of enquiries from Indian professionals to check out possible openings at CXO levels for relocating to India.

Surge in salaries back home - Among others, Mr Chawla attributes this trend to surging salaries back home. Though in terms of absolute value, rupee salaries are still lesser compared to dollar salaries. But then, it gets compensated by factors like lesser cost of living and some emotional issues, he adds.

Agrees Elixir partner Vipul Prakash: Its true that if in 2003 you were returning to India your Indian salary was one-fourth of what you got abroad. Now, it is up to 55% of what you earn abroad and with the cost of living much lesser in India it amounts to be almost equivalent or more than what you actually earn abroad.

Experts Speak -For instance, a senior executive, while working for a leading beverage firm in the US, was making about $200,000 and now is earning $120,000 back home in India, heading the bottling unit of another beverage firm.

According to HR industry experts , in case of IT companies such as Sapient and IBM, the salary differential is minuscule. For instance, a programmer making about Rs 40-44 lakh in the US can easily expect Rs 35-40 lakh doing the same job in India.

Salary Issues -According to Grassik Consultants CEO Rajeev Thakur, the differential between the salaries being earned in India and abroad is decreasing by the day.

It's hardly a concern-Difference in salary is hardly a concern now. In todays times salaries earned by white collared professionals in Dubai and India are exactly same. We have received calls from experts in marketing, finance and HR who are increasingly using the winter break to return to India, he says.

The PUNJAB government is all  out to woo NRI investors  for vorious tourism projects that it has in the pipeline.While making a presentation,jagjit puri,secretary tourism,punjab said the Gobindgarh Fort recently handed over to the state government,will be given to private players.

"We want to promote heritage tourism,farm tourism,rural tourism and religious tourism,Divestment is going on and we have thought of putting more sites for NRIs.In fact,the Gobindgarh Fort will also be given to private players."The globally popular concept  of farm tourism will also be introduced.Here the NRIs will be urged  to convert their old farmhouses

as places for torism interest.NRIs will play major role as they will be the facilitators and investors. "The government will

only govern and not manage any thing"added Mr Puri. In addition to this, farm holidays will also be given importance.

Empanelled eight farm houses in punjab in patiala,Abohar,Bathinda,Ludhiana,Jalandhar,Hoshiarpur and Ropar have been earmarked.Encouraged by response from tourists,Eol invited from owners of farmhouses located in punjab

for recognition and registration of their farmhouses.Multi-dimensional integrated projects in 65 acre near Mohali costing

Rs 50 crore are also on the anvil for NRIs to invest. An equal amount is being allocated to the convention center in Amritsar.

Punjab realty gets a shot in the arm

NRIs urged to contribute to India's development

The green bags of the overseas Indians caught the attention of the indian

government,which urged them to follow the path of overseas chinese in the

economic development of the nation.

  While minister after minister listed out the  areas of investment,the home

minister tried to instil confidence amongst them that their assets in the

country would be safe and the risks,India was as much as anywhere else in

the world.

"You have the knowledge,expertise,experience and capital and can contribute

in a big way towords not only enabling India to be on the path of development

and reforms,but also towords balanced development within India,"External

Affairs Minister pranab Mukherjee said at the pravasi Bharatiya Divas here

today.

       He ugred the states to take specific intiatives and devise strategies to

benefit from the creativity,talent,and enterprise of the overseas Indian

community.

  Agriculture Minister Sharad pawar said a second green revolution was

urgently needed to raise the growth rate of agriculture GDP in India to

around 4 per cent.

He said policies were being framed to ensure that growth was broad based.

Tourism Minister Ambika soni said a tax holiday scheme for investments in

budget hotels was expected to be announced in a few weeks and invited the

Indian diaspora to avail the opportunity.

Acknowledging that tourism had remained on the backburner for long,she said

the UPA government was giving  a major thrust to the development of the

sector  through various measures,including simplification of visa system and

improving connectivity.

In the next few weeks,there can be a decision to give tax holiday to those

investings in budget hotels,Ms soni said,adding,"You have experience in

budget hotels.please come and share your experience."

To instil confidence amongst the overseas Indian to invest in the country

,Union Home Minister Shivraj patil assured them that india was as safe as

any other part of the world.

"We are duty bound to provide security to all those who come to India.The

risk involved in carrying out activities(in India)is definitely not going to

be more than in other parts of the world,"he said.Presenting India as a

happening place,the Home Minister said ,"please do not entertain any

apprehension.We would be in a position to provide security.".

NRIs should capitalse on India's youth:Sibal

Now, NRIs can join farmhouse rush

The department of industrial policy and promotion(DIPP) is considering a proposal  to allow  non -resident

Indians(NRIs) to buy farmhouses and small plantations in india. A final decision on this proposal is expected

 in a month and minimum requirements for such acquisition may be stipulated.

     Foreign Exchange Management Act(Fema)does not permit foreign investment in agriculture and farm sector. Farmhouses are categorised as agricultural land and the bar would have to be lifted to allow investment by NRIs in this segment.

                Through press Note 2 of 2005 series ,the government alowed foreign direct investments(FDI)up

to 100% under the automatic route in construction projects including housing,commercial premises, resorts,educational institutions,townships. However,such investment is subject to conditions of minimum capitalisation and minimum area development.FDI is not permitted in any other segment of real estate sector.

NRIs from all over the world have been urging the government to permit investments in these segments.According to sources,they are even learnt to have approached various area development authorties and municipal corporations seeking farm lands.

   While discussions are still on within the DIPP,officials of the finance ministry are of the view that investment in farmhouses cannot be categorised  as foreign direct investments(FDI).The final decision on the issue would depend on the views of the agricultural ministry and the Reserve bank, apart from the finance ministry and the DIPP.

"The proposed policy change will only enable the NRIs to buy land are meant for farmhouses. They would not be allowed to build farmhouses on forest land or agriculture land and certain land use changes are

needed,"said a senior government official.

At present,farmhouse purchases by NRIs are taking place through convoluted routes.In the name of relatives and friends,NRIs buy farmhouses and the transactions are through forged titles."Through

everybody is kept in the loop from broker to owner,the land titles are never clear," the official said.

Therefore, change in the current policy will aim at curtailing "benami"transactions,added the official.

According to some real estate brokers in the capital,the NRIs are interested in buying farm houses

in area earmarked for farmhouses in and around Delhi- like sainik Farms and Mehrauli Gurgaon Road.

North India all set to welcome NRIs

North India would be reeling under ashower of NRIs from all walks of life.After primr minister Manmohan Singh urged NRI investors to "extend their branches" at the Bhartiya pravasi Divas in Delhi recently,Chandigarh will play host to nearly 300 NRIs from all across the globe.

                                                                 The Fourth pravasi punjabi Divas scheduled for Wednesday will bring NRIs and PIOs from US, UK,Singapore,Thailand,Malaysia,Newzealand,Australia and Germany on one platform.Organising the event,International punjabi chamber of service industry is expecting a huge sum of investment in various service sectors,primarily infrastructure

Collector rates for primr areas   in commercial,residential and agricultural areas are likely to be increased this year the rates are decided by computing an average of previous three auctions conducted by the chandigarh administration.

                                                        the administration is contemplating a hike keeping in sight prevalent  market rates. While the increase is sid to be definite,the percentage  hike has not been decided upon as of now. though administration official remain tight lipped and skeptical,source say another 50% increase in collector rates can be expected.

                                                  Says Chandigarh finance secretary SK Sandhu,"Deliberations are on and metting to decided on the new rates would be conducted in few days. Unless it is proved that there is a requirment to hike the rates,it will be done."the hike is expected as market rates have increased significantly in few years.The volatility has forced the administration to increase collector rates twice during 2005 there had been 50% increase in july folowed by a 60% rise in November, 2005.Although,market rates have shot up ever since,collector rates had not been revised.

                                                     The present collector rates for commercial areas stand at Rs 19,200 per sqyard in the industrial area, Rs21,600per sq yard in Iron and Timber market Rs 36,000 persq yard for properties in manimajra .

                                                             For small booths in the northern sectors of the city,the rates range between Rs60,000and Rs 1 lakh while a shope com-office areas in the heart of the city,Sector 17,demands a minimum Rs1.68 lakh per sq yard.

                                      Further, for residential areas,the price per sq yard is fixed  at Rs 9,200. further more agricultural  land in rural area stand at Rs 36 lakh per acres while land owned by the panchayat is accounted at Rs 93 lakh per two Kanal.In other villagesof the UT,the higest pricestand at Rs 28.8 lakh per acre.According to experts,a 1 kanal residential plot being sold for Rs 1.5 crore in panchkula,Haryana would fetch a price hovering between Rs2.5 to Rs 3 crore in Chandigarh.With official collector rates comparatively much lower, the money following into actual transactions is not accounted for resulting in loss to the administration and poliferation of black money.

                                                                       Officials say that the increase is mandatory."There is a need to close the gap between prevalent market rates and collector rates to allow minimum possible loss to the city exchequer,"says an official.However, recent attempts of bringing price close to the market rates met with resentment From nrirealg.city residents.Price for the school sites kepts for auction were increased resulting in no buyers for the site and ultimate cancellation of the auctions,twice.The onus would remain on how the administration achieves a balance between the demand of market requirements of the city on a whole

M-cap of real estate firms hit the roof

Have doubts about the indian real estate growth story? just check out these stats:In the last two years, the market cap of

nine large listed real estate companies has grown more than 50 times,through on a low base.In 2004, total m-cap of these companies was Rs 1,210 crore which went up to a whopping Rs 60,660 crore by November 2006.

According to a report by Edelweiss, Anant Raj Industries recorded the biggest growth-more than 168 times-from Rs

40 crore to Rs 6,716 crore in three years,It is closely followed by one of the largest real estate companies,Unitech,Whose m-cap has grown by 122 times from Rs 324 crore to Rs 39,400 crore.unitech also constitutes the lion's share of total sectoral m-cap at 65%.Prajay,a Hyderabad-based company,has seen 58 times

growth in its m-cap from 20 crore to Rs1,146 crore.

Recent initial public offerings(IPOs)by companies, such as bangalore based shobha developers and Delhi based

parsvnath developers are not included in this list as they were not listed earlier.

The report says while Ansal API clocked an m-cap of Rs 4,931 crore from Rs 100 crore in 2004,Mahindra Gesco's

m-cap rose to Rs 4,058 crore from Rs 220 crore. Peninsula lands m-cap was Rs 365 crore in 2004 and has gone up

to Rs 2,626 crore. Ansal housing,which had an m-cap of Rs 21 crore in 2004,has now gone up to Rs 519 crore.

Arihant group has seen its m-cap rise by 40 times-from Rs 8.4 crore to Rs 336 crore now DS Kulkarni Developers

, a pune-based housing construction company ,saw Its m-cap climb from Rs 107 crore in 2004 to Rs 925 crore by November 2006,according to Edelweiss.

Says TanaJi Chakrabarti, President ,Knowledge center ,trammell crow Meghraj:"after a prolonged period, the real estate

sector has been recognised in the capital market ,reflective of the performance that has been posted on the ground over the last few years.The market cap of leading llisted real estate companies as well as new companies listing has grown

substantially and is in line with the growing spread and depth of such companies in rapidly growing real estate and urban

infrastructure volumes that are bieng undertaken by such companies."

Though  the growth in real estate market cap may seem quit substantial ,starting on a relatively small base ,in the longer

term context ,given the potential and the expansion in the size of real state sector,the overall combined market cap is ticipated to expand further

Kotak Realty lines up $350-m fund

KOTAK Realty,the real estate investment arm of Kotak Mahindra Ltd, is raising its second fund worth $350 million.

The fund has got commitments from international investors,financial institutions,multilateral agencies and high-net worth

investors in the United states,the Middle East and Europe for investing in indian real estate. The fund is expected to be

closed in the next 5-6 weeks.

    In May 2005,Kotak Mahindra investments started Kotak realty Fund with the setting up of the Kotak India Real Estate

Fund I-a$100-million fund for investing in real estate.

When contacted by ET,S Sriniwasan,CEO Kotak Realty Fund,declined to comment on the second fund,Sources close

to the company say the fund will be closed by March 2007. currently,HDFC and IL&FS have global funds where international investors have parked money for investing in  real estate opportunities in India.While HDFC raised a $750

million international fund in september last year,IL&FS investments Managers raised $502.57 million in its international

fund in may 2006.

Kotak's new fund would seek equity investments in development projects and enterprise level investments in real estate

operating companies.These would include hotels,healthcare,retailing, education and property management.The proposed fund will also  focus  on the northern region. Till now,Kotak Realty's first fund has made most of its investments in the southern and western regions of the country.

The idea is to tap the boom in the northern region and not restrict only to the southern and western parts of the country,"

said a source to the company.

Kotak Realty's first fund, a closed-ended fund of seven years,is said to have deployed nearly 65-70% of its corpus.While it invested through the pre IPO placement  in Bangalore-based Sobha Developers, the fund has also

invested in the Delhi based hotel chain Lemon Tree Hotels and Red fox Hotels .Both these hotels chains have also been funded by private equity major warburg pincus. Lemon Tree Hotels operates in mid-price segment and caters to business and leisure travellers.

Do you think India would be a devoloped country by 2020?

61% say yes|24%say No|Cannot say 15%

The CONFIDENCE  is striking.No less then 61 percent of our respondents are convinced thatindia will be as good as any developed country by 2020.Fifteen years ago - or for that matter,at any time over the past two centuries-hardely anyone would have said so.India was an international byword for poverty and economic sluggishness. The transformation is a resounding endorsement of the success of economic liberalisation.

                                                       Yet a good number of respondents are relistic enough to harbour doubts about whether poverty in the country will be sighnificantly reduced by 2020.A good 45 percent no doubt subscribe to the trickle down theory,believeing that wealth creation will inevitably lead to wealth distribution as well as.Even so,the fact that the "Nos"   and "can't Says together out number the yea  sayers-55percent to 45percent -is sobering.

                                                                  For   all the growth India has made in recent year, only 49 percent of respondents felt their individual lives were easier then those of their parents. The Universal tendency to look back with nostalgia, and be lieve no time is as bad as the present, may be partially at work here, but it also a reminder of the old adage that money cannot buy happiness. India is getting richer, but a good 33 percent believe there lives are more difficult then their parents were.

                                                                  A host of factors other then economic seem to have weighed with respondents while deciding if their childrens lives will be any easier then their own. Yhe jury is almost evenly out -47percent believe their childrens lives will be thougher, while 44 percent think their lives will be better. The growing complexity of existence, the increasing competitiveness the withering away of old established value seem to influenced respondents while reaching their decision   

Foreign investors growing appetite for the booming Indian property market will enable the sector to increase its share in total FDI inflow into the country by at least 10% in 2006-07, a study by industry body Assocham said. The study-Future of Real Estate Investment in India- projects that in 2006-07 the total foreign direct Investment into India would be about $8 billion, of which the share of the real estate sector is estimated at 26.5%. In 2005-06 the share of the realty sector in the total FDI of $ 5.46 billion stood at 16%.

India to achieve 10% growth: may overtake China by 2010

Though most big ticket real estates developers are bullish about foreign investments in the sector, they are apprehensive that if the area cap for a project to be FDI compliant is reduced to the proposed limits, this may triger large scale demand for land in tier2 and tier3 cities, leading to further escalation of land prices, according to a proposal, the government is planning to significantly ease entry barriers. if implemented a project will be FDI complaint only for 10 acres in residential and 10,000 square meter in commercial.

Punjab to make Available Land in Mohali For Chandigarh Airport

India Calling: Companies go all out to tap NRI market

Now, Punjab will have its very own air lines. Air slovakia has been bought Harjinder singh sidhu, a Nabha-based NRI who had left for uk 40 years ago.The airlines will be catering to punjabis and will have flights to various destination in Europe and North America only from Amritsar.Air slovakia will be focusing on the punjabi diaspora. Amritsar will be our prime location and our aim is to connect punjabis world wide to the golden city.Air slovakia has three flights from amritsar. we have a staff of around 60 people and we plan to give the Airlines a punjabi touch with punjabi cuisine,and will also have punjabi air hostesses,

"Raqpal singh, air slovakia director, who is also Harjinder singh's son,told ET.The airline is also going for a fleet expansion and will add six more aircraft to the current fleet of three.The name of the airlines will remain air slovakia but there are also plans to add the words golden city to make it clear that it's for Amritsar. We have three flights to Amritsar coming from birmingham, cologne and milan we will be adding six more destination, which will take the total to nine by the end of 2007.we will be starting operation to tranto and San Francisco by middle 2007.By the end of the next year we will have services to barcelona,Athens Amsterdam,glasgow and paris.Right now we don't have plans to change the name and it will remain air Slovakia.we are thinking of adding the words golden city.but nothing has been finalized yet,"he added.Air slovakia has two Boeing-757s and one boeing 737s.it plans to add two more757s and will brimg in two Boeing-767s,too.Harjinder sidhu left Punjab at the age of 16 and came to east Ham to start his petrol pumps and had a chian of 30 pumps.Then,he also entered the commercial property market in uk,canada and india.by2003 he became a part of the Monark airlines.

In december 2005,he became the general sales agent(GSA)of Air slovakia in England and Italy and by 2006became the GSA of india,which made him a shareholder and financial director of the company.In the last three months they were in talks with company officials for a takeover and last week the deal was sealed. The first flight after the new ownership came on friday and three more flights will be started by saturday.

Air slovakia,earlier Known as Air slovakia BWJ,was eastblished in 1993, and is headquartered at Bratislava.it started operations in 1995.till that time the company's name was Air Terrex slovakia and after the separation withAir terrex it operates as a slovak company.

Property Developers Must Refund Advance Amount With Interest If They Fail To Deliver On Time

The government has made it mandatory for the developers to adhere to deadlines on finished housing properties. Property developers will have to refund the entire advance amount with interest if they fail to deliver flats to customers in the agreed time-frame.

The Union urban development ministry has already circulated a note saying refunds must be paid within a week after the deadline to state governments. As per the note, the developers will have to refund a minimum 20% of the advance within seven days of the deadline with the remaining money paid on an agreed timeframe.

The refund time-frame would be decided by the real estate regulator, an official said. The proposed real estate watch dog, a part of the Real Estate Bill, is likely to be tabled in winter session of Parliament.

The move is aimed to check the prevailing practice wherein developers announce a project even without seed money. Instead they collect huge sums as advance from customers. Construction starts only after they have collected enough money to continue work. Buyers suffer as this leads to project delays.

The refund clause will be incorporated as a guideline for the developers in the new Real Estate Bill. The real estate regulators in each state would oversee that it is implemented in the letter and spirit, said a senior official said. The move will not only help buyers but also reduce the number of property-related litigations.