Full House
Letting is the new game in town. Over 1,000 buildings housing flats and apartments have already come up in the Pink City & more are in the pipeline. To-let signs are coming up faster than you can say Hawa Mahal, writes JUPINDERJIT SINGH
GONE are the days when residents and traders of this Pink City eagerly awaited the September to February tourist season for making moolah to last through the year. Instead, they now have a new round-the-year business: Renting out commercial and residential building for whopping sums.

SEZs may get local governance bodies
THE Government of India is in the process of preparing guidelines for setting up local governance bodies for Special Economic Zones. These guidelines are likely to by announced very shortly to delegate greater financial autonomy to the office of the development commissioner. The new rules would also give more powers to the chief executive officer while ensuring that the rents collected from the SEZs should be available for improvement of infrastructure.

Salary Boom
YOU’VE heard this one before: Real estate is big money. Till now true only for speculators, investors and realtors, the segment is now hot property for job seekers too. According to industry estimates, while salaries for manufacturing and automobiles graduates from reputed schools can go up to Rs 6 lakh a year, real estate firms do not mind paying between Rs 12 and 15 lakh a year! Everyone in this business seems to be earning more. 

Tax tips
HRA exemption
Q. I am receiving a house rent allowance of Rs 10,000 a month. Can I claim exemption of the said amount from income tax?
— Joginder Singh
A. The exemption of HRA is regulated by Rule 2A of Income-tax Rules, 1962. The least of the following amounts is exempted:

GREEN HOUSE
Space no bar
Shrubs provide both flowers & foliage. If you live in a small house, all the more reason to befriend them, suggests
Satish Narula
IF you have a passion for gardening, then any given space is a constraint. Those living in small houses or flats may feel the pinch, but let that not stop you from going green. Shrub plants are suitable for all situations and locations. The advantages of having shrubs are unlimited. One of the major advantages is that out of the varied range there are specimens that bloom at a time when there is no other flower available in the garden — the intervening time between summer and winter flowering annuals. 

REALTY BYTES
Mahagun Developers deposits Rs 30 crore tax
Real estate company Mahagun Developers deposited Rs 30 crore with the Income Tax Department after I-T sleuths detected alleged irregularities in paying taxes.