Highway high in the hills
Ambika Sharma

The Barog area is also catching up as an investor's dream as the alternate bypass was notified for land use freeze after the four-laning of the Kalka-Shimla has been proposed and no construction activity is permitted along the NH. Another area along the highway, which has emerged as a favourite hot spot of property dealers is the Dharampur-Kasauli road. Since buying property is not permitted in the popular hill station of Kasauli, the next best option is the area around Kasauli. Hectic construction activity is being witnessed on this road ever since the High Court had lifted its ban. With almost every nook and corner of this road witnessing construction activity, resorts, flats and individual houses dot this road.

The Kimmughat-Chakki-ka-Mor road is also abuzz with construction activity as a large number of retired defence officials have set up their houses here. Those who failed to buy land near Kasauli are flocking to the Garkhal-Jagjitnagar road where a number of resorts had come up.

With tourism being a popular activity here there is spurt in the number of commercial ventures also with even the home-stay scheme of the HP Tourism Corporation finding many takers. Several ventures are under construction and a three-bedroom flat is attracting a price as high as Rs 90 lakh in the vicinity of Kasauli.

tax tips
Distance issue not relevant
S. C. Vasudeva

Q. A friend of mine is serving as Junior Engineer in a Punjab Government Department. His wife is also working as staff nurse with Punjab Government. Headquarters of duty of my friend is 25 km. away from the place of duty of his wife. Sir, I want to know whether my friend is eligible for claiming HRA under the rules as another friend of ours has suggested that only one of them can claim HRA? What should be the minimum distance between their headquarters of duty for claiming HRA?

— Girja Shankar Dwivedi

A. I presume your query relates to the provisions relating to the exemption of house rent allowance being received by your friend. The reply given hereunder is based on this presumption. Section 10(13A) of the Act exempts any special allowance granted to an assessee by his employer to meet the expenditure actually incurred on payment of rent (by whatever name called) in respect of the residential accommodation occupied by him to such extent as may be prescribed. Such exemption is available where the residential accommodation is not owned by the assessee or the assessee has not actually incurred expenditure on payment of rent (by whatever name called) in respect of the residential accommodation occupied by him.

On the basis of the above provisions, your friend would be entitled to claim the exemption to the extent prescribed in case he has actually incurred expenditure for payment of rent and residential accommodation is not owned by him. The issue with regard to distance from headquarters is not relevant for claiming such exemption. In case the expenditure for residential accommodation is being incurred by your friend's wife, he will not be entitled to claim such exemption. 

Loan for plot

Q. A loan of Rs 4 lakh for a plot was taken from ICICI Bank on July 20, 2005 and was repaid in full by August 4, 2008 in EMI/part prepayment with interest of Rs 80360. Again on March 27, 2010 a housing loan of Rs 5 lakh was taken from the State Bank of India for construction on the aforesaid plot. The construction was completed on April 4, 2011. Pre-EMI interest from March 27, 2010 to March 31, 2011 amounting to Rs 23,430 has been paid to SBI in monthly installments. EMI of principal and interest @ Rs 7000 p.m. has been started in May 2011. Kindly tell me

n Whether the interest paid to ICICI Bank on plot loan as well as pre-EMI deducted from the income.

n If so then how much amount of interest can be deducted.

n May such deduction of interest be shown in IT Return to be filed for assessment year 2011-12

— Love Kohli

A. Your queries are replied hereunder:

n The interest paid on loan raised for the purchase of a plot is not deductible from total income. The repayment towards the principal amount is also not deductible under Section 80C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (The Act) in case the loan has been raised for the purchase of a plot.

n As pointed out in (a) above, such interest is not deductible from the total income.

n This question would not arise as the reply to your query at (a) & (b) above is in the negative. 

Check terms of employment

Q. I shall be obliged if you could guide me whether salary includes dearness allowance for the purpose of calculating taxable house rent allowance in term of Section 10 (13A) of Income Tax Act.

— Rattan Singh

A. For the purposes of computing house rent allowance it has been clarified that 'salary' shall have the meaning assigned to it in Clause (h) of Rule 2 of Part A of the Fourth Schedule to the Income-Tax Act 1961 (the Act). The Fourth Schedule deals with the provisions relating to recognised provident fund. Clause (h) of Rule 2 of the said schedule defines salary as under:

"salary includes dearness allowance, if the terms of employment so provide but excludes of other allowances and perquisites."

This means that for the purposes of calculating provident fund contribution dearness allowance would be included if the terms of employment so provide. Accordingly, in case the dearness allowance is taken into account for calculating provident fund contribution, the same shall be considered for the purposes of computing the exempt amount of house rent allowance. 

Loan for renovation

Q. I have taken a loan for Rs 4 lakh from bank for renovation and repair of my house. Can I avail tax rebate in respect of the repayment of loan as well as the interest on such loan?

— Dinesh Kumar

A. The benefit of deduction under Section 80C of the Income-Tax Act 1961 (the Act) is allowable within the overall limit of Rs 1 lakh in case an assessee has borrowed money from specified sources for purchase or construction of a residential house, the income from which is chargeable to tax under head "income from house property" (or which would if it had not been used for the assessee's own residence, have been chargeable to tax under that head) and where payments are made towards or by way of repayment of the amount so borrowed by the assessee. The specified sources include a bank and a cooperative bank. The benefit of deduction under Section 80C of the Act is, therefore, not available for the repayment of loan taken for renovation and repair of the house. However, you would be entitled to a deduction of interest paid on the amount so borrowed against the income from house property. It may be added that such deductible amount is limited to a sum of Rs 30,000 per year in case of a self-occupied property. 

CG not taxable

Q. I have ancestral inherited agricultural land measuring half an acre in a village, the detail of which is given below.

n that agricultural land had been acquired by my forefathers prior to 1947

n the market price of the land is Rs 12 lakh per acre

n it is located outside and beyond the specified limits of municipal corporation

I want to sell this land and need to know the tax liability on this account. In case it is taxable, then do let me know how I can save tax? If it is not taxable, then should it be shown in the tax return or not?

— Manjit Singh

A. Capital gain arising on the sale of agricultural land situated outside the municipal limits as well as beyond the distance of municipal limits as notified by the government is not taxable. Such a capital gain would be reflected in the column wherein details of exempt income are to be indicated.

The long and short of it

Q. I constructed a building in 2010. I intend transferring it in 2012. I want to know if the land had been purchased in 1998 and a structure on it is onstructed in 2010, then will the profit earned on the sale of land in 2012 be a short term or long-term capital gain?

— Dharambir

A. If the land is purchased in 1998 and the building is constructed in 2010, the land would be a long-term capital asset and the super structure would be a short-term capital asset. The profit earned on the sale of land in 2012 would thus be a long-term capital gain and the gain on sale of super structure in the year 2012 would be a short-term capital gain.

This position stands accepted in view of the decision of Madras High Court in the case of GT vs Dr. B.D.L. Ramachandra Rao (1999) (236ITR51). 

Can't claim deduction

Q. I had taken loan from my employer for the construction of house in 1995. This loan has been repaid, including the interest thereon. I have availed the benefit of Income Tax rebate in respect of the installments paid towards the repayment of loan and the interest as deduction from the income from house property. Am I entitled to any other deduction now? I am entitled to a house rent allowance. Can I get exemption for such house rent allowance even though I am living in my own house?

— Raghubir Singh

A. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, an amount paid towards the repayment of loan taken for construction or acquisition of a house is allowed to be deducted from the total income under Section 80C of the Act. In case you have not paid any amount towards the repayment of loan, it would not be possible to claim any deduction on that account. The interest payable on such a loan is deductible from the income from house property and in case no such interest is payable, no deduction can be claimed against the income from house property.

The house rent allowance paid to an employee is excluded from the total income of an assessee in case he has paid rent for the house occupied by him for his residence. Since you are living in your own house, the house rent allowance will be included in your salary income and no deduction or exemption would be allowable from the taxability in respect of such an allowance.

The writer can be contacted at sc@scvasudeva.com

PropIndex launched

The India Apartment Index went up three per cent in the Apr-Jun 2011 quarter compared to the Jan-Mar 2011 quarter. These were the findings of "PropIndex, the India Apartment Index", launched by property portal Magicbricks.com. This is an aggregation of price and supply trends across 11 cities across the country and is based on data mined from the back-end of the property website. The report will subsequently be released quarterly.

Speaking on the launch of PropIndex, Sudhir Pai, Business Head for Magicbricks.com said "PropIndex is a culmination of the efforts that we have been putting to provide unbiased advice on the performance of the property market to our users. It has the best of authentic site-data and original content thereby rendering itself an excellent source of credible information for property-led decision making for users as well as the developer/realtor community”.

The maiden index focuses on apartment trends and covers the most active top 11 cities of the country. In each city report, to ensure a holistic perspective of the performance of real estate markets, four different, key metrics have been covered — PropIndex (which is a composite index of capital appreciation, supply & apartment rates), Price Monitor (which shows capital appreciation), Rent Monitor (which shows rental appreciation) and Yield Monitor (which shows the rental yields within each city).

The main findings reveal that property prices have maintained an uptrend in most cities. Majority of cities had portrayed an uptrend in the property price values in the quarter April-June 2011 and the same have been captured by Price Monitor of respective cities.

Over 50% of the localities across the cities have shown uptrend in average capital values. However, in the rental market over 65 per cent of the localities across cities have shown rise in rental values.

Out of the 11 cities covered in PropIndex eight have shown uptrend in values. Cities such as Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore have registered maximum increase in average capital value per sq ft. In cities such as Delhi increase in capital values is primarily attributed to large scale redevelopment in old localities and limited new supply in the market. Where new areas have been developed such as Dwarka, there have been a significantly large number of properties for sale in the market.

Economic corridors are big drivers for residential apartment sale. Since economic drivers have been good in most cities, majority of cities had portrayed uptrend in the property price values in the quarter and the same have been captured by Price Monitor of respective cities. Over 50 per cent of the localities across the cities have shown uptrend in average capital values. However, in rental market over 65 per cent of the localities across cities have shown rise in rental values.

Another big contributor to the growth or decline has been the newly developing corridors of growth where the available supply for sale and rent has increased significantly. Capital values are significantly impacted when new transport infrastructure such as flyovers and metro are either announced or become operational. Rental values too change with input of infrastructure. Yields for low ticket investments are higher than those with higher capital values.

Ground Realty
Home in on earthy appeal
Jagvir Goyal

Clay is one product that can be moulded into any shape with ease. Once moulded into a shape, compressed to the maximum possible density and then baked at the right temperature, it can produce amazing products that can stand the test of time. Bricks are one such product that we have been using since ages. Many new, beautiful and durable clay products are now on the anvil. Because of their unique appearance and use, these can add exceptional beauty to a house.

Clay Pavers

The product: Clay pavers of brick red colour look beautiful when used in pathways, landscaped gardens and open areas. Use of concrete or stone or brick paving in gardens and pathways is common. Clay pavers are a departure. Designed to have a thickness of 2 inch, clay pavers are being made available in two sizes-8 inch x 4 inch and 9 ½ inch x 4 ¾ inch. The weight of one paver of size 8 inch x 4 inch is 2.3 kg while that of 9 ½ inch X 4 ¾ inch is 3.2 kg. Main features of these pavers are that these have high compressive strength, fast color and can maintain their grace with the passage of time.

Water absorption: Water absorption of clay pavers is very low. It is less than even 4%. The clay bricks normally have a water absorption of about 20%. The clay pavers are, therefore, more compact and less porous in comparison to the bricks. Also, there is no efflorescence in these pavers. These, therefore, require little maintenance.

Consumption: About 48 clay pavers are required for one sq m area if 8 inch x 4 inch pavers are used. If the size used is 9 ½ inch x 4 ¾ inch, only 34 clay pavers are required for one square metre area.

Roof tiles

The product: These days, there is a trend of adding a sloping roof for some portion of the house to have an attractive front elevation. On sloping roofs, clay roof tiles look beautiful. These are now produced in many colours and sizes. Some of the colours are grey, black matt, graphite, natural red, deep black, copper brown, bronze green, fern glazed and wine red. The tiles come with a 30 years manufacturer's guarantee. Natural and glazed finish is given to these tiles as per user's choice.

Shapes and sizes: Many shapes of clay roof tiles are produced. These may be simply plain, curved, curved and plain or reverse curved. Plain tiles have a size of 285 mm x 474 mm. Plain and curved tiles have a size of 300 x 470 mm. Size of curved tiles is 261 mm x 371 mm and that of reverse curved ones 287 mm x 457 mm.

Consumption: One sq m area requires 10 plain tiles. This tile provides a net covering width of 248 mm. 11 plain and curved tiles or reverse curved tiles get laid in one sq m area. Net covering width of these tiles is 235 mm. When fully curved tiles are used, these provide a net coverage of 215 mm. Therefore, 15 such tiles get used in one sq m area.

Weight: One plain tiles weighs 4.3 kg. Partly curved and reverse curved tiles weigh from 3.8 kg to 4.6 kg. Fully curved tiles weigh only 2.6 kg. The manufacturers specify the minimum roof pitch and batten spacing for each type of tiles which needs to be followed for best laying and view of tiles.

Facing bricks

Clay tiles are hardy and have a natural earthy appeal

The product: The facing bricks are specially produced for building's face work. When we use conventional clay bricks in the face work, we have to sort such bricks out of the stacks that have zero size variation, plain faces, fine edges and uniform color. Facing bricks possess all these features as these are manufactured particularly for use in face work only.

Size: Two sizes of facing bricks are being produced and made available by the innovators of clay products. These sizes are 1 foot x 4 inch x 2 inch and 9 inch x 4 ½ inch x 3 inch. The second size has been kept exactly equal to that of conventional clay bricks so that these facing bricks could be used in combination with conventional bricks without any problem. However, the exclusive use of facing bricks produces better results.

Weight: The weight of a 12 inch x 4 inch x 2 inch brick is about 2 kg while that of conventional sized facing brick is 2.2 kg. The facing bricks therefore weigh lesser than conventional bricks which weigh around 3 kg per brick.

Water absorption: As the facing bricks are used on exterior walls and in face work, their water absorption property is reduced by increasing their density. While the water absorption of normal bricks is around 20%, for facing bricks, it is limited to 15%. This helps in lesser ingress of water by the walls during the rainy season.

Efflorescence: It is important that the bricks used in face work should not show any signs of efflorescence. If this happens, all the measures taken to produce facing bricks will go waste. Therefore it is ensured that facing bricks have zero efflorescence property. In the conventional bricks, slight efflorescence is permissible but not in facing bricks.

Strength: Strength of facing bricks is quite high. Conventional bricks having a compressive strength of 100 kg/cm2 are considered first class bricks. Facing bricks are designed to have 25 % higher strength.

Advantages: Major advantage of facing bricks is that these provide a natural façade to a building. The color and texture is unique. Higher strength, zero efflorescence property and less water absorption makes them zero-maintenance bricks that need no painting application and look beautiful in their natural self.

Facade tiles

The product: Façade tiles made of clay are used in high rise buildings in combination with steel and glass to produce fantastic and astonishingly attractive elevations. Having a thickness of just 30 mm or 1 ¼ inch, these tiles are planned to be produced in as many as12 colours. Yellow, white, grey, red, beige, brown, blue and sand grey shall be the major colors. For the natural look lovers, Façade tiles look like an ultimate finish.

Size/ range: While the tile thickness is maintained as 1 ¼ inch, the size of the tiles is varied by the manufacturers to suit all building requirements. The length of the tiles can vary between 400 mm to 1500 mm. Till date, a 1,500 mm or 1.5 m long tile looked unimaginable. But now, this length of façade tiles shall be available. The height of tiles is also varied between 150 mm to 400 mm. Available size variation is thus quite wide ranged.

All these beautiful clay items that don't fade with time, come with a guarantee and add beautiful look to the buildings are becoming available in the country and make addition to the options available to the house builders.

(This column appears fortnightly)

ACC’s help initiative

ACC, a brand that is synonymous with cement, has gone a step ahead than just supplying cement to its customers by introducing ACC Help Initiative to answer queries related to home building.

This distinctive customer initiative with the tagline of “we help you dream big and help you build” aims at delivering value to customers with dedicated services along with a research and development facility, which is a one-of-its-kind in the industry. The main aim of this initiative is to share knowledge about the process of home building and correct procedures of product usage.

ACC Help Centre has been launched as a customer service initiative with an aim to impart knowledge and expertise to assist individual homebuilders. The centre will resolve several problems of home builders such as pre-construction worries, how much stamp duty needs to be paid or who might be the appropriate service provider or again how to estimate budget? Various issues related to construction practices, choice of material and planning of the construction process would be elaborated, step-by-step.

The regional offices of ACC have customer service cells manned by civil engineers who interact with customers to assess their needs and problems, offer advice before and after sales, including educating users and customers on the correct usage of cement and concrete and good construction practices. A few premium products like Foundation to Roof ( F2R ) cement available in the eastern region come with a whole host of in built off-site and on-site services.

A large number of free services such as testing initial elements of construction, carrying out workability test, cube test, provide estimate of material and help with basic planning and site supervision throughout the building process are provided for premium products.

ACC reaches out to customers in the following ways:

n ACC Help Centers for personal guidance on the right construction practices are located at the following locations namely - Lucknow, Moradabad, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Varanasi, Kanpur, Faizabad, Gorakhpur, Ludhiana, Dehradun, Calicut and Bhubaneswar.

n ACC Help Literature is available for easy to understand construction guides

n ACC Help vans provide mobile help services where ACC Engineers in vans to assist you at your site

n A website www.acchelp.in is there for any construction related query.

n SMS "ACCHELP" to 575758 and we would get back to you.

n Help line no- (022) 33024331 is also available for any query.

n You may contact any of the ACC offices mentioned in our website www.acclimited.com or www.acchelp.in for any assistance. 

Developer speak
Thriving on trust

Raglan Infrastructure Ltd. is a group that has successfully constructed more than 2,500 houses and multistoreyed apartments in Zirakpur and Derabassi in projects like Gulmohar Complex, Gulmohar Block, Gulmohar Avenue, Gulmohar Trends & Gulmohar City. The group has been awarded management excellence award. In an interaction with Parmod Mehta, Ritu Singal, MD of Raglan Infrastructure Ltd. talks about the strategies that have made her company successful in providing affordable housing to customers. Excerpts:

In today's competitive scenario where there is a lot of choice in group housing, multi-storeyed apartments, how is RIL managing to attract the customers? What is your marketing strategy.

The trust and confidence which 'Raglan group' enjoys is the backbone of our marketing. So our marketing strategy is based on our popularity in north zone. We have successfully launched and sold a number of houses and flats at affordable prices. Though we advertise in newspapers, but maximum number of flats in our projects have been sold on personal references of our existing satisfied and happy customers.

RIL claims that their houses are within the reach of common masses, is it being done so by compromising on quality of construction?

For 'Raglan' the sole motto is to give the best construction at most reasonable prices. We make an extra effort to ensure that the construction at 'Gulmohar' is the best. Lab testing of the raw materials is a regular feature to confirm the quality. We even hold on-the-job training classes at short intervals for the site engineers with the experts to guide them to avoid flaws in construction. As you are aware that there is cut-throat competition in the real-estate market, so the builders can only win the trust of customers if their product meets the high standards in quality of construction and fulfills other requirements of the buyers.

There has been mushrooming of unauthorised colonies/development in Punjab in general and in Zirakpur-Derabassi area in particular, what is the its impact of these on the the sale of houses constructed by realtors?

The number of unauthorised colonies outside the municipal limits of Derabassi and Zirakpur has increased manifold. These colonies lack basic infrastructure. The builders compromise on the quality of construction and sell their product at cheaper rates. These certainly have an impact on the sale of apartments in authorised colonies but noe we see that the customers have become wiser and understand the difference between a well- planned housing project and the unauthorised colonies so the impact is lessening now.

Since land has become a scarce and expensive commodity, will realtors be able to construct affordable houses for common masses in future.

It's indeed a great challenge to take up affordable houses for common masses after buying land at exorbitant rates. Under such circumstances specifications of building material would have to be chosen very carefully to keep the houses within the reach of common masses without affecting the functionality of houses. The customers of affordable housing may have to accept the location of the projects on the outskirts of tricity as the prices closer to Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali are very steep.

Is there any other project except residential apartments / houses being undertaken by RIL in the near future?

Raglan Infrastructure Ltd. is identifying suitable land for its forthcoming residential /commercial project which will be announced in the near future. We have plans to come up with a hotel project on the highway and an educational project in the near future. 

Punjab realty sector feels the heat

The construction projects across Punjab are getting delayed or cancelled due to steep and steady rise in prices of input material like cement and shortage of skilled manpower, industry body Assocham said recently.

The Assocham interacted with around 150 people from the industry across Punjab including builders, contractors, developers, building material manufacturers, traders and real estate consultants to ascertain the impact of soaring construction prices and labour deficit on state's real estate and construction sector.

About half of the respondents said that upward spiraling costs of significant construction materials has been putting a great pressure on project execution as they find it difficult to keep their margins intact. Steel, cement and labour are the key components and these alone make for almost 75 per cent of the overall construction cost.

All the raw materials have been hit by rising prices, besides, sharp rise in lending rates by banks has hit the realty sector severely, said a majority of the construction material manufacturers and traders adding that instead of passing on the raise in raw material cost to end consumer they were cutting down the production.

"Construction material manufacturers and traders are not only coping with eroding profit margins but reportedly their stocks have also lost the market capitalisation by 15 to 20 per cent over the period of past four to five months," the survey said.

Over 30 per cent of respondents said labour crunch was the biggest hurdle in their development as they were grappling with shortage of skilled labour since, various government projects like National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) are encouraging migrant labourers from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan to shift from private employment.

Slow progress of real estate and infrastructure industry in the state is another significant reason as to why migrant workforce prefers staying and working near their native place for better stability over unsecured, labourious construction work, said the respondents.

"Inflationary pressures leading to an abnormal price rise in food and basic cost of living have pushed the price of labour upwards. Besides, depletion of migratory workforce owing to improved locally generated employment opportunities from government welfare schemes have led to scarcity of labour and increased costs," said D S Rawat, secretary general of Assocham.

Almost all the associates, builders and developers said that it is a double whammy as their current projects are getting delayed by 12 to 18 months and are witnessing slowing sales as their losses rise. — PTI 

High input costs to reduce construction’s contribution to GDP

n Rise in raw material prices is expected to hit the construction sector and may reduce its contribution to below eight per cent in the country’s GDP this fiscal, according to a study.

n In 2010-11, the construction industry contributed 8.1 per cent to India’s GDP, an Assocham study said. The industry body surveyed about 1,500 persons, including contractors, developers, building material manufacturers, traders and real estate consultants for the study.

n The domestic construction industry has been jostling with steep rise in prices of raw materials, including cement, steel rods, bricks and other input materials, which have risen by over 30 per cent since 2009, the report said.

realty bytes
Forbes listing for Ashiana Housing 

Delhi-based real estate player, Ashiana Housing Ltd. has become the only real estate company from India to figure in 'Asia's Best Under A Billion' list of companies compiled by the Forbes magazine for 2011.

35 Indian companies were able to make it to the list, including Ashiana Housing Ltd, which is the only Indian company representing the realty sector. Among the 200 companies listed by the magazine, 35 are from India while 65 firms are based in China and Hong Kong. The number of Indian companies has increased from 20 in last year's list.

"Essentially, these are our picks of the companies that have best managed through the economic volatility that began in 2008. Most navigated the global credit crunch with little to no debt on their balance sheets. On average, the companies on the list have a 13 per cent debt-to-equity ratio and 67 of these companies carry no debt at all." Forbes said in a statement.

The Forbes' 'Asia's 200 Best Under A Billion' list highlights the 200 top-performing small and midsize enterprises having revenues under $1 billion. It picks these firms from close to 15,000 publicly listed Asia-Pacific companies with actively traded shares and sales between five million dollars and one billion dollars. The selection of the best 200 companies is based on earnings growth, sales growth, and shareholders' return on equity in the past 12 months and over three years.

Ashiana has built over 10.29 million sq. ft. of residential & commercial space with more than 6800 families residing in the homes built under its name. It is the first group housing developer in Patna, Bhiwadi, Jamshedpur and Neemrana, the first in retirement resort and one of the few to undertake the maintenance of residential properties developed by it.

Eiffel Group inks deal with IREF

Real estate developer Eiffel Group has entered into an agreement with India Realty Excellence Fund (IREF) to develop one of its largest plotted development project at Karjat.

IREF, managed by Motilal Oswal Private Equity Advisors and Eiffel have floated a joint venture for developing the project, which is spread across 120 acres at Karjat, the company said in a statement issued here.

The project will consist of well-demarcated non-agricultural plots of 1,600 sq ft onwards, with an option to construct cottages/bungalows depending on the customer's requirement and specifications, the release said. — PTI

Bhoomi pujan

Saviour Builders Pvt. Ltd., performed the “Bhoomi Pujan” of its residential Apartments Saviour Park in Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, recently. The group will develop 2, 3 & 4 BHK apartments in the price range of Rs 28.18 lakh to Rs 43.57 lakh. The group is expected to invest Rs 350 crore in the development of Mohan Nagar. Leading banks and financial institutions like BOB, AXIS Bank & IDBI etc are offering home loan facilities. The customers also have the advantage of making payments in installments.

SAVIOUR PARK is spread over approx 9 acres of land & is zero K.M from proposed metro station. It is conveniently connected to Delhi, Ghaziabad & NOIDA. Large open space is available for parks; play ground kids play area, public parking etc. are also available. Other features include landscaping within the complex & swimming pools and radiant club with latest Gymnasium, Table tennis, and sufficient play area for Children. Schools Shopping complexes, Hotels, Religious Buildings, Hospitals and petrol pumps are also in close proximity. Saviour Park has KOHLER bath fittings and Chinaware in bathrooms. Outer doors windows are made up of UPVC material for better finishing and durability. Saviour Group ensure for the best project in the vicinity.

M3M Polo Suites 

M3M India Ltd. recently announced the launch of high class luxury suites - M3M Polo Suites - in Gurgaon. The one of its type polo theme based project offers only a few units of 4,000 sq ft - 5000 sq ft. The luxury apartments are skillfully landscaped and, boast of exotic water bodies and plush greenery. 

The exclusive apartment comes with an elegant Polo Lounge which is a world class experience in itself. The unique feature about the project is that it comes with an "Elite Lifestyle''. Each member of M3M Polo Suites will get Polo Concierge service that will give them access to a domestic and international 'Polo Lifestyle'. — TNS

Real  Talk
'Quality at every cost'
Geetu Vaid

Madhukar Tulsi, President, Ireo

Ireo is the first and the largest Private Equity Fund dedicated to the Indian real estate sector with nearly $2 billion of funds raised. The company has a pan India footprint with a landbank of nearly 3,000 acres, and 13 projects in prime locations across NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. The group has been increasing its presence in the region with its recent launch of an integrated city project in Panchkula - Ireo Fiveriver, and it already has projects in Mohali and Ludhiana with another one on the anvil in Jalandhar. The group that has already invested about Rs 1,200 crore in different projects has ambitious plans for the region, says Madhukar Tulsi, President of Ireo in an interview. Excerpts:

What has been your strategy to gain a foothold in the realty market in Punjab and Haryana in view of fierce competition from national as well as local players?

We have made good design, flexibility in sizes and impeccable quality our USP. No doubt the perception of buyers in tier II and III cities is a bit different from that of buyers in metros. Like when we started our 500-acre project in Ludhiana - Waterfront - it was a unique and different concept but buyers were apprehensive as earlier too local players had offered grand promises but had failed to deliver. So we carried out all the development work before the launch to give them a taste of the final product. Such sincere efforts always cut the ice in a new market as in this case almost 50 per cent of apartments have already been sold and we have around 200 site visits daily. Similarly in Mohali project - Ireo Rise- we have made the parking underground and as a result there are vast open green areas available for the customers moving in there.

Your group is a private equity fund with stakes in real estate development in India what are the benefits of being the financier as well as the developer of the projects.

No financial worries. This is the biggest benefit as we are not concerned about disruption in fund supply from different lenders and banks due to economic ups and downs or about the increasing debt burden. This one factor actually that solves a majority of problems for us. We can ensure quality products and timely delivery and thus win the trust of the buyers, which is the ultimate success mantra in the realty sector.

As an investor as well a builder how do you rate the fiscal health of the Indian realty sector at present?

There surely is a sort of crisis building up now as increasing input costs and low sales volumes because of increase in home loan rates have put even some of the major builders in a financial crisis of sorts leading to delay in the completion of projects. Though land prices in major locations are still very steep, it will take some deft planning to come out clean with some healthy profits in one's pockets. One hopes that there will not be another 2008 like situation now and things will improve in time.

Affordable housing has been the catch phrase for builders and politicians all this while. But with increase in land and construction cost it is a tight rope walk to deliver quality in a certain price range. Comment.

Actually in the present context affordable housing is not an absolute term with a clearly defined price bracket. It is a relative term as in every segment its threshold is different as per the buyer's purchasing power. A realtor's aim should be to provide a quality product to buyers in every price bracket. Putting the tag of affordable housing doesn't give one license to hand over inferior or sub standard products. If I am giving a house for Rs 10 lakh then that doesn't give me an excuse to provide bad plumbing or faulty wiring. So in each price bracket you have to deliver quality. Our endeavour always is to ensure that there is no differentiation in the materials used and in the quality of construction in any price bracket

Where is the Indian real estate sector headed for?

The Indian real estate market is a growing market with a lot of potential. The private players have come up in a big way only in the past five years or so and one can see that competition has made the sector more matured now. Whether we talk of the work that is being done, the execution of projects, or the way in which deals are being inked, there is more transparency and this makes it very customer friendly.