B U S I N E S S

Housing prices may go up in H2 of 2014: Knight Frank
New Delhi, July 30
The FICCI-Knight Frank Real Estate Sentiment Index released today has surged and shows that current and future sentiments reflect high degree of optimism with the Northern region being the most upbeat.

After Flipkart, Amazon to invest $2 bn in India
New Delhi, July 30
Upping its ante, e-commerce giant Amazon today said it will invest $2 billion (over Rs 12,000 crore) in India to expand business, a day after its largest Indian rival Flipkart announced $1 billion in funding.

BlackBerry to buy Secusmart
New Delhi, July 30
BlackBerry today announced it will acquire German security solutions firm Secusmart GmbH, a move that will help the Canadian smartphone maker strengthen its solutions portfolio for combating electronic eavesdropping and data theft.

ICVL to buy Rio Tinto’s coal assets in Mozambique
New Delhi, July 30
In its first acquisition since inception in 2009, state-owned International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) will buy Rio Tinto’s Mozambique coal assets having estimated reserves of 2.6 billion tonnes for $50 million (about Rs 300 crore).

SC directs Supertech to refund money of flat owners
New Delhi, July 30
The Supreme Court today directed real estate major Supertech to return within a month huge sums collected from those who had bought flats in a residential complex in Noida. “They have not purchased litigation but flats. So you refund the money,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha told the company.

Airtel may hike mobile call rates
New Delhi, July 30
Airtel today indicated that it may cut down on discounts it offers on mobile call rates to push revenue from voice services. "There might be ups and downs in certain quarters, but the long-term secular opportunity for raising voice realisation remains, given the significant gap between headline tariff and the realised rates or in other words discounted tariffs," Bharti Airtel’s managing director and CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.

Secretary of Commerce at US Department of Commerce Penny Pritzker with CII president Ajay Shriram at an interactive session organised by CII in Mumbai on Wednesday. PTI

A model displays Panasonic ‘Eluga U’ smartphone at its launch in New Delhi on Wednesday. It is priced at ~18,990 and will be available from first week of August. Tribune photo: Manas Ranjan Bhui

Housing prices may go up in H2 of 2014: Knight Frank
Northern region most upbeat in real estate sector, says survey
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 30
The FICCI-Knight Frank Real Estate Sentiment Index released today has surged and shows that current and future sentiments reflect high degree of optimism with the Northern region being the most upbeat.

The Sentiment Index has surged to 69, up 6 points in the second quarter of 2014, the highest index level since the survey began.

The latest edition of the report captures the supplier side perspective on the real estate market conditions post the General Election and the Union Budget.

The key takeaways from the survey are that future sentiment is optimistic, sentiments are upbeat owing to expectations of faster decision making and positive reforms and future sentiment scores have risen across all regions with North being the most upbeat.

In addition, developers and financial institutions are equally optimistic about the future of the real estate sector. While residential launches and sales will continue the good run, prices are expected to go up during the second half of 2014.

The survey notes that new office supply will remain under check which will help office rentals to strengthen in the coming months.

Speaking about the findings, A Didar Singh, secretary-general, FICCI, said, “The optimism shared by real estate industry stakeholders about current and future sentiments in real estate augurs well not only for the sector but also for the Indian economy. Recent Union Budget announcements for housing and real estate sector will further spur growth of this sector and improve future sentiments of stakeholders.”

Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India, says, “The fact that political stability has a perceptible effect on the real estate sector is apparent from the optimism showcased by stakeholders post the elections. This optimism is broad-based and encompasses all regions and asset classes that include developers and financial institutions. Going forward, we expect these sentiments to remain bullish in the subsequent quarters as well.”

Samantak Das, chief economist and director of research, Knight Frank India, said, “With the backdrop of a stable government coupled with high expectations of faster decision making and positive reforms, the respondents have shown positive outlook pertaining to the residential sector in terms of sales and launches. Prices are also perceived to go up in the coming six months. The office market too has exhibited similar trends with rental growth expected to strengthen at the back of high leasing volumes and limited supply of new office space”.

After Flipkart, Amazon to invest $2 bn in India

New Delhi, July 30
Upping its ante, e-commerce giant Amazon today said it will invest $2 billion (over Rs 12,000 crore) in India to expand business, a day after its largest Indian rival Flipkart announced $1 billion in funding.

Flipkart yesterday said it has raised over Rs 6,000 crore from existing and new investors, the largest funding in the nascent, yet rapidly expanding Indian e-commerce sector.

Amazon, which launched its marketplace in India last year, said the country is one of its fastest growing markets and is on track to touch $1 billion in gross sales.

It will invest an additional $2 billion to support its rapid growth and continue to enhance the customer and seller experience in India, Amazon said.

“After our first year in business, the response from customers and small and medium-sized businesses in India has far surpassed our expectations,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of the US-based Amazon.com.

The company sees huge potential in the Indian economy and for the growth of e-commerce, he added.

“With this additional investment of $2 billion, our team can continue to think big, innovate, and raise the bar for customers in India,” he said.

At current scale and growth rates, India is on track to be Amazon’s fastest country ever to a billion dollars in gross sales, he said.

“We have never seen anything like this,” Bezos said. In India, Amazon sells over 17 million products across categories such as books, apparel and electronics. Apart from smaller e-commerce portals, Amazon competes head on with Flipkart and Snapdeal. In the past few months, it has raised the bar with introducing same-day delivery and ramping-up its logistics among others. — PTI

BlackBerry to buy Secusmart

New Delhi, July 30
BlackBerry today announced it will acquire German security solutions firm Secusmart GmbH, a move that will help the Canadian smartphone maker strengthen its solutions portfolio for combating electronic eavesdropping and data theft.

Secusmart provides high-security voice and data encryption and anti-eavesdropping solutions for government organisations, enterprises and telecommunications service providers in Germany as well as globally.

“With Secusmart’s talents and technology, BlackBerry is well-positioned to address the growing interest in high-end secure communications solutions, driven by the need to combat electronic eavesdropping and data theft,” BlackBerry India managing director Sunil Lalvani said.

This acquisition provides the talents and technology to enable BlackBerry to address the growing interest in high-end secure communications solutions, driven by the need to combat electronic eavesdropping and data theft, he added. — PTI

ICVL to buy Rio Tinto’s coal assets in Mozambique

New Delhi, July 30
In its first acquisition since inception in 2009, state-owned International Coal Ventures Ltd (ICVL) will buy Rio Tinto’s Mozambique coal assets having estimated reserves of 2.6 billion tonnes for $50 million (about Rs 300 crore).

ICVL signed the pact on July 28 to buy Rio Tinto’s 65% stake in Benga and 100% each in Zambeze and Tete East coal assets.

ICVL, a joint venture of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Coal India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, NTPC and NMDC, was created to ensure long-term security of supply of the critical raw material for the steel industry.

Benga, in which Tata Steel has the remaining 35% stake, is the only mine operational with the remaining two being developed. There is significant potential for tapping CBM from the acquired coal resources. — PTI

SC directs Supertech to refund money of flat owners
Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 30
The Supreme Court today directed real estate major Supertech to return within a month huge sums collected from those who had bought flats in a residential complex in Noida. “They have not purchased litigation but flats. So you refund the money,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha told the company.

The apex court passed the order on a petition filed by over 50 allottees seeking refund in the wake of the Allahabad High Court order for the demolition of two illegal towers constructed by the company. Their flats are on these towers.

The Bench said the company was liable to return the money to all allottees seeking to pull out from the housing scheme, and allot alternative flats to others who wanted to continue. It also directed Supertech to pay an interest of 14% on the money within three months.

The company had sold around 600 of the 857 flats in the two towers. The HC had passed the order on a petition by the Emerald Court Owner-Residents’ Welfare Association contending that the authorities had given approval for the construction of the additional towers within their compound in violation of the state construction laws.

The SC is also hearing Supertech’s appeal challenging the HC ruling.

Airtel may hike mobile call rates

New Delhi, July 30
Airtel today indicated that it may cut down on discounts it offers on mobile call rates to push revenue from voice services. "There might be ups and downs in certain quarters, but the long-term secular opportunity for raising voice realisation remains, given the significant gap between headline tariff and the realised rates or in other words discounted tariffs," Bharti Airtel’s managing director and CEO (India and South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.

The Q1 has witnessed a historic trend of softening volumes with respect to voice call segment, he said in the company's earnings call today. "I will not comment on how it will play up within a given quarter, but what I will say is from longer term basis there is still opportunity to raise voice realisation," he said. — PTI