Mar. 9 - A proposal to implement a construction tax under the new services tax will invariably hike prices for real estate projects still under construction or pending approval from authorities.
The tax would apply to the construction of complex service or commercial or industrial construction services as well as services offering premium prices based on a flat’s location in a multi-storey building. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar. 9 - The Confederation of Indian Industries has ranked New Delhi as having the best quality of life for its residents among all cities in the India based on their latest “Liveability Index.”
After New Delhi, the next best cities to live in are Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore. The survey looked at 37 Indian cities in over a decade to compute for a quality of life index. It also used hard data collected from reliable sources to eliminate the possibility of personal bias or a sampling error obscuring the reality. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb. 3 - India is set to increase property tax rates in New Delhi starting April 2010.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) has proposed higher tax rates for residential properties in the A to H category. A two percent increased for categories A and B, three percent in categories C and D with the highest hike in property tax rate proposed for category E increasing from 6 to 12 percent and a one percent increase for category F and H. Read the rest of this entry »
Jan. 27 - To encourage more hotels to open prior to the Commonwealth Games, India is giving a five-year tax holiday for new hotels completed in the national capital region before March 31.
The rule will apply to 2, 3 and 4 star hotels and exclude 5 star hotels. An estimated 100,000 tourists are expected to arrive in New Delhi when the Commonwealth Games start on October 3. Currently, the city only has 10,000 hotel rooms and will need 30,000 more for the games. Read the rest of this entry »
Dec. 14 - The Indian government’s decision to form a new state of Telangana is causing confusion in Andhra Pradesh as the proclamation is seen as an agreement to divide a new area from the state.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram issued a statement last week confirming that the mechanism for forming the new state was being put in place by the government. This followed several days of strikes in Hyderabad, the state capital, and the threat of the death of a local politician, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who underwent a much publicized hunger strike to call for the creation of the new state. Read the rest of this entry »
Oct. 22 - Like China’s government instituted “Golden Weeks” during national holidays, India is beginning to push domestic spending during holidays as a way of bolstering the economy.
Last week’s Diwali Festival spurred an increase in retail of some 40 percent over the corresponding time last year, in another signal that the “feel good” factor is coming back amidst previous concerns about the economy. Consumer electronic companies such as Samsung and LG both recorded far better than expected results, with color TV’s, refrigerators and touch screen mobile phones all doing brisk business.
Jun. 23 – India’s Tourism Minister, Kumari Selja, will be submitting a set of proposals for industry tax breaks and exemptions to the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee later this week.
The proposal includes a ten-year tax break for new hotels, service tax and excise duty exemptions and allowing hotels to be considered as infrastructure along with airports, sea ports and railways.
“I met with industry stakeholders and will be taking up their demands to the finance minister,” Mr. Selja told the Times of India.
Like the rest of the world, India’s tourism industry has not been doing well because of the global economic crisis which was further aggravated by the tourism fallout caused by the Mumbai terrorist attacks last November.
Apr. 17 - Foreign private equity investors are looking to snap up good deals in the Indian real estate market by buying heavily discounted properties affected by the slowing economy.
Investors from the EU and Middle East are expected to invest US$400-US$500 million in distressed land deals, reports The Economic Times. Namely Spain’s Nova Capital; Germany’s SachsenFonds, Qatar-based Barwa International and Al Aqueela, UK’s Matrix Partners and Aberdean International.
“In the next six months, we will see lot of distressed real estate deals in India. Small and medium developers with turnovers in the range of Rs 50 crore-Rs 250 crore will be forced to go for distress sales to sustain themselves in the economic downturn,” said YEN Management Consultants managing director, Sunil Shirole, told The Economic Times.
July 11 - As incomes soar in a booming India, the government has collected an unprecedented amount of direct tax - Rs 3,14,000 crore (US$73 billion) last fiscal - more than they know what to do with. In a bid to invest their money prudently, the Income tax department will capitalise on the slump in India's real estate sector.
Deals have been struck for several prime plots of land and office space in many cities across the country worth millions of rupees. The emphasis is, however, on acquiring centrally air-conditioned buildings that are Wi-Fi enabled, fitted with state-of-the-art security systems and plush reception with a lounge-kind of open space, the Times of India reported.
July 3 - Trying to buffer India's borders with infrastructure, the national government on Wednesday issued a statement that the country would invest US$7.2 billion to build transport infrastructure in India's northeast by 2012.
A Bloomberg report stated that India plans to invest about 310 billion rupees (US$7.2 billion) by 2012 to build roads in the nation's northeast, improving connectivity with the states bordering China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.
The government will also build airports and railway links to all state capitals of the region, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, inviting private investment in the region.
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