Riveria Group Launches Real Estate Portal 3villaz.com for Dubai and Indian Investors

DUBAI, UAE: Riveria Global Group has launched a new website to provide search and comparison for home buyers, and also offers full service marketing for sellers in two ultra-lucrative markets Dubai and India.

3villaz.com, a comprehensive new property portal, has been launched by Dubai-based Riveria Global Group to assist big ticket real estate buyers wanting to invest in the lucrative Dubai and India property markets to find the perfect deal.

The site is created for investors and proposes various options currently available in Dubai and India - two markets that offer attractive options for good return on investment (RoI).

Since the last decade, the Riveria Group has been actively involved in the real estate business in Dubai and Mumbai, and the directors have a clear view of the direction of the real estate industry in both these cities. Currently, there are many good investment options available in both destinations, in various sizes, starting from 100,000 US dollars.

On 3villaz.com buyers can post their requirement and the best options will be suggested to them - rather than them having to do a time consuming search and comparison through hundreds of properties. On the flipside, property owners can post their properties for sale or rent and the team behind 3villaz.com will do all the needed professional marketing.

Dinesh Gurnani, Director of Riveria Global Group

"If you are looking for fantastic investment options in Dubai or India, 3villaz.com can bring you the best investment options with the return on investment ranging between 5 to 15 per cent per annum," said Dinesh Ramchand, Managing Director of Riveria Global Group, Dubai.

"Our company specializes in leasehold and freehold properties. We have a range of investment options including for residential, commercial buildings, hotels and hotel apartments, with ready rental income for sale and lease. We also have open land for residential, commercial, mix-use and industrial use, villa complexes, staff and labour accommodation, and warehousing. Landlords, developers, and real estate brokerage companies can also list their real estate inventory for sale or lease and benefit from the extensive reach of the portal across the world," Dinesh added.

Apart from real estate, Riveria Global has a well-established ATL and BTL advertising division offering a wide range of marketing services to help businesses establish their brand in the market. These include branding, email marketing, online marketing, outdoor advertising, printing, SEO, SMO, web development, and more.

The Group also has an exclusive interior design arm, offering top quality services to residential and commercial clients in Dubai.

Buildzar Raises $4 Million From Individual Investor Puneet Dalmia

Buildzar.com, Gurgaon-based consumer-Internet platform caters to individual home builders, apartment owners and small and medium sized builders and contractors, has received $4 million funding from individual investor Puneet Dalmia in pre-series A funding.

Offering end-to-end 'turnkey' solutions including design, labor services and materials, Buildzar.com aims to concretize its position as the de-facto platform for all home building related products and services by leveraging technology and offering productized solutions to its consumers, a press release said.

Talking about the venture, Vineet Singh, Co-Founder, CEO & MD, Buildzar.com said, "Building a home is perhaps the longest and highest value transaction in an individual's lifetime. The fact that the new age customer is younger, Internet-savvy, and is willing to pay for standardization and quality, makes this business even more exciting for us. Our vision is to give consumer the power to manage a complex thing like construction, using only their mobile phone."

About the latest round of funding, Puneet Dalmia, MD & CEO Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd, said, "Buildzar.com is leading the market with little competition when it comes to the kind of services and product portfolio it provides. It has etched out a clear path to profitability on the back of its first mover advantage, an outstanding team, asset-light operations and a revenue-focused approach. With its promise of 100% guaranteed quality at best prices, and a strong consumer focus, Buildzar is pegged to resolve the pain points in the construction services industry in India through its unique O2O (online-to-offline) model."

Buildzar.com offers a comprehensive bouquet of products and services under two verticals: The Material Store - a marketplace having over 20,000 products related to civil, electrical, plumbing, paints, flooring, kitchen bathroom etc. and BuildMyHome - a curated platform for design and contracting services with over 70 contractors and architects on its platform.

In the $150 billion individual home construction market, 30,000 new houses are constructed every year in Delhi NCR itself, where the average cost of building a house ranges between INR 6 million - 100 million. The market, however, is largely fragmented and remains marred with basic issues of trust and quality.

Buildzar came up with several other innovations in its Material Store, offerings like organizing the entire store by budget, bundling of products as per construction stage into 'Combos', and selling the entire Bill of Materials (BOM) rather than selling individual SKUs. In the recently-launched BuildMyHome , Buildzar offers hassle-free building and renovation experience to the consumer by providing end-to-end design, supply and build solutions through qualified and professional service providers, standardized rates and service level agreements (SLAs), guaranteed-adherence to project cost and timelines, and warranties up to seven years.

The team is developing project management tool, through which a home builder can monitor all her construction-related metrics like cost-incurred, projected completion timelines, inventory etc. on a real-time basis and can also receive live feeds, alerts and updates on his project.

Buildzar is live on desktop and mobile through its Android and iOS app. It is already clocking 750-800 orders on a monthly basis since the beginning of its operations in September 2015, with steel and cement being the leading categories. With an integrated effort to scale higher margins through its turnkey solutions and acquire market share through full stack of products, Buildzar is poised to create an indisputable dominance in a market that has been barely tapped in the e-commerce domain.

While the company's current focus is on consolidating the business in the Delhi NCR region, which alone is valued at $9-10 billion, in the next 6 months it aims to expand their operations across southern markets starting with Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad.

NAREDCO suggests slew of measures to put real estate sector back on track

(From L to R): R R Singh, DG, NAREDCO , Shakuntala Iyer, Director, Shander Properties , Navin Raheja, Governing Council Member, NAREDCO , Parveen Jain, President, NAREDCO , Gourav Jain, MD & CEO, Jindal Reality Ltd. and  Vijay Gupta,Orris Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd.

As preparations for the 2016 Union Budget are underway, the top real estate body National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) has lined-up a set of proposals and requested the Finance Minister to include them to bring back the sagging realty sector on growth trail.

NAREDCO President Parveen Jain in a pre-budget Memorandum to the Government, wanted industry status to the real estate sector which he said will enable it to recover from severe slowdown. 

“Industry status will attract large companies and most importantly inculcate “corporate culture” and “industry discipline” which will immensely benefit the economy in general and consumers in particular,” he said.

According to him, most industry rules and regulations are applicable to real estate sector also and denial of industry status for funding purposes to the sector will further worsen the existing financial crunch and slowdown in demand because of erosion of capital and loss of confidence of investors and buyers.

Navin M Raheja, GC member and Patron along with Parveen Jain, president Naredco

NAREDCO has also demanded “infrastructure status” to the Housing sector, a long standing demand of the real estate developers, by adding a clause to the definition of “infrastructure facility” under u/s 80IA of IT Act 1961.

Explaining further about the clause to be added he said: The clause should read: “An integrated township and group housing development on area more than 10 acres involving provision of residential, educational, medical, community, commercial or institutional buildings and creation of required facilities including roads, water supply, water treatment, sanitation and sewerage systems and solid waste treatment and management systems”.

Jain also demanded creation of Special Residential Zones (SRZs) for affordable housing on the lines of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) where special concessions and incentives are built together with single window clearances. This will help increase supply of affordable housing on a large scale.

Central and State Governments, in the past, have attempted to address large number of issues detrimental to housing growth and provided fiscal concessions to builders and home buyers and tried to build strong public-private partnership to boost housing growth. In many ways it has paid dividends, but still there is lot to be done to provide shelter to all.

Jain said that the government land, wherever available, should be used as equity and government agencies encouraged to assemble additional land as much as possible. India is short of 18.78 million housing units and 96% of it is in EWS and LIG categories. Government is targeting to build 2 crore housing units by 2022. All this will be possible if land and bank financing is made easy.

He said that Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) should be allowed access to long-term funds such as Provident Fund, Insurance and Pension funds as all developing countries have access to such long term funds for housing and infrastructure development.

NAREDCO has suggested that banks should increase their allocation for housing from the present 3% to 5% of their incremental deposit. The additional 2% incremental allocation may be earmarked exclusively for canalizing it through housing finance companies registered with National Housing Bank.

President NAREDCO has requested government to give push to the real estate sector by increasing tax limit to Rs 3 lakh from Rs 2 lakh of interest paid on home loans on a self-occupied house.

Also, three years period for acquisition or completion from the year of borrowing should be dispensed with, said NAREDCO President, Parveen Jain, adding that this will provide much needed impetus to housing sector which is reeling under huge housing shortage in the country.

He said that priority sector lending need to be extended for home loans upto Rs 25 lakh for rural, small and medium cities, Rs 35 lakh for metropolitan cities and Rs 50 lakh for mega cities. Also, income from renting of properties should be taxed at a flat rate of 10%, he said, adding that high cost of houses and high property taxes lead to low rate of return (ROR) from rental housing, making renting out an un-remunerative proposition.

Jain said that the residential construction be taken out of 14.5% service tax net in the first place and this exemption should cover the builders and developers who are registered. Rise in excise duty on cement and steel would raise the unit cost by about 4 to 5%.

Jain asked the government to make real estate mutual funds (REMFs) and real estate investment funds (REITs) free from income tax for at least for 10 years both for residents and non-residents. The world over, REITs have been very effective instrument and source for funding housing projects because of various fiscal concessions and incentives provided by various governments to REIT units and the shareholders.

Demanding external commercial borrowing in all spheres of housing and real estate development, including SEZ projects, Jain said funding to real estate be allowed through FDI, particularly in under construction projects.

The size of Indian real estate market in 2013 was estimated to be USD 78.5 billion which is likely to grow to USD 140 billion by 2017. Between 2009-11, FDI investment grew at 8% but witnessed deceleration during 2012-13 to around 6.5% primarily due to sluggish growth of Indian economy, rising input cost and overall global economic sentiments. Now there is need to give push to this through fiscal incentives.

Jain emphasized that, given the impetus required, real estate sector has the potential to turn around the Indian economy and contribute to the growth of the country because of its backward and forward linkages with other sectors of economy and huge job potential.

Why Developers Launch Projects Even In Slow Market Conditions

Kishor Pate

Top developers have a strategy of launching new projects even in a slow market, and there is sound logic behind this. There is always demand for residential projects at convenient locations and with good amenities. If the pricing of the project is also in line with what buyers are willing to pay, there is no reason why sales will not be generated. 

Market research confirms that sales are taking place, even if it is at a slower rate. These sales are happening for the right kinds of projects – it is projects in the wrong locations, with fewer or the wrong kinds of amenities and with the wrong pricing that are finding no takers.

As a matter of fact, prices of projects have been showing a gradually decreasing trend over the last one year. Developers are offering lucrative deals and discounts on their projects, thereby helping to create end-user markets rather than just pandering to investors, as had been the trend in the past.

Overall, it can be said that the residential real estate industry has reached its lowest trough both with regard to prices and sales. The only change that can now come to the market is a positive one, and the graph will begin rising upward from here onward, not least of all because the Indian economy has strengthened and will continue to gain in strength going forward.

The government is also extending more support to the real estate industry than ever before, and the cumulative results of these favourable circumstances will definitely be seen from this year onward. With India makes strong strides on the path of development, interest in real estate investment is going to increase steeply over the coming years.

Today, cities still accommodate only about 40% of the population in India. But with increasing economic growth, more and more people will shift to urban areas, spawning more and more demand for homes in all price ranges. Developers who continue to launch their projects even while the market is slow are investing in this future.

If we take a closer look at the unsold inventory of residential real estate in India today, the numbers are undoubtedly large. Nevertheless, there is no shortage of new launches scheduled. In fact, we will see even more residential supply hitting the market in 2016 than we saw in 2015. 

It is pertinent to note that most of the unsold projects in India today are the result of deficient planning on the part of their developers. They have chosen flawed or hopelessly futuristic locations where people are not interested in moving, and/or have included high-end amenities that drive up the overall cost beyond what buyers are willing to pay.

As we embark into 2016, we will see that the new residential launches are more aligned with the existing demand, both in terms of pricing and what they have to offer.

About the Author

Kishor Pate, Chairman & Managing Director of Amit Enterprises Housing Ltd. is the driving force behind one of the most successful real estate development firms in Pune and beyond. Apart from its signature luxury homes towers and premium gated townships, AEHL has also launched highly successful affordable housing projects like Astonia Classic and Colori in Undri and the Mediterranean-style township Astonia Royale in Ambegaon.

Kay2 Steel launches premium quality TMT bars at affordable price

New Delhi: Steel bars are the integral part of construction industry as they help hold the entire building against the onslaught of various natural and environmental effects.

However, due to paucity of time or lack of awareness, people generally don’t pay attention while selecting steel bars for foundation and pillars. Even price factors too forces building contractors to choose low quality steel, which can prove detrimental for the buildings' life.

But things are changing now as steel companies are making high quality steel bars which are stronger and affordable too.

Kay2 Steel Limited, a relatively new player in the TMT industry, has recently launched premium quality Steel Bars (TMT bars) under the brand Kay2 which are equipped with best earthquake resistant technology.

The Kay2 TMT Bars including FE-415 & FE-500 have become the most preferred TMT bars for constructions which also come at highly affordable prices. However, the company did not specify the possible price factors.

These editions of TMT bars are made from premium quality materials using product innovation, structural flexibility and advanced technology. They are manufactured with strict adherence to quality standard and can withstand highly saline and damp climate for a very long span of time, a company release said.

The high strength and ideal flexibility of Kay2 TMT bars adequately meet building requirements. Moreover, the quality standards of Kay2 TMT bars are higher than BIS norms, and the special feature of earthquake resistant to provide more strength to the various constructions. These properties of Kay2 TMT Bars make it widely used materials in commercial and industrial building construction.

According to Sunil Agarwal, Director Kay2 Steel Limited, “With the launch of Kay2Steel, our mission is to offer best quality steel bars at the doorsteps of the people. We want people should compromise on steel when it comes to prices. At Kay2 we have given the optimum combination of technology quality and pricing.”

Though Kay2 Steel is a new entrant in the multi-billion dollar steel bar industry, within a short span of less than 12 months the company has made a very strong foothold in key markets of India including Punjab, Haryana, MP, Bihar, UP and Rajasthan etc.

Today Kay2 has Approx 1000 sales points and distribution networks serving steel bars needs of India, the release noted.

Apollo Global Exits Ahuja Constructions' Mumbai Residential Project at USD 69.35 Million

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: NYSE-listed global private equity fund Apollo Global Management has made an exit from super-luxury residential project Ahuja Towers of Mumbai-based Indian real estate company 

Ahuja Constructions at approximately 69.35 Million USD (Rs 460 crores).Apollo had invested approximately 30.1 Million USD (Rs.200 crores) in the Ahuja Towers project for 49 per cent voting rights in the company. 

With over $90 billion as corpus for India, Apollo Global Management is one of the largest global private equity funds investing in diverse sectors ranging from Logistics, Textiles, to Real estate etc. 

Apollo has taken successful exit from its investment in the Ahuja Towers project wherein they made approximately 69.35 Million USD (Rs.460 crores) for their investment of approximately 30.1 Million USD (Rs.200 crores approx.) resulting in multiple of 2.3 times on their investment value.

When contacted the spokesperson of Ahuja Constructions, they confirmed the exit.

This comes at a time when most realty funds are finding it difficult to exit their investments in Indian real estate projects amid a slowdown in the property market. Ahuja Constructions used the money invested by Apollo Global Management to develop the 53 storey super luxury residential project Ahuja Towers which has redefined the skyline of Worli Mumbai in India.

Apollo Global, with over $162 billion of assets under management, had recently set up real estate private equity platforms in Asia with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Delhi, among other cities.

Joint Ventures for Sustainable Real Estate Development

The Indian real estate sector is currently passing through a critical phase and the government has finally realized the fact that there is a need to create positive environment in order to attract investments and kick-start the sector, if we are to achieve housing-for-all by 2022, writes Manju Yagnik, Vice- Chairperson, Nahar Group.

Towards this end, the government has begun the process of initiating a number of favorable industry policies like Relaxed FDI rules, proposed Development Plan 2034, State Regulatory bill,  Smart Cities, GST etc. These are some key drivers which have the potential to improve the market sentiments and propel growth of the realty sector in India. 

Real Estate sector is the second largest contributor to the economy after agriculture. The growth of this sector is therefore essential for the economic growth of the country.

The main challenges faced by developers during 2015 were uncertainties in government policy which directly affected the confidence level of the buyers and the developers alike, issues related to the easy access to funds and liquidity crunch faced by most developers during the year as banks and financial institutions were hesitant to lend to the sector and ease of doing business. Both these factors delayed new project launches and slowed down completion of ongoing projects.

In such a scenario where there is a dearth of capital or limited avenues to raise funds for development of projects, there is a growing trend being witnessed that of developers who are now looking at joint partnerships to develop projects. Here, there are two types of joint venture (JV) partnerships namely - one with the land owner and developer and the other where like-minded developers come together to develop projects. This kind of association takes care of capital requirements, reduces the risk involved and helps in faster development of larger residential projects.

The joint venture where landowner jointly develops the property with developer has been quite successful and currently a few leading developers are developing projects based on this type of a model. Here, developers partner with the land owners in jointly developing the property. This type of development is mutually beneficial to both the parties as the developer does not have to invest large capital to buy the land (which constitutes nearly 50% of total project cost) and the land owner will not have to arrange funds for the construction nor will he have to scout for developers to construct and market the project. The Joint Venture partnership also facilitates developers with local expertise in a new city where a developer wants to start a project. This way a developer can look at starting projects in multiple cities with local partners.

Nahar Group too has few of such projects which are on-going and upcoming.

This is currently trending in the real estate sector due to various reasons, one of them being market slowdown and dip in sales, which in turn has created liquidity crunch and limited access to funds by developers. In fact, with the passing of the Real Estate Regulatory Bill we may see more of such alliances as submission of 70% of project revenue into escrow accounts, being made mandatory, would ultimately limit the liquidity of the developers.

But on the flip side, the State Regulator bill could lead towards finally getting industry status for the sector. The HRA will help in weeding out fly-by-night operators who malign the industry and bring more transparency. Also, this will result in well established players getting a wider platform to operate, with more clarity and possibly single window permission being made available as the regulator would require the completion of the project in given stipulated time frame. Banks and financial institutions will also not hesitate in advancing loans once industry status is achieved.

The other recent trend that is gaining traction among leading developers across the country is that of a few developers forming an alliance to undertake residential projects jointly. Here the concept is based on individual developers bring to table their respective expertise in developing the project. For instance one developer will bring in the capital, another helps in getting necessary approvals from local authorities and third constructs the project while the fourth does the marketing of the project.

In this way each developer, based on the expertise, takes care of one department in the entire gambit of project development which ensures economy of scale, reducing risk and completion of project within the given time frame. Of course this is done with a lot of pre-arranged agreements acceptable by all partners.

These joint ventures seem to be the result of developers trying to beat the downturn and sustain themselves in a rather competitive and challenging environment. As the saying goes "Tough times call for Tough measures" can be apt to describe these innovative plans of developers in the given situation and time to come.

Therefore to conclude, joint venture is the new paradigm shift in real estate development and we can look at more of such associations among various stakeholders within the real estate industry partnering together in the hope of getting better valuation and self-sustenance in the long term.

About the author: 

Ms. Yagnik has been associated with Nahar Group for over two decades. After completing her graduation from Kurukshetra University, she decided to use her skills in a profession that was challenging but yet matched her passion. She entered the real estate industry by  joining the Nahar Group. Creating unique land spaces, coming up with unique initiatives for consumers, understanding consumer behaviour, being a decision maker, managing people, she has been a part of every activity in this group since then

IRB Infra to Build SE Asia's Longest Tunnel in J&K

NEW DELHI: IRB Infrastructure will build Southeast Asia’s longest tunnel at Zojila pass in Jammu & Kashmir at an estimated cost of Rs 10,050 crore to provide all weather connectivity to the Leh-Ladakh region.

Zojila pass, situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway, remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall and avalanches, cutting the Leh-Ladakh region from Kashmir.

“IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, one of the largest BOT road developers in India, has received a Letter of Award from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORT&H) for the construction, operation and maintenance of the longest tunnel in Southeast Asia, Zojila Pass Tunnel, in Jammu and Kashmir,” the company said in a statement.

It is the biggest national highway project awarded in India in terms of project cost with a tunnel length spanning 14.08 km and costing of Rs 10,050 crore.

It will include approaches on NH-1 (Srinagar-Sonmarg-Gumri Road) in Jammu and Kashmir on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (annuity) basis, the statement said.

The project has a strategic and socio-economic importance as it will provide much needed all weather connectivity between Jammu & Kashmir and Leh-Ladakh, which remains cut off during winter due to heavy snowfall, it said.

The order also involves construction of tunnel spanning length of 14.08 km and approach road of 10.8 km with three vertical ventilation shafts, snow gallery of 700 meters and avalanche protection measures.

“We are happy to get the project and we are confident that our work force will meet the challenges of the Himalayan terrain and build the tunnel well in time,” IRB Infrastructure Chairman and Managing Director Virendra Mhaiskar said.

“The concession period for the project is 22 years. IRB Infra will receive semi-annual annuity of Rs 981 crore from commencing after completion of construction of the project which would be received twice in a year till the end of the concession period,” he said.

By bagging this contract, IRB expands its base to the ninth state in the country and the company order book size swells to Rs 16,430 crore.

The tunnel project is part of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Rs 80,000-crore development package for Jammu and Kashmir, which he had announced in November.

The package included Rs 42,611 crore for development of roads and highways in the state. The highways packaged included “construction of Zojila tunnel” as per the PMO.

Last year, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had told PTI: “We are committed to all-round development of Jammu and Kashmir. We will begin work soon on Rs 10,000-crore Zojila pass tunnel, which would be even bigger than the 9-km long Chenani-Nashri tunnel in the state, which is India’s longest road tunnel at present.”