Royal Indian Raj Cleared by BCSC

Vancouver, BC, July 17, 2012 - As of April 2010, the British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has formally closed their investigation into Royal Indian Raj International Corporation® ​(RIRIC).



Allegations of fraud and irregular land acquisition processes surrounding RIRIC's township development activities in India were brought against the company in early 2005 by a former local  employee looking to undermine the hard-earned reputation of RIRIC in both North America and India. In addition to RIRIC's early brand incubation of such names as Choice Hotels (15,000 rooms), Century 21, and Caldwell; exclusive rights to the Jack Nicklaus golf courses and Academies; a $1 billion strategic financial relationship with The Greenwich Group; consultancy associations with Jones Lang LaSalle and CPG  Corporation (former Singapore Public Works Dept); and financial relationships with Global Emerging Market Fund on a 300,000,000M (GBP) Equity Line of Credit the following townships were presented to the Indian government and proposed for development subsequent to land negotiations and Township master plans submission:



• Royal Garden City Bangalore (2004) - 3,000 acre (146.36 million sq. ft. built-up) "Smart" City, Bangalore, India
• Royal Garden City Mumbai (2004) - 5,000 acre (217,800,000 sq. ft. built-up) "Smart" City, Mumbai, India
• Royal Garden Villas and Resort (2005) - Phase 1: 17 gated communities (600,000 sq. ft.buildable), proposed expansion to 137 acres      (5-7M sq. ft.) Bangalore, India
• The Italian Village (2007) - 1,136 acre gated community, Bangalore, India
• Golf India (2007) - a series of prestigious, planned golf course communities across India by golf legend Jack Nicklaus
• ​The Special Economic Zone (2008) - 12,500 acres for commercial development, State of Meghalaya, India

After an exhaustive review, BCSC lead investigator David Martin determined there were no grounds for prosecution.

"At the end of [that] process, we concluded that there was insufficient evidence to sustain allegations," said Bob Abrams, BCSC Investigations Manager.



"We are very pleased with the BCSC's decision," says RIRIC's chairman Manoj C. Benjamin. "As RIRIC is very vigilant at keeping well-documented records of its cross- border activities in the new emerging market of India  and elsewhere we remained confident with the investigation's outcome. The process has nevertheless delayed our progress.We are eager to put the last few years behind us and get our inaugural township project in Bangalore, India, off the ground in mid 2012, move on to other proposed townships as well as internationally incubate big name brands through our vertically integrated development portal.".

​

The Asia-China-India markets will make up 50% of the world's economy by mid-century; a transformation which, in India, will be "the scale and speed of which has not happened anywhere except China" noted a recent report from Morgan Stanley. International real estate groups have only been allowed to actively invest in the Indian markets since 2004. RIRIC is well-versed in the risks and challenges inherent to developing Eastern markets and is readily equipped to handle the multiple facets of its projects.

"Our vertically integrated proprietary "Smart" township model is unique - and a significant undertaking by any company's standards, " notes Benjamin. "It requires vision, the pursuit of excellence and a hard-headed business acumen. In India it requires additional mastery over many complex risk factors and procedures prevalent in these types of emerging markets such as poor regulatory environments, undefined real estate laws/practices, prolonged re-zoning issues, continuously changing governments, and excessive governmental red tape for project permissions with average approvals taking up to six to eight years. It takes patience, perseverance and personal contacts at the highest political level. RIRIC has all three in abundance."

​

RIRIC initially entered into their township development projects in 2000. They received Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB ) approvals under India's newly created "Integrated Township Sector" programme in September 2004, and became the first Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) permitted under this initiative. However, government delays of five to ten years, the aforementioned employee's internet sabotage campaign, and other influencing market factors reversed the precision planning and effective advancements to date; it was the perfect storm to stall the company's stellar reputation, integrity and project validity.



The clearance by the BCSC, combined with finalized Indian government permit clearances at the central and state levels, will allow RIRIC to commence phase one of its inaugural Royal Garden Villas & Resort (RGV) Live-Work-Play community in 2013 with phase two and its proposed 3-4 million square feet development anticipated to follow. The RGV project has received over 12,000 sales inquiries in its pre-launch stage. The entire project will be completed in several phases over approximately 5-7 years.BCS

NCR India's most speculative property market

The Indian realty space is in the spotlight again. The commercial and residential market in Mumbai has been very subdued. Several developers and experts feel the recovery of the Mumbai property market is still a little distant.Prime Property takes a look at the National Capital Region (NCR).

The NCR is often called India's most speculative market. It is a large market covering New Delhi's suburbs Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana, as well as Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.

Analysts often say that nearly 50 percent of the investments in the NCR is driven by investors. Knight Frank points out a sluggish demand and fewer project launches in the NCR.

Nearly 35,000 residential units were launched from October 2012 to March end of 2013. That's a dip of 31 percent year-on-year. So in light of weaker demand, it does seem as if developers have kept a check on new launches.

The liquidity crunch being faced by real estate companies is yet another reason. Developers continue to cope with the pressure of finishing delayed projects, thus very much on the prowl for funds to finish construction. Knight Frank says Noida in UP has witnessed a steep dip in launches in the second half of FY12.

It pegs 135,000 residential units have been announced in Noida, of which nearly 20 percent or 27,000 apartments are unsold. Knight Frank says Noida's loss has been neighbouring Greater Noida's gain. Greater Noida envisaged as a self sufficient city mushrooming along the Yamuna Expressway and today viewed as a more affordable market. Here is the Knight Frank outlook and prevailing price per square foot.

Mudassir Zaidi, regional director-North, Knight Frank India says, “ In Noida we have weighted average price of about Rs 5,200 and in Greater Noida we have an average with the price of about Rs 3,100. There is a significant difference in terms of the kind of end users or investors that they cater to. Greater Noida is roughly available at 50 percent of what Noida is available at. ”

Now the worrying part is that the NCR residential market has an estimated 140,000 unsold units, out of which 66 percent are concentrated in Noida and Greater Noida. Also there have hardly been any launches off late in the Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh bracket, which is what had primarily attracted buyers to Noida in the first place.

Gurgaon or the Millenium City is perhaps NCR's best performing micro market. Here you have more expensive properties when compared to Noida and Greater Noida. There's massive development around the proposed 25 kilometre-long Dwarka Expressway near the border of Delhi and Gurgaon.

Despite the expressway's construction being stalled, there was significant buyer interest. This part of Gurgaon is now referred to as new Gurgaon. It has attracted all the big builders, from Indiabullsto Mahindra Lifespace to Tata Housing to Sobha developers.

According to Knight Frank 120,000 units have been launched in recent times in Gurgaon and New Gurgaon, out of which 19 percent or 23,000 apartments are unsold. Now even though the percentage of unsold inventory in Gurgaon is the same as Noida,  Gurgaon scores higher in sales velocity. On an average 5,000 residential units are sold in a quarter in Gurgaon, and that's double of what is sold in Noida.

Mudassir Zaidi, regional director-North, Knight Frank India: In terms of price appreciation Gurgaon is a market which has seen very good appreciation. In terms of yearly numbers we have seen around 30 percent rise in terms of numbers in Gurgaon area.

In terms of new Gurgaon area there has been about 50 percent on an average in terms of price rise. On an average last year there have been projects getting launched between Rs 4500-5000. The numbers right now are about between Rs 6,000-6,500 or so.

That has been most exciting in terms of price increase. Faridabad, also in Haryana, is a much smaller market with about 25,000 units available. But there are expectations of more launches once it is connected with Delhi and Gurgaon via the metro.

Mudassir Zaidi, regional director-North, Knight Frank India says, “Faridabad has an weighted average price of about Rs 3,300. I would expect that in times to come and the interest in the market increases, we see a number of developers look at launching projects in that region. I would expect the weighted average price to start inching up significantly. The kind of projects that have been offered right now are the high end. We are largely seeing middle income projects that are being launched out there.”

Ghaziabad, another small suburb is seen as a cheaper alternative to Noida. Knight Frank pegs total units on sale at 74,000 but it does have a high unsold inventory at 32 percent. The average price here is around Rs 3,100 per sq foot. So which is a better bet, Faridabad, or Ghaziabad?!

Mudassir Zaidi, regional director-North, Knight Frank India says, “I expect appreciation to be in the range of about 10 to 15 percent. It won’t be as much as what it is available in Gurgaon but it will be decent. So between 10 to 15 percent what I expect the appreciation to be about 10-12. I would think that in the times to come Faridabad should re-pick up well compared to Ghaziabad? ”     
Earlier this month, Jaypee did a site visit in Noida with analysts and investors, including those from influential brokerage firms like CLSA. Jaypee Group's executive chairman Manoj Gaur was also present.

Jaypee Group's most ambitious project has been the construction of the 165 km long six lane Yamuna expressway connecting Noida with Agra. Besides nearly getting nearly 4,000 acres from the Uttar Pradesh government for building that expressway, the company also got around 6,000 acres divided in five land parcels, all for real estate development.

All of this was hived off and listed as Jaypee Infratech in 2010. So far Jaypee had launched one of these parcels, the one in Noida, which goes by the name of Jaypee Wish Town. Jaypee had got a lot of flak from buyers for being late by up to four years with projects here.

This January, Jaypee Infratech had called off its offer for sale on account of poor market conditions. No doubt the analyst meet is a pre-cursor to Jaypee Infratech's fund raising plans, which the company will have to undertake before June which is Sebi’s deadline of meeting that minimum 25 percent public float norm. Manoj Gaur had told Prime Property last month that Jaypee Infratech would cut its Rs 6,800 crore debt by Rs 2,000 crore quite soon.

How that would be achieved was unveiled at the analyst meet. The company will pare its debt be selling nearly 400 acres of land to mid-sized developers and HNIs. Besides that, there have also been two recent launches.

Launchpad

Few minutes from its Gautam Buddh F1 Grand Prix Circuit, Jaypee has launched Sunnyvale Homes, a project comprising of residential plots. These plots will be part of Jaypee Greens, Sportcity township, and the base price has been fixed at Rs 27,200 a square yard. There are five plot sizes available, with base price ranging from Rs 41.61 lakh to Rs 65 lakh. 
Possession is 18 months after the provisional allotment letter is issued.

Analysts feel the price tilts on the more expensive side, but the premium is for accessibility via the expressway and also for being so closely linked with the F1. Jaypee though says it has got a great response and may even hike prices.

The company had also recently launched studio apartments at the Sportscity. Jaypee says the first phase of this project, Buddh Circuit Studios, was made up of 1600 apartments and sold out within four days. The base price was Rs 3,290 per sq foot. 

Jaypee is now gearing up for Phase II. The base price of that has been increased by Rs 100 to Rs 3,390 a square foot. So if the specifications remain the same, the studio apartments will cost just shy of Rs 19 lakh and Rs 25 lakh

Analysts are divided on what they make of the project. The price is attractive, it’s again very accessible via the expressway and its sales pitch includes the connection with the F1. But the studio apartments are obviously small. So are buyers the actual end users that will work in the vicinity. Or are the buyers who are investing hoping to lease out these apartments to those very professionals.

Bangalore realty market more positive for 2013

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-26/bangalore/39537591_1_brand-bangalore-bangalore-realty-market-buyers