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[ad_1] The real estate sector emerged as the most desired investment choice in 2021. Owing to the two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdowns, ‘Owning a Home’ became the buzzword in every conversation – in family, social, and professional circles. Despite being a challenging year in which lives and livelihood were at stake, economic growth tumbled and job losses were rampant across sectors, the real estate sector witnessed a strong rebound thereby making positive headway for the coming year. The resilience of the sector from the last two waves of the pandemic makes one hopeful that the sector will tide over the latest Omicron variant threatening the world now. The real estate sector, on its part, has been agile to the changes creeping in. Ably aided by technology, it revamped its approach and aligned its visions and operations with evolving trends and customer preferences. The pandemic setbacks couldn’t deter the spirit of the sector for very long and the promising recovery was witnessed through the improved market and consumer sentiments. On the back of propelling business environment, the real estate sector expanded its ambit from metropolises to explore the underlying opportunities in non-metros and emerging locations. Large-scale infrastructure boost, low tax rates, latest trends, and policy push from the government helped in driving the next wave of realty growth in the country. The pandemic-infused trends coupled with low-interest rates, affordability, and other favorable factors harnessed the positive sentiments in these markets. Besides, the state capital and metro cities, tier 2 & 3 cities emerged as strong growth drivers of the real estate sector. Tier 2 cities like Lucknow, Amritsar, New Chandigarh, Faridabad, Indore, Ahmedabad, and others witnessed the increased traction from property buyers and emerged as promising property locations. Owing to the infra developments, well-planned connectivity, livability, and world-class social infrastructure, tier 2 & 3 cities are attracting more and more potential buyers. Undoubtedly, these markets will continue to lead the sector’s growth in the coming year and beyond. The emotional sentiment of homebuyers of owning a home in their hometown also propelled these cities into prominence. Also, the intra-city movement of families into organized group housing complexes was a big driver of home sales in these cities. Bigger residential spaces and plenty of open and green spaces were the hallmarks of development in these cities. The home buying sentiments were also quite pronounced in the top eight cities. According to an industry report, the July-September quarter witnessed a 92 percent hike in home sales. The report also highlighted that the July – September period witnessed a surge of 21 percent in the new home launches. The increased numbers indicate the regained consumer and investor confidence and are encouraging enough for the market to maintain the growth momentum in the year ahead. The retail sector, which was hurt by the pandemic, soon adapted to the new trends due to evolved consumer aspiration and preference. It saw new asset classes like hi-street and multipurpose commercial properties finding favor with investors and consumers. The focus has pivoted towards hi-tech, modern, organized, and safe shopping experiences. The rising number of well-known brands and conscious consumers are catapulting the demand for upscale shopping complexes & malls, entertainment hubs, and high-streets across the country. To perfectly catch the trends and ever-evolving preferences infused by the pandemic, the Hi streets have emerged as the strongest contributor in the growth of the commercial segment. Developers are strengthening their portfolios as more and more investors and retailers are hugely investing in this commercial asset class.  Today, the Indian market stands as one of the favorite markets of various global brands. They are eyeing the Indian market with aggressive business expansion plans. Besides, transforming lifestyle, elevating urbanization, and allowing 100 percent FDI in retail are the key factors leading to the success of hi-street concepts in India apart from malls and shopping centers. These spaces yield better rental returns and retailers are actively investing in the segment. The mixed-use development of urban India like modern multi-level car parking with multiple benefits is likely to facelift the infra landscapes in the cities. The segment is another emerging asset class likely to be in the center stage in the coming year.  Owing to the significant contribution to the Indian economy, the real estate sector will emerge as a strong pillar in the years ahead to support India’s dream of becoming a $5 trillion economy. Huge investment through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in infrastructure will certainly help the country double its economic potential. If the positive sentiments continue to soar in the coming period, the sector will become the next big thing in India’s economic growth.  (By Mohit Goel, MD, Omaxe Ltd) [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] By Amit Cowshish The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has imposed a penalty of approximately Euro one million on the French missile manufacturer MBDA for its failure to meet the annual target for discharging the offset obligation related to the Rafale deal. The company has paid the penalty but also lodged a protest with the MoD. The reason why it defaulted and the grounds on which it lodged the protest are not known. The €7.87 billionRafale deal was signed by the MoD with Dassault Aviation in 2016 for acquisition of 36 Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft under an inter-governmental agreement with France. It carries an offset obligation of 50 per cent and MBDA, as the Tier-I sub-vendor of Dassault Aviation, is shouldering a part of this responsibility. The legality of MoD’s action may be unquestionable, but the rationale behind the policy of penalising interim defaults before the offset contract runs its full course is open to debate. A defaulting company can always make up for the shortfall in achieving the target in the subsequent years within the period of performance of the main contract. This cannot cause any harm or loss to the MoD and has no bearing on the delivery timelines of the main contract. It bears recalling that the Rafale aircraft are being delivered in time as per the terms of the main contract. Delivery of all the 36 aircraft is likely to be completed by April this year. The offset policy was adopted in 2005 to make the foreign vendors plow back at least 30 percent of the contract value in the Indian economy following the guidelines laid down by the MoD. The guidelines have been amended several times since then to make them vendor friendly and ensure better results for the MoD. As the MBDA incident shows, the policy does not seem to be working too well. Several foreign companies are struggling to meet the offset targets. According to a March 2020 report of the Standing Committee on Defence, a penalty amounting to USD 38.19 million had been imposed till then in eleven of the 56 offset contracts signed so far for shortfall in achieving the annual targets. In August last year, it was reported by the print media that the MoDhad threatened to ban a US company and put another 11 US, French, Russian and Israeli companies on a watch-list on account of slow implementation of the offset contracts. Evidently, the problem is not restricted to MBDA. The foreign vendors who MoD is dealing with are reputed global defence companies. It is unimaginable that, but for the penal provisions, they will not be serious about honouring the timelines of the offset contracts. As a matter of fact, the facts mentioned above indicate that even the prospect of being penalised has failed to ensure adherence to the timelines. Apart from the sluggishness in execution of the offset contracts, MoD is also peeved with the vendors on account of their not opting for transfer of technology (ToT) or foreign direct investment (FDI), preferring instead the easy option of buying defence products from the Indian Offset Partners (IOP), to discharge the offset obligation. The situation calls for a review of the offset policy which is presently applicable to all capital acquisitions exceeding Rs 2,000 crore, except where the contract is awarded on the single-vendor basis, under intergovernmental agreements, or through special procedures like the US’s Foreign Military Sales programme. This has severely limited the number of contracts entailing offset obligation. Keeping aside the broader question of whether the MoD should persist with the offset policy, considering the limited number of offset-obligation-bearing contracts, three aspects of the policy merit a closer examination. One, despite the efforts to make it simpler, the policy continues to be very cumbersome and opaque, apart from being replete with excessive bureaucratic controls. To illustrate, the MoD never tires of proclaiming that, subject to the policy guidelines, the vendors are free to decide how to discharge their obligation and choose the IOPs, but this freedom is illusory. Allinitial offset proposal and post-contract requests for changing the IOPs and avenues for discharging the offset obligation, as well as rephasing of the implementation schedule, require MoD’s approval.Since the guidelines for each of these are laid down, there should be no need for MoD’s approval. These controls should be eased, if not dispensed with. What adds to uncertainty and delay in execution of the offset contracts is that the yardsticks applied by the MoD for examining the proposals are not laid down and the grounds on which the proposals are rejected are seldom, if ever, communicated to the vendors.These, and other similar lacunae in the policy, need to be addressed. Two, the pace of execution of the offset contracts has been very sluggish. Till last December, out of total offset obligation of approximately US $ 13.03 billion, to be discharged between 2008 when the first offset contract was signed, and 2027 when the last of the existing contracts runs its course, vendors had submitted offset claims only worth US $3.67 billion. Of these, claims worth US $2.16 billion only have been accepted in audit so far. The remaining claims are under examination by the auditing agency. In some cases, clarifications have been sought from the vendors on the claims submitted by them. This indicates that the obstacles faced by the vendors in discharging the offset obligations are compounded by a lackadaisical system of audit. The Defence Offset Management Wing, responsible for post-contract management, needs to be more proactive in removing the obstacles as and when reported by the vendors and improving the system of audit. Third, several ambiguities in the offset guidelines persist despite all the amendments made over the years. For example, it remains unclear whether a wholly owned subsidiary can be an IOP. This issue has been raised several times by the vendors in the past without MoD taking a clear stand on it. This ambiguity is also perhaps one of the reasons why the

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[ad_1] Britain’s Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan will launch Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations during a visit to New Delhi starting on Wednesday, the UK government has said.The schedule for the two-day visit to India will include bilateral talks between Trevelyan and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday, the Department for International Trade (DIT) said on Sunday. Trevelyan and Goyal are expected to discuss a range of issues, including green trade and the removal of market access barriers for both UK and Indian businesses, DIT said. Both ministers are then expected to confirm the launch of official negotiations on a new UK-India FTA.”The UK and India are already close friends and trading partners, and building on that strong relationship is a priority for 2022,” said Trevelyan. “I will be using my visit to drive forward an ambitious trade agenda which represents the UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt in action and shows how we are seizing global opportunities as an independent trading nation,” she said.”This is just the start of a five-star year of UK trade, forging closer economic partnerships around the globe and negotiating deals that work for businesses, families and consumers in every part of the UK,” she added. On Thursday, the UK minister will join Goyal to co-host the 15th UK-India Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) to review how businesses in both countries are benefiting from existing market access commitments under the UK-India Enhanced Trade Partnership agreed last May by Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi. The DIT said the UK Trade Secretary is expected to meet several Cabinet ministers to discuss closer bilateral cooperation, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav.”This highlights the ongoing wider strategic importance of the UK-India bilateral relationship which extends beyond trade,” the DIT said. On Wednesday, Trevelyan will meet staff at the New Delhi site of British manufacturing firm JCB to talk about how manufacturing and engineering firms could hugely benefit from the UK-India trade deal. The company are dubbed a UK “export success story”, having been in India for over 40 years and employing over 5,000 people in country. Later that day, the UK minister will also attend a Defence Industry roundtable hosted alongside Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar to promote future UK-India defence collaboration and strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.According to latest DIT figures, total trade in goods and services between the UK and India was GBP 23.3 billion in 2019, making India the UK’s 15th largest trading partner. Indian investment in the UK supports 95,000 jobs across the country, with 15,000 new jobs created by Indian investment in the last three years. A trade deal could help increase this further and will play a key role in our ambition to double trade with India by 2030, the UK government said. It added: “India is one of the world’s biggest and fastest growing economies and a bold new deal would put UK businesses at the front of the queue to export to India’s growing middle class of a quarter of a billion consumers.”India is set to become the world’s third biggest economy by 2050, with a bigger population than the US and EU combined.” [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] The two political outfits formed by farmer leaders – Gurnam Singh Chaduni’s Samyukt Sangharsh Party (SSP) and Balbir Singh Rajewal’s Samyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) – to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab have initiated talks for forging a pre-poll alliance.  The decision of both parties to explore a pre-poll pact came as Rajewal on Sunday ruled out the alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party. The leaders of SSM held talks with Chaduni on Sunday. On whether the SSM would seal the tie-up with Chaduni’s outfit, Rajewal said, “Time will tell.” He said the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha has formed three committees, scrutiny committee for shortlisting of candidates, parliamentary board and a manifesto committee. “We will come out with our first list of candidates in two-three days and within a week, all candidates will be announced,” said Rajewal.  Asked if only farmers will be the contestants, Rajewal said the candidates will be from every section of society, including the Scheduled Castes community and traders. Chaduni, who is the chief of the Haryana BKU (Chaduni), held a meeting with the SSM leaders and said he has decided not to announce candidates of his party. His outfit has halted the announcement of 10 candidate which it wanted to field, Chaduni told reporters here referring to his talks with the SSM. Asked if there were any talks with them on seat sharing, he said, “As things progress, we will let you know.” Asked if he could merge his outfit with the SSM, Chaduni said it is premature to comment on this. Asked about the meeting with Chaduni, Rajewal said the SSM has formed a committee, which will go into what is their requirement and accordingly a decision will be taken. “How many tickets they want, how many we can give, this will be decided by the committee,” said Rajewal. To a question on the PM’s security lapse in Ferozepur, Rajewal said farmers were not involved in it and demanded that security agencies should probe in this regard. [ad_2] Source link