Whitefield hits correction phase down 30%

Whitefield hits correction phase
Anil Urs / Chennai/ Bangalore December 22, 2006
Property prices down 30%.

Residential apartment prices at Whitefield and the south eastern part of the city, which had skyrocketed a couple of months ago, is now spiralling southwards. Property prices in the area are down 20 per cent to 30 per cent.

The Whitefield area presently commands Rs 2,700 per square feet as against Rs 3,200 a couple of months ago. At the beginning of the year prices were in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500 per square feet.

The main reason given by people associated with the realty business is that the area had 40 per cent speculative interest and now the speculators are exiting the area to invest in north Bangalore.

In addition to speculators, apartment builders in the area also hold 30 per cent to 40 per cent dead stock (unsold properties) in Whitefield and south-eastern parts of the city.

The area saw large scale construction in the beginning of the year, eyeing the large concentration of IT and ITeS companies. About 25,000 apartments, which were under construction, are now hitting the market pushing down the real estate prices.

This shift in investments from Whitefield and south east Bangalore to north Bangalore areas, especially Bellary Road, has made property prices move up from Rs 2,800 per square feet a couple of months ago to Rs 3,500 per square feet.

In the beginning of the year, Whitefield was the favourite destination for it had better infrastructure than other investment destinations in the city and was closer to the workplace for a majority of the techies. But now the north is gaining in importance due to the new international airport coming up and plenty of space available for growth.

Giving the reason for this shift from the southeast to north Bangalore, Ram Chandnani, head-south, CB Richard Ellis South Asia, said, "During the second quarter there was a clear gravitation towards the northern part of Bangalore. Mainly lured by large land parcels, good roads and open possibilities, companies, equity funds and developers alike are queueing up in the Hebbal-Devanahalli stretch along the Bellary Road.”

“Now this is happening on a large scale,” he added.

In addition to residential apartment prices, office space rentals are also down in Whitefield. According to international real estate consultants, Debenham Tie Leung (DTZ), peripheral business districts like Whitefield are witnessing a 10 per cent fall in rentals, with Grade A leasehold office space being transacted at an average rental of Rs 26, down from Rs 30 in the beginning of the year.

“The rentals are expected to rise slightly across most micro markets in the next quarter except in the peripheral business district (PBD), where it is expected to remain stable. The areas along the Outer Ring Road in the PBD will contribute significantly to next quarter’s absorption because of good connectivity and availability of space,” said Hugh Hamilton, Director, global corporate services, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, India.

New Home Buyers to Escape Rate Hike

New Home Buyers to Escape Rate Hike

By Mrs Gupta, Section Real Estate
Posted on Thu Dec 21, 2006 at 03:07:19 AM EST
The hike in home loan rates will not affect new borrowers immediately as banks and finance companies find it difficult to pass it on to fresh customers at the time of slowdown in the sector. But, old customers will have to bear the brunt of higher rates as it automatically gets passed on to them.

A direct sales agent for home loan of ICICI Bank said as the number of customers seeking fresh loan has gone down, the bank is ready to give loan to a new customer at the old rate of around 9.5%. He said customers are benefitting from the competition among banks and finance companies. But, the same thing does not apply for old customers. as in their case, the hike is passed on automatically.

ICICI Bank has recently increased its rate by half a percentage point. Its new benchmark for floating rate will be 10.75%. Since November 2004, ICICI Bank hiked home loan by 3%. That means, if someone had borrowed at the lowest ever rate of 7% prior to November 2004, he would now be paying interest at 10.50%.

And if someone had borrowed at 7.25%, his rate would have gone up to 10.75% by now, which is the benchmark for floating rate. But, the new customers are being offered at around one to 1.5 percentage point discount to the bench mark rate. However, CEO of ICICI Home Finance Rajiv Sabharwal said the interest rate on home loan is between 9.50% and 10%.

The same situation prevails in other banks and finance companies. This time, ICICI Bank has taken the lead in increasing the rate as RBI’s decision to increase the cash reserve requirements to be maintained with the centeral bank affected it directly.

Click on "Full Story" for more...

Other banks and institutions are likely to follow the suit. HDFC is likely to announce its new rate in the next week, said HDFC ED Renu Karnad. She said RBI’s decision to increase cash reserve requirements with the central bank will not affect HDFC directly as it does not have to maintain any such reserve.

Interestingly, bankers are not very perturbed at the rise in interest rate and feel that it would not affect the sector. Karnad said interest rate at around 10% would not affect demand. But, if the rate goes up further, the demand would certainly get affected. Sabharwal said the present slowdown in some centres like Mumbai, Pune and NCR, is mainly because of a rise in the price of real estate. But, he said the number of transactions in areas like Nasik, Nagpur and cities in South India is growing rapidly.

He said half a percentage point rise in interest rate led to an around 5% increase in the rate, which is within the tolerable range.

But, he said, if the rates go close to 12%, certainly there would be a problem. Though the interest of banks and finance companies is protected as the value of security, which is house in these cases, have appreciated substantially. But, such a rise in the interest rate will affect the sector, senior bankers feel.

Source- TOI, Dated, December-21,2006

7 real estate companies

Source : Moneycontrol.com

Almost all the sectors have made smart gains in the ongoing bull run of the Indian Equity market but things could not have been better for the real estate sector which has witnessed an astronomical appreciation in the market prices of its stocks. On the back of strong fundamentals of Indian economy, robust demand, rising property prices, phenomenal corporate earnings and continuous FII pumping, few real estate stocks have appreciated as high as 74,000% and as low as 3,000% in the last four years. Whether one is looking out for one year or four years returns, the real estate sector has outperformed the market convincingly.

Moneycontrol zeroes in on seven realty stocks on the basis of their price performance. Unitech has appreciated in excess of 75,000% in terms of stock price as well as market cap. The market cap in 2002 November was Rs 55 crore and now the market cap is around Rs 41,000 crore.

During the same period, price of Arrow Webtex scrip zoomed by over 44000% from Rs 1.35 to Rs 600. BF Utilities share gained 41800% from Rs 7 to Rs 2932.95, while Ansal Properties rose by 29,500% from Rs 3.33 to Rs 985.70.

	Market Price (RS)			Market Cap (Crore)
Companies	22 Nov. 2002	22 Nov. 2006	%change	22 Nov. 2002	22 Nov. 2006	%Change
Unitech	0.7	510.0	74,900.0	55.0	41,397.0	75,167.3
Arrow Webtex	1.4	599.8	44,325.9	0.7	180.0	24,900.0
BF utilities	7.0	2,933.0	41,799.3	26.0	11,045.0	42,380.8
Ansal Properties	3.3	985.7	29,500.6	11.6	3,450.0	29,615.8
Dawn mills	100.1	11,763.5	11,657.6	2.4	294.0	12,252.9
Lok Housing	4.3	335.4	7,791.8	5.1	382.0	7,346.4
Ansal Buildwell	3.3	235.2	7,136.9	2.1	173.6	8,087.7
Prices are adjusted for rights, bonus and splits

When we compare the performance of some of the sensex biggies, realty stocks are far ahead during the same period. ONGC appreciated by 258%, Reliance Industries limited went up by 370%, Infosys shot up by 325% and Wipro went up by 114%. Other heavyweights like ICICI Bank zoomed up by 977%, ITC by 354% SBI & HDFC by 417% and 384 % respectively. L&T appreciated by 691%.

Analysts attributed the spiralling of property and construction stocks to the huge amount of foreign investments flowing into the domestic real estate sector through real estate private equity funds and projects specific joint venture’s with leading overseas companies.

Right on cue, the real estate companies have caught the fancy of the investors on the domestic bourses. The valuation of the listed real estate companies with large land banks is piercing through the sky and the public offerings are also being lapped up with great enthusiasm.

For instance, the recent IPO of Parsavnath Developers which had planned to raise 1000 crore, received spectacular responses with 62 times over subscription. Sobha Developers IPO, which opened on 23rd of November, is getting good responses. The IPO’s of Orbit and DLF are yet to come.

Ishaan Real Estate (Raheja Group) raised 180 million pounds on London Stock Exchange (LSE) and on similar lines Hiranandani Constructions is looking at raising $ 500-750 millionn via IPO route on LSE.

Real Estate Potential in India

Market size as of now is estimated to be $12 billion, which is expected to grow at 33% to $ 50bn by 2010. There will be about 5 times increase in office space in the next 5 years, 200-million sq ft for organized retail by 2010 and over 50,000 new hotel rooms are going to be added in the next 5 years.

There is huge funds chasing real estate in India. For example, Goldman Sachs has a proprietary fund of $10 billion, ICICI India Advantage Fund is of $ 800m, HDFC Real Estate Fund of $720m, Pantaloon Group Kshitij Fund of $ 350m.

The Real estate companies has huge amount of land banks in reserve with them

Companies	Land Banks (Acres)
Unitech	5100
Sobha Developers	2748
Ansal Properties	5924
Ansal Housing	1500
DLF	4265
Mahindra Gesco	1637

By - Om Prakash Singh

Hindustan Times boom article

Last week we began a discussion on the booming real estate scenario in India and took a look at the reasons for it.

What is noteworthy is that the boom in property prices has not been restricted to big cities alone. Smaller towns and suburbs of large urban centres have also posted sharp upswings in the real estate prices. The primary reason for this appears to be the growing trend of well known corporates setting up bases in these areas.

With this trend expected to sustain itself over a period of time, property prices are bound to continue spiraling. The chronic shortage of housing for the ever increasing population will also ensure that property prices continue to rise at higher than the average rate of around 10 per cent per annum in the country.

Let us now take a tour around India’s mega cities and check out the real estate scene in each:

MUMBAI: The financial capital of India has clocked the highest real estate prices over the years. Mumbai attracts lakhs of new comers from every rung of society each year. Naturally, this gives rise to a huge demand for housing which in turn ensures that real estate pricing remain high.

It goes without saying of course, that prices differ from place to place intra–city. Certain areas like Colaba, Malabar Hill, Worli and Bandra are considered prime locales and command a substantial premium, thereby taking property prices to dizzying heights.

Territorial Development Rights (TDR) is a concept which has Mumbai completely in its sway, and throughout the city one finds buildings growing vertically. In other words, existing structures are being taken over by builders and fresh floors are being added.

Satellite townships of the city such as far flung Dombivili, Ambernath, Virar, Vasai have also recorded a fair upswing in the prices, thanks to the insatiable demand for real estate.

BANGALORE: The Information Technology capital of India has been witness to frenzied construction activity. Bangalore has been recording an annual real estate disbursement of more than Rs 4000 crore.

The city posted a net absorption of about 4.7 million square feet of commercial real estate in the first half of 2005 alone and has not looked back since.

With chances of the real estate sector opening up for FDI strong, various foreign investment companies and private equity funds are looking at this city with great interest and this is bound to impact the market positively

Source: hindustantimes

New Rental policy in Maharashtra

Pune: Construction industry majors have welcomed the Union government’s proposal to promote rental housing by offering tax rebate on the income generated by way of house rent. However, they say the proposal needs to be supplemented with a series of reforms in the housing policy.
Presently, rent earned is added to an individual’s annual income and is taxed. Under the new proposal mooted by the urban poverty alleviation ministry, rental income is sought to be excluded from the annual income-tax.
“The move will increase investments in housing. People will buy houses and rent them out to earn a taxfree income,” Kumar Gera, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), told TOI.
Gera, who was on the task force which recommended the proposal to the government, said people would put their surplus money in housing, which in turn would help increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Also, as more houses will be available in metro cities at an affordable rent, finding a suitable place to live will become easier for professionals who often move from city to city, he added.
“We support this proactive approach of the government, which will go a long way to promote rental housing in India,” Lalitkumar Jain, president of the Promoters and Builders Association of Pune (PBAP), told TOI.
Jain, however, felt that the state needs to grant more protection to house-owners in metros by modifying the Maharashtra Rent Control Act. Many investors are afraid to rent out their properties for fear that the tenants may not vacate the premises. This is particularly true about cities like Mumbai, which has led to a number of flats lying vacant.

TO LET



• 2% owned flats lying vacant in Pune, 9% in Mumbai

• Many owners fear tenants may not vacate premises

• Tax rebate on rental income will boost investment in housing, say builders

• Others fear that demand for houses will rise, and so will property rates

‘Govt. move will put pressure on existing land resources’

By Abhijit Atre/TNN
Pune: The government’s proposal to promote rental housing by offering tax rebates has been welcomed by the construction industry.
But according to Lalitkumar Jain, president, Promoters and Builders Association of Pune (PBAP), the Maharashtra Rent Control Act should also be modified. He said common investors are afraid to rent out properties for fear that tenants, by using the Act, may not vacate their premises.
Jain said around two per cent flats are vacant. As per national estimates, around nine per cent houses in metros remain locked. “Rental housing will get a major boost if a mere complaint by the landlord with the police, informing that a tenant is refusing to vacate the premises after the expiry of the agreed rental term, leads to immediate removal of the tenant,” Jain said.
Jain admitted that the current legislation allows an owner to enter into a 11-month agreement with the tenant, but pointed out that in case of default by the tenant, the litigation continues for years in court.
While lauding the government’s proposal, president of the Marathi Bandkam Vyavasayik Sanghatana S.R. Kulkarni, however, pointed out that this will further increase the demand for housing and put pressure on the existing land resources in metros, leading to a further price hike.
“The proposed tax rebate to investors for renting their houses is undoubtedly a welcome move. However, if it has to benefit the common middle-class citizens, it should be affordable for them to buy property in the first place. The government and the industry players need to give a serious thought to the issue and undertake measures to stabilise the land prices" Kulkarni said

"Affordable Housing" by TOI

TOI's real estate expert Chetan Narain writes a weekly column on saturdays. This time he discusses affordable housing in Mumbai where 70% of the city lives in slums. Ofcourse his idea of affordable housing is 7k/sq ft.

We have often heard these words "affordable housing" and it is a necessity in a city like Mumbai. But more often than not, people in power use this as a "tool" to win hearts (read: Votes). There is a clear mismatch between expectation (planned development) and what has happened or is happening.
Not so long ago, around 1985 Lokhandwala Complex in Andheri west, was developed. During that time this location was an affordable location for folks looking for an option to live in the suburbs and not wanting to go further north of Andheri. It offered a variety of one, two, three and four bedroom type apartments and bungalows too. That way it managed to absorb a huge demand for affordable housing for nearly everyone.
Around 1988, our family decided to move from a two-bedroom apartment to a four-bedroom. One thing we were clear of was we would look at any other location but Lokhandwala. Why, because it was too far deep into Andheri and not a very upmarket address then. We searched all of Juhu and Juhu Scheme for our dream home but to our disappointment found nothing in our "limited budget". Finally we decided to look at other locations and stumbled upon a beautifully planned four-bedroom apartment at half the cost of Juhu, guess where? At Lokhandwala! All of a sudden it made perfect sense and we went ahead and bought the place. The point I am trying to make is, that the location offered "affordable housing" to us with other factors and comforts we were looking for.
Who deserves "affordable housing"? What is "affordable housing"?
You, me everybody deserves "affordable housing" and why not? Don't we work hard and save money to buy ourselves a home? Don't we pay taxes, direct and indirect, through VAT/Duties and other taxes all the time? "Affordable housing" is not for someone who can't afford it at all, it is for someone who can't stretch their budget beyond a certain limit (after borrowing too). They are the ones who deserve such housing and locations designated.
There was a lot of hue and cry lately on Lokhandwala Complex/ Oshiwara being a location reserved for affordable/low income housing only and how developers with vested interests misused it. I think this is where we are forced to believe we are governed by a bunch of goons who play dirty politics. Look at the growth pattern in pricing: From a period of 1985 to 1990 the prices hovered around Rs 1,600 to 2,400 per square foot. After 1991 there was a price rise in property across the city and Lokhandwala was on the rise too. The prices scaled upto Rs 4,000 to 5,500 only go down by 2000 -2001 to Rs 2,500 to 3,500. Today, once again the prices are up and scaled higher than the early 1990's rise to a range of Rs 5,500 to 9,000. Somehow today's pricing may have irked a 'few' to raise issues. But don't the folks who bought their properties way back deserve the appreciation of their property values?
At some point somewhere, the less expensive location does become more affordable to the wallet. Lokhandwala is less expensive than Bandra and Juhu and hence more affordable.
In each location one can earmark a sub location for low-income housing but to zone an entire location would be unfair to others. A classic example of what a mess the government can make when they get involved in housing would be MHADA near Lokhandwala Complex. It was supposed to be World Bank's
pet project for "affordable housing." I am happy for the folks who have secured homes for themselves to live in, but really disappointed with the planning. It bears a look just like Lajpath Nagar in Delhi; they have attached row houses one after the other, which is not the problem. The problem is, something that was built and supposedly planned as recent as 1995-96 missed out on details for walking pavements, parking for guests and visitors, vegetable and fruit markets etc.
Recently, there was a newspaper article on the increase of FSI proposed by a panel with regard to "affordable housing" and future needs of the city. Such a decision to take in a democratic country is not easy for the Government. For example, if the FSI was increased from 1 to 4 it would create disparity with people/groups and in prices within locations. But I strongly feel, we will have to train ourselves to accept that such moves will only benefit the city if planned right. Growing vertically will only create more open spaces and help us have a de-congested look. Others may benefit through FSI increase and you may not, but we will have to learn to live with it. It is just like going into Tax benefit/holiday zones like Daman. Not everyone went there and set up Industry. Whoever went there benefited in tax savings. It does not mean someone sitting in Vikhroli or Thane with a factory can complain or moan. With the right attitude and planning there is room for everyone in this city.

Bangalore new Ring Roads and townships

With the developement of Greater Bangalore here is schematic of the ring roads as they intersect various proposed satellite cities. Check out BMRDA Bangalore for more details

Super-luxury pads selling thick and fast

PREMIUM SPACES: Super luxury apartments are the latest in the city's realty scene. Courtesy: Vijay Shanthi Builders

Chennai's rich who are looking for the right living space have some fascinating options today.

Exclusive, super-luxury pads that offer cozy lifestyle, penthouses that add value to life and lifestyle, are the latest in Chennai's realty scene.

Villas and apartments that tap the power of technology to make life and living more comfortable are the pursuit of some of Chennai's big builders.

Massive price tags

Of course, they come with massive price tags, that hover around the Rs.1 crore mark. And know what? They are finding buyers, thick and fast!

For example, last month Vijay Shanti builders unveiled their super luxury offering - Patio - 15 exclusive apartments.

Each of these pads is spread across a floor space of 5,000 square feet each. The price tag: Rs. 4.25 crore each.

Peace and calm

Naresh Jain, Executive director of the building group, said that the architecture of the patio in Nungambakkam's Rutland Gate is French. The whole design is surrounded by the patio.

"For someone who can afford this, will look forward to peace and calmness. So we have provided for personal lifts for each house," he says. There is no staircase close to the living room. Instead the stairs are behind the utility area and kitchen.

With Vijay Shanthi's principle to build homes close to nature, bedroom spaces even those in the upper floors get a patch of greenery.

Symbols of luxury

Bathrooms too can be symbols of luxury, with their look, style and designer fittings. In this case, the bath is a massive affair - 14 ft. x 10 ft.

As the CEOs, IT employees and NRIs will already be members of some club or the other, the other amenities have been cut off in the apartments.

Instead a party space for 200 people has been added. The apartments have lumber room and a driver's room.

Each of the apartment space comprises four bedrooms, with a family and a formal living room. The 15 apartments have been spread on 22 grounds.

On four-acre plot

Now, Vijay Shanthi is coming up with a bigger project - apartments that will cost Rs. 8 crore each.

Another of their project is Club Cabana along the I.T corridor. A small community of 18 exclusively-styled villas that will cost Rs.1.25 crore each.

The project is to come up on a four-acre plot will have only 10 per cent built up area and the rest 90 per cent, a green spread.

Residents will have to park their cars near the gate and either walk, or bike or golf cart their way home through the greenery.

Courtyard

The project will begin in two months time. Vijay Shanthi's another project of this exclusive club is courtyard in Nungambakkam, Pycrofts Garden. Vishranthi Homes is another such building group specialising in high-end consumers.

Says Raghuram Reddy of Vishranthi, "Except one project Coconut Grove, all other projects in the city are above the Rs. 1 crore bracket."

Boom in IT/BPO sector

The boom in the I.T and ITES/BPO sectors is also leading to similar boom in the real estate sector, that too in that segment takinga tidy pay packet every month.

Christened "The Ferns", the first gated community international style exclusive villas, 10 minutes from the Siruseri complex on the IT corridor and five minutes from Kelambakkam and 25 minutes from Thiruvanmiyur is coming up on the East Coast Road in Thiruvidanthai Panchayat limits.

Out of the land area of 6.6 acres, 48 villas are to be built and along with the club house will occupy only 35 per cent of the total land area leaving 65 per cent to the private garden, well-laid out pathway and landscaped roads, children's play area and other common amenities.

Each villa will cost over Rs.85 lakhs and 17 villas have already been sold, explains D. Sudhakara Reddy, Chairman and Managing Director of Regaliaa Realty.

Designed as per Vastu

Each villa is designed by a Singapore architect keeping in mind the need of the present generation with a provision of an internet connection, home theatre system, modern security system, split air-conditioners and a family room and a partly covered terrace with a bar counter to entertain the guests in style.

The spacious living, dining and bedrooms are all designed to accommodate everything one fancies, Mr.Reddy said each villa has been designed as per Indian Vastu Sashtra combining with world class facilities.

Club house

A club house will also form part of the complex equipped with swimming pool with a toddlers pool and the support facilities seen in a high quality club house.

A jogging track, convenience store, a fitness centre, and an association office has also been planned.

Further details of the environmental-friendly villa project can be had from www.regaliaarealty.com

For those who can afford sky seems to be the limit and the developers are not complaining.

Sobha promoter in billionaire club

Sobha promoter in billionaire club
Kausik Datta / Mumbai December 21, 2006
P N C Menon, chairman of Sobha Developers, joined the billionaire club today, with the market value of his shares in his newly listed company touching Rs 6,135 crore.

Menon and his family hold 63.33 million shares, or 86.88 per cent stake in the company.

The stock today made a sparkling debut with a listing price of Rs 1,111.25 on the BSE — 74 per cent premium over the issue price of Rs 640. The stock reached the day’s high of Rs 1,179 and finally closed at Rs 968.75.

The 58-year old Menon, a commerce graduate, floated his real estate company 11 years ago in Bangalore with a paltry sum of Rs 7 crore. He began his professional career at the age of 24, by establishing an interior decoration firm in the Sultanate of Oman.

But his heart was always in India where he eventually returned and incorporated Sobha Developers, after his wife’s name.

Sobha Developer’s company’s maiden issue was 104 times subscribed. But Menon, it seems, wasn’t taking any chances A few days before the listing, he visited the Guruvayur Sri Krishna temple in Kerala and offered 70 kg of gold to the residing deity.

However, a close aide of Menon did not agree that Menon went to the temple because the listing was impending. “Menon has a home at Trichur which is only 10 kms away from Guruvayur. So whenever he visits Trichur, he goes to the temple,” he said.

His company has land reserves of 2,747 acres in Bangalore, Mysore, Pune, Chennai, Kochi, Thrissur and Coimbatore.

It has developed and constructed 21 residential projects in Bangalore covering 2.98 million sq ft, 75 contractual projects in eight Indian States covering about 8.42 million sq ft and two commercial projects aggregating 0.11 million sq ft.

Interest rates likely to go up further

New Delhi: If the government's mid-term review of the economy is an indication of its future strategy, then it's time to brace for further increase in interest rates and losing a few more bucks, thanks to the Centre's intent to prune tax exemptions.
There's a third shocker too, which the 68-page report tabled in Parliament talks about --changes in the subsidy regime, especially for food and cooking gas and kerosene -- but given the political opposition to the proposal, officials and economists say the chances are limited. Ditto for tax breaks on savings instruments but possibility of further increase in EMIs (equated monthly instalments) appears more realistic if the demand for loans does not taper off in the coming months and inflationary pressures continue.
The mid-term appraisal's emphasis on taking preemptive measures in response to inflationary pressures is what has prompted economists to say that monetary tightening exercise, through rate hikes, was not over yet.
Inflation — partly due to poor food production, and therefore supply, and the continued growth momentum — seems to be the biggest cause for concern in an otherwise rosy scene painted by finance minister P Chidambaram. At the same time, the government has tried to dispel the notion that the price rise is unprecedented. It has culled out data in an attempt to show that inflation was actually higher for most segments during the last fiscal. While the other alarm bells are largely predictable — agriculture and infrastructure (especially electricity) — low growth in labour-intensive sectors like leather, paper and food products, which have not kept pace with other industrial segments, is being articulated for the first time and at a time when the government expects a further period of sustained boom.
The mid-term review has used strong demand for capital goods and investment intentions rising 57% between between 2005 and October 2006 to predict that the period of high growth in the manufacturing sector, which started in 2004, is far from over.
The government has used this to make a case for reviewing inflexible labour laws as one major area of reform besides pushing the case for changing the rules of the game for banking, insurance and pension, where legislative changes have been held up due to opposition from the Left.