Real Estate Gurgaon

As a BPO employee, Prajesh Patra earns Rs 12,000 a month - one-fourth of which is spent on his rent.

Like most other young BPO workers, Prajesh shares his two-bedroom flat with a colleague in Gurgaon.

''When I got this job with a BPO, I wanted a house close to the office so that I could cut down on the commuting distance. Two years ago, my rent was Rs 2,500, it has increased to Rs 4,500 now. With electricity and water charges it touches Rs 5,000.

''My salary has increased by Rs 2,000 in the last two years. We end up paying a lot in rent. But this locality is full of BPO employees, so we have a good time,'' says Prajesh.

Given that their jobs at call centres mean they work through the night, most BPO workers choose to live near their offices in Okhla, parts of Noida, and of course, the mother ship Gurgaon.

As their numbers have grown, rents in these areas have been shooting up. In parts of Noida and Gurgaon, rents have doubled in the last three years, which makes brokers and landlords very supportive of call centres.

''Most BPO workers are young and earning handsome salaries. They want to live in posh localities in apartments with amenities like swimming pools and gymnasium and round-the-clock security, as they have a lot of night shifts.

''They prefer living in groups, so the rent is equally distributed. This is driving the rental market upwards,'' said Anuj Sharma, Real Estate Consultant.

Source://ndtv.com

Smart investors are often a step ahead of rule-makers. Bankers, lawyers and financial engineers may have
already found a way to overcome the recent clamp-down on the rush of foreign money into the Indian property market. The new route may be more expensive and not as easy as before. But, it can work.

Regulators fear that some of the Indian firms are taking advantage of the liberal norms for setting up overseas subsidiaries to float companies in tax havens with a capital of just a few dollars. This wholly-owned overseas subsidiary then emerges as the new vehicle to bring money into the property sector.

One of the real estate groups has done this, almost immediately after the government banned preference shares as foreign direct investment in the real estate sector.

Till now, a local company owned by an Indian developer was issuing preference shares, or hybrid securities like convertible shares to the foreign investor. The money that came in was equity masquerading as debt. A few weeks ago, the government stopped it.

“What more and more developers will now do is get the investment at the overseas level, instead of receiving the money in India. The foreign subsidiary will issue preference and convertible shares to overseas investors, and then invest it in a real estate Gurgaon or Pune project ” said a real estate fund manager familiar with such transactions.

The money from the foreign subsidiary that will enter India will be shown as plain equity, flowing in through the automatic FDI route. Since a foreign entity (even though owned by a local group) will issue the preference shares, there is very little that Indian authorities can do.

For the overseas investor, the risk is more, since it would be investing in a company in Cyprus or Dubai, and not directly in the Indian project.

“However, there are structures which can be put in place to take care of the risks....through their ownership in the overseas vehicle, the foreign investors would actually end up controlling the Indian firm which owns the property,” said a banker.

“There could be certain agreements to protect the interest of the foreign investors. Many international property funds and foreign banks are willing to bet big on the Indian property sector, where they feel the returns will still be higher than in some of the other emerging markets,” he said. Some of the foreign banks have set up dedicated desks to structure investments for the Indian property market. After the restrictions, these groups are now working overtime to find an alternative.

Sources said that many Indian developers, caught off guard by the curbs on foreign investment, are willing to pay a price to get it done. With domestic banks shutting their doors to realtors, the property players are expected to walk the extra mile.

Source://indiatimes.com

Ernst & Young, who were looking for custom-built commercial space with world-class project management services, facilities and environment in Gurgaon, zeroed in on Alpha G:Corp due to the comprehensive project management of Golf View Corporate Towers, which will be undertaken by Alpha Facility, a 100% subsidiary of Alpha G:Corp. According to Mr. Rajiv Memani, MD, Ernst & Young, “As global leader, rendering professional services and business advice to corporates and global brands in 140 countries, Ernst & Young pursues the highest levels of integrity, quality and professionalism to provide clients with core services and analysis. It is crucial for us to ally ourselves with companies with a similar work culture and industry-best professional practices and services, especially if the tie-up relates directly with our work environment. For our offices, we were looking to tie-up with a quality developer that incorporates stringent international practices in the development and ongoing management of their projects. Alpha G:Corp has met with our requirements perfectly in this regard.”

Golf View Corporate Tower B comprises of ten floors. The area efficiency of each floor is 78% with optimum space utilization. The complex will provide world-class services and facilities like round-the-clock safety and security systems, ultra-modern fire detection and fire fighting systems, 100% power back-up, advanced communication systems, high-speed elevators, ample car parking facility and a well-trained support staff managed by Alpha Buildtech, the internal project management and servicing wing of Alpha G:Corp. Leading international architects, ARCOP, known for projects like Garden Estate, The Laburnum and GurgaonOne designed GVC Tower-B.

Golf View Corporate Towers is one of the best-located commercial properties in Gurgaon. Just a 15-minute drive away from the International Airport, this imposing world-class, glass-fronted structure overlooks the verdant DLF Golf Course and stands amidst beautifully landscaped surroundings on a 2.06 acre plot with a 200-feet wide main sector road in front comprising of two towers -- Tower A and Tower B. Tower A comprises of 55,770 sq. ft. and has 100% occupancy. Clients in Tower A are Alitalia, Infinity Incorporate, Kellwood Trading, Lark Infrastructure, Sirius Financial Solutions, Scholastic India, Watson Wyatt Insurance Consulting, Field Fresh Foods and Western International University.

Col. RS ‘Pickles Sodhi, MD, Alpha G:Corp explained, “We represent an opportunity to ally with a best-in-class and deeply experienced management team with a unique and highly scalable project development and servicing model that ensures our developments continue to remain important landmarks in their respective cities for years to come. Alpha G:Corp’s asset management model of development and management of property is based on top-of-the-line business models practiced globally and have mandatory feasibility study at the design stage, followed by land procurement, paperwork for all Government permissions and licenses, concept development, marketing, sales, construction and handing over process with ongoing post-sales or post-lease service.”

“Our endeavour is to consistently introduce to India practices and professional systems comparable with the best in the world. We have seen the potential in generating flexible and dynamic business models to meet the varying needs of associates. Golf View Corporate Tower B falls under our asset management model. With this present agreement with Ernst & Young, we have delivered world-quality development and will provide superior, ongoing project management services to boost their working environment in India,” stated Mr. S K Sayal, CEO, Alpha G:Corp.

Other clients serviced by the core team at Alpha G:Corp include Ericsson, British Aerospace, Motorola, Microsoft, British Telecom, Cisco, Intel and CSG Systems. Alpha G:Corp’s reputation as a professionally managed company in developing and managing world-class real estate projects is one of the reasons behind their projects being sold out way ahead of schedule. All Alpha G:Corp projects slated for a 2007 delivery are also ahead of schedule for hand-over namely, GurgaonOne in June ‘07 and AlphaOne Amritsar for hand-over for fit-outs in November ‘07.Alpha G:Corp’s premium residential project, GurgaonOne, which became fully sold even before the excavation on the site took place, will be ready for hand-over to buyers from June 2007. Pre-planning and implementation of extensive development of Green Belt, Rainwater Harvesting, Energy Conservation Systems & Installations, Segregation & Management of Waste, Vermiculture and Contemporary Sewage Treatment Plant, make GurgaonOne a path-breaking benchmark for sustainable environmental practices. GurgaonOne is located on the biggest green patch of Gurgaon, on the periphery of the mandatory 1000 acre green area within which HUDA has proposed a 600 acre world-class golf course. The Kapashera border -- the main route to GurgaonOne, is slated to be developed by HUDA as the best entry point to Gurgaon with high-quality roads, horticultural expanse, fountains and escalators for pedestrians to cross the traffic stretch.

Source://indiaenews.com