Piramal Fund invests in Lotus Greens’ Noida residential project

BY  Swet Sarika, VCCircle

Piramal’s realty investment unit plans to invest as much as $1 billion towards real estate this fiscal.

Piramal Fund Management, the real estate investment arm of Piramal Group, has invested in a residential project by north-based developer Lotus Greens, two people familiar with the development told VCCircle. The investment has been made in the form of structured debt.

VCCircle could not immediately ascertain the size of the investment but it could be in the same range as its other recent deals.

Piramal recently sealed a deal with Satya Group for a Gurgaon project, where it invested Rs 100 crore. In the first deal from its separate alliance with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), it invested Rs 110 crore in a luxury residential project of Advance India Projects Ltd in Gurgaon.

The latest investment has been made in a project called Lotus Greens Arena located at sector 79, Noida. This luxury residential project is spread across 10 acres and offers 3 & 4 BHK apartments ranging from 1,495 sq. ft. to 2,395 sq. ft. The project forms a part of developer’s township Sports City.

“The deal was closed recently,” said a source quoted above.

Emails written to Khushru Jijina, managing director, Piramal Fund Management and P Sahel, vice chairman, Lotus Greens, did not elicit any response till the time of filing this story.

Lotus Greens is present across residential, commercial, hospitality, education and healthcare verticals. Founded by Nirmal Singh and led by its vice chairman P Sahel, the company has ongoing projects in Noida and Gurgaon.

As for Piramal, it plans to invest as much as $1 billion towards real estate this fiscal. In the last four months, it has invested Rs 2,000 crore on behalf of proprietary debt book and funds business. In a recent interaction with VCCircle, JIjina said he will be approving between Rs 600-800 crore of transactions every month through the rest of the year.

Greater Noida Authority cancels allotment of 1,200 plots

The Greater Noida Authority cancelled allotments of around 1,200 plots on Tuesday on account of non-payment of pending dues by their owners. 

These include 1,173 residential plots in different sectors of the city. Authority officials informed that allotments of 25 industrial plots and 12 institutional plots have also been cancelled.

Officials informed that the authority has taken the extreme step because it is reeling under a huge financial crisis to the tune of over Rs 6,000 crore to a number of banks and financial institutions. Non-payment of dues for several terms by plot allottees has added to the financial burden of the authority.

The cancellations were effected after the allottees failed to pay up three consecutive pending dues against their respective plots despite repeated notices issued by the Greater Noida Authority. Officials said that more cancellations might be effected in the near future as notices are being issued to several other allottees who have goofed up on making timely payments.

All plots, which had been allotted through different schemes by the authority since the year 2009, have been cancelled. Cancellation letters, said officials, have been issued to all allottees losing their plots.

“The cancelled plots will be put up for fresh allotments through a leftover scheme. The details of the scheme are being worked out following which the plots would be put up for sale,” said Manvendra Singh, DCEO, Greater Noida Authority.

Greater Noida Authority intends to raise revenues through the re-allotment of these plots so that debts and loans incurred by it can be cleared. A portion of the revenue so raised would also be used for paying compensation to farmers in lieu of their land in accordance with the Allahabad high court verdict of October 2011.

However, the authority also informed that it would give the first preference to original allottees of these plots to regain their allotments through a restoration process. Allottees would have to clear their pending dues together with penalties. “They will also be required to pay stiff restoration charges for regaining possession of their plots,” added Singh.

Training Program on Planning & Starting Property Consulting Business

In its objective to enhance professionalism in real estate and create a pool of knowledgeable and professionally competent property consultants, NIREM Institute of Real Estate Management has started offering a training program on ‘Planning & Starting Property Consulting Business’ on 11-12 November, 2013 at Delhi.

Through this training programs, NIREM aims to provide a knowledge platform to all those who want to start their own property consulting business. 

In the two-day program, participants are introduced to various aspects of real estate business including the right approach and method to start a property consulting business with a focus on handling customers in the most professional manner.

Few of the important topics are identifying and understanding the real estate markets, legal issues involved in property sales and transaction, coordination with builders and developers, lead generation and management, online marketing of properties, property sales skills, meeting clients’ expectation, quality in service delivery, consumer rights and protection, consultants’ rights and duties etc.

The course objective is to prepare a pool of professional real estate consultants who have thorough knowledge and competency to provide advice to clients about various aspects of property sales, purchase and investments.

Admission in this course is open to all those who want to start their own property consulting business and is offered on first-come-first-served basis. The program is scheduled on 11-12 November, 2013.

Those interested in joining the program may get in touch with the Admission Officer, NIREM at 011.42484988 or mail to info@nirem.org

Wave Pays Rs 375 cr as Stamp Duty for Registration of 151 acre Noida Land

Wave Infrastructure today said it has paid about Rs 375 crore as stamp duty for registration of about 151 acres of land in Noida, which the company had won in the country’s biggest land deal for a whopping Rs 6,570 crore. 

In March this year, Wave Infrastructure had bagged 6.14 lakh sq meter plot for Rs 1.07 lakh per sq meter at Sector-32 and 25A from Noida Development Authority, outbidding real estate firms Amrapali and The 3C Company. “We have deposited about Rs 375 crore as stamp duty for registration of the land,” Wave City Executive Director R K Jain told PTI.

He said the registration process is expected to be completed by tomorrow. However, it could not be ascertained whether the stamp duty paid by the company is an all-time high. It is a mixed-use land where the company would develop housing, commercial complexes, entertainment city and hotels. Jain said the company would launch the project by end of this year but refused to share further details saying that the project was in the planning stage. Besides real estate, Wave Group is into entertainment, sugar, liquor and paper businesses.

In 2008, BPTP had bagged 95 acres of land in Noida for Rs 5,006 crore through an auction, but the deal fell through as the company was unable to make the full payment. However, the Noida Authority allotted some portion of land to BPTP, equivalent to the amount paid by the company. Among other major land deals in the national capital region, DLF –the country’s largest realty firm — had bagged a 350-acre plot for Rs 1,750 crore in Gurgaon in 2009. DLF had acquired 38 acres in the heart of Delhi for Rs 1,675 crore in 2007, while Unitech had won 340 acres in Noida at Rs 1,582 crore in 2006.