Author Archives: Rachna Ranjan

RBI on lookout for new premises for office, staff in Shimla

The Reserve Bank is looking for new premises for its office and residential complex in Shimla near the famous Ridge on Mall Road. Currently, the central bank functions from SDA Complex Basement 1, Kasumpti, in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. RBI has invited expression of interest (EoI) for acquiring land or premises (with or without constructed structure of up to 3,000 sq metre built-up area and land area of approximately 15,000 to 20,000 sq metre) for its proposed office building and residential complex. “The property should be located in Shimla within an approximate radius of 4 km from Ridge on Mall Road, Shimla, with adequate road access,” the central bank said.

Read more: Economic Times

Kolkata sees 15-20% rise in the commercial realty deals in 2 months on govt push

Only 5% of the 0.3 million square feet of new inventory in mall space is lying vacant in Kolkata. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s calls to set up businesses in the state seem to have started getting responses with commercial space deals clocking a 15-20% rise in number in the last two months. The biggest deal in the commercial realty space was Fosma’s 30,000-sq realty space was Fosma’s 30,000-sqft space in Salt Lake.

“Companies like Fosma have been on the lookout to enter Kolkata for a long time but were unsure about the idea. The stable government is finally closing deals. To begin with, Fosma Maritime Institute and Research Organisation has bought the space in Godrhe Riverside for approximately Rs 16 crore,” said Rahul Baid, head of corporate transactions at Champalall & Co, a city-based real estate consultant.

Read more: Economic Times

Propstack to Represent Asia Pacific At MIPIM

We are delighted to announce that Propstack has been chosen to represent Asia Pacific in the MIPIM Proptech summit at New York in Oct 2016.

Reed MIDEM and MetaProp NYC have partnered to present the MIPIM PROPTECH SUMMIT, the premier real estate technology event in North America. This summit will convene the leading real estate industry leaders with top technology disruptors for a 1day action-packed event, on 5 October 2016.

This invitation-only conference will be the flagship event of New York City Real Estate Tech Week 2016, the biggest global gathering of the real estate technology community, with 20+ events across New York City.

The MIPIM PropTech Summit will be the first conference in North America to be part of the renowned MIPIM series of events, which includes MIPIM UK, MIPIM Asia Summit, MIPIM Japan, MAPIC, and the MIPIM flagship event in Cannes, France, a 4-day exhibition, conference and networking event with more than 21,000 international attendees. It will also be the first of the MIPIM series to focus exclusively on the future of the real estate market, with a heavy emphasis on the impact of technology.

The MIPIM PropTech Summit will feature the first ever North America stop in the Global Start-up Competition Series. “Recognizing that real estate has reached the tipping point in the rapidly growing importance of PropTech, Reed Midem sees New York City as the epicenter of this movement and the clear choice to host our North America MIPIM PropTech Summit,” said Filippo Rean, head of the Real Estate Division for Reed Midem.

MetaProp NYC Co-founder and Managing Director Aaron Block said, “Congratulations to our real estate tech community partners for their tireless work in securing the first North America event of the famed MIPIM series for New York City. Bringing this prestigious global event to New York City speaks to the quality of RETech innovation, the strength of our community and the continued leadership role New York City will play as this sector grows and comes closer together globally.”

We couldn’t have asked for a better platform to engage with the Global Proptech eco system and are pleased to have an opportunity to be part of MIPIM Proptech Summit, said Raja Seetharaman – Co Founder of Propstack.

TCS set to lease 8 lakh sq ft of office space in Chennai One SEZ

Software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is close to leasing 780,000 sq ft of office space in IG3 Infra’s Chennai One IT SEZ for 10 years, said two people in the know of the development.

TCS will pay a rental of Rs 50 per sq ft per month, taking the total annual payout to around Rs 47 crore, said the first person, asking not to be named. An email query to TCS did not elicit any response till press time Sunday. Rukmini Thiagarajan, director at IG3 Infra, said the company does not have any comment as discussions are on-going.

TCS had recently leased 375,000 sq ft office space in Brigade Icon project in Bengaluru and 400,000 sq ft in Okaya Tower at Sector 62 in Noida.

It had also signed up 1.9 million sq ft of built-to-suit space at Hiranandani Estate in Thane, marking one of the largest office space leasing deals by area in the country.

In recent months, many other IT outsourcing firms have leased significant spaces. While Infosys has taken 130,000 sq ft of office space in Focus IT Park at Electronics City in Bengaluru, ValueLabs leased around 220,000 sq ft of office space in Lanco Hills at Manikonda, Hyderabad, in the June quarter. IBM also leased around 300,000 sq ft of office space in Avances Business Hub at HITEC City, Hyderabad.

Raja Seetharaman, co-founder of Propstack, a commercial data information and analytics firm, said IT outsourcing companies are taking up office spaces for long-term contracts or for specialized functions on the cost advantage that the Indian market offers in terms of human resources, real estate and various tax benefits.

“We are also seeing many top-level executives coming back to India from abroad to take up such projects and run them here itself,” he said.

While the residential real estate sector is grappling with slow sales and rising inventory, the commercial sector has picked up pace.

Office space absorption registered a 46% quarter-on-quarter rise to 10.2 million sq ft during April-June quarter across key cities of the country, according to a report.

The National Capital Region and Bengaluru led the rise in absorption, accounting for about 50% of the total space take-up.

Source: Economic Times

Office space absorption by IT & ITeS firms slide in last 5 years, BFSI emerge as the new star

IT and ITeS sectors seem to be losing their dominance in office space takeup, with banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) emerging as a new star.

Share of IT/ITeS sector in total office space absorption across major cities reduced to just 24% in the first half of 2016, from 36% in the same period of 2011, according to commercial data information and analytics firm Propstack.

The BFSI sector, however, is gradually reclaiming its footprint, with its share increasing to the highest among peers at 34% in H1 2016, from just 24% five years ago.

Companies like Accenture, IBM, JP Morgan, etc, are shifting some of their critical, knowledge-based operations to India, which is giving a major philip to the BFSI office space takeup now, according to Raja Seetharaman, co-founder, Propstack.

“ITeS sector was typically a third-party work, which is moving to captive work by many companies these days. A lot of analysis and quality work are being done in India these days, unlike just setting up call centers earlier,” he said.

This increase continues to ride on the back of a rising number of BFSI transactions in Bangalore and the National Capital Region (NCR), where office demand has been IT/ ITeS-dominated, according to Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, JLL India.

“During the past two to three years, an increase in the volume of leases carried out by BFSI companies has been noticed,” he said.

The average deal sizes ranged between 5,000 sq ft and 15,000 sq ft in cities like Mumbai, NCR and Pune. While the number of smaller deal sizes seen in NCR has increased, bigger deal sizes – ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 sq ft – are seen in Bangalore, according to JLL.

Smart offices have replaced those traditional offices for IT companies these days, with concepts like hot-desking, plug & play, etc, thereby promoting collaborative work culture, according to Ajay Rakheja, co-founder and chief executive officer, CREIndia.com, a commercial real estate portal. “These new concepts are helping IT firms to optimise their office space and control cost,” he added.

Mumbai will see an increase in leasing activity by BFSI companies, with key commercial district like Bandra Kurla Complex and the western suburbs witnessing major activity, according to Puri.

Gurgaon is emerging as a second CBD in National Capital Region due to several companies moving there, ad thus BFSI is also moving closer to their clients in this SBD, he added.

Source: Economic Times

Private equity upbeat on retail commercial space in India

According to a real estate consultant, first half (H1) of 2016 witnessed the highest annual private equity (PE) investments in retail with over Rs. 3,350 crore being invested, compared to only Rs. 250 million invested in the first half of 2015. This is the highest annual PE investment made since 2008.

Owing to factors such as improved leasing activity, relaxed government policies and positive economic outlook, institutional and PE investors are more confident towards investing in retail assets. Moreover, with the government clearing tax hurdles for Real Estate Investment Trusts (Reits), PE funds are increasingly exploring opportunities in the retail sector as these assets can also be listed under a Reit portfolio.

RMZ Corp plans to exit residential business, expand commercial portfolio

Bengaluru-based real estate developer RMZ Corp. is planning to completely move out from the residential business as it sets out on an expansion drive to boost its commercial portfolio across major cities in the country. Backed by Qatar Investment Authority, the company is in the process of rapidly expanding its commercial real estate business as it gears up to launch REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) in the next two years. It is actively looking to acquire office assets in different parts of the country.

Govindraj said the residential business currently accounts less than 10% to its overall business. The company had entered into the housing business in 2011 under the brand RMZHomes.

SBI to invest Rs 200 crore to shift Gujarat regional HQ to GIFT City

The State Bank of India has decided to shift its 60-year-old local head office from Lal Darwaza in Ahmedabad to Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar. On Monday, the foundation stone of SBI’s new office building was laid by CM Vaijay Rupani in presence of SBI chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya. As part of its move, the largest public sector lender in India will be investing Rs 200 crore to set up office and residential properties in GIFT. The SBI has also formally begun operating its IFSC banking unit (IBU) in the country’s first International Financial Services Center (IFSC) in GIFT SEZ. “We were allocated land in GIFT City two years back, and we are constructing a 14-storey building with 2 lakh sq ft space,” the SBI chief said at the ground-breaking ceremony.

Read more: Economic Times

Reliance Infrastructure files papers with Sebi for InvIT

The Anil Ambani controlled Reliance Infrastructure has filed its papers with securities and exchange board of India (Sebi) last week seeking approval for its trust structure. They are starting the documentation process for its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) from today and plan to finish it by October end,” said the first person mentioned above, who declined to be identified as the matter is confidential in nature. “They are looking to list the entire 11 assets that they have in their portfolio and they are running the process on their own. The entire ideation to paperwork happened in a week’s time and they want to move quickly on this process,” the second person added.

Read more: Economic Times

Tata Communications leases 60,000 sq ft office space in Mumbai’s BKC

Tata Communications has picked up 60,000 sq ft of office space on lease at Parinee Crescenzo in Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex, said two persons familiar with the development, making it the largest office space transaction in the alternative business district so far this financial year. “The company has picked up the entire 15th floor in this 20-storey building through this deal for a total tenure of five years,” said one of the persons mentioned above. An email query to Tata Communications remained unanswered till press-time. As per the terms of the deal, Tata Communications will be paying monthly rentals of 215 per sq ft for the initial three years of the total tenure, and the lease rentals will be reset for the next two years after that. Tata Communications will also get a total of 60 car parks as part of the deal.

Read more: Economic Times