13 - 04 - 2020

To all the heroes who are putting themselves at risk by working round the clock to save

us. CREDAI Bengal & CREDAI Bengal Homes applauds their selfless spirit.

CREDAI Bengal Daily News Update | 13.04.20

Realtors should clear inventories & improve perception: Rajnish

Kumar, SBI

While plain-speaking to the real estate players, Kumar said course correction has to be

undertaken by the industry if they want to survive and get back on track as soon as

possible.

State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar on Saturday exhorted real estate firms to keep

their bank account standard, clear inventory as soon as possible and improve perception about

the business. While plain-speaking to the real estate players, Kumar said course correction has

to be undertaken by the industry if they want to survive and get back on track as soon as

possible.

"Clear inventory as soon as possible. We believed that prices will go up but unfortunately the

prices are not going up. There was a time when there were first time home buyers and there

were investors and in five years you could double your money...those times are over," he said in

a virtual conference organised by realtors' body NAREDCO.

Besides, he suggested that industry should explore opportunities to cut down the cost and

improve turnaround time.

"How do we reduce the construction period? How do we keep cost under control on the

construction material side? Industry should impress upon state and local governments that it is

not a cash cow which you can keep on milking. So, let us reduce the cost of construction," he

said.

On the banking side, he assured, it would be the endeavour to keep interest rates low as much as

possible, depending on macroeconomic situation.

The effort of everyone should be towards the objective of making housing affordable, and

building units fast as well as selling them quickly rather than holding inventory for a longer

period in anticipation of price rise, he added.

On perception about the real estate industry, SBI chief said, there is a need to improve corporate

governance although Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA) has brought in

some discipline but still a long way to go.

Newspaper/Online ET Realty (Online)

Date April 11, 2020

Link https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/realtors-should-clear-

inventories-improve-perception-rajnish-kumar-sbi/75097985

"I am not saying this but the perception about the real estate industry is that a lot of profiteering

takes place, a lot of under hand dealing takes place. Not all transactions happen in white. This

may be reality or this may be perception I don't know. These perceptions at the industry level

needs to be corrected.

"As an industry body you can do something to improve corporate governance. RERA has made

a lot of difference, demonetisation has sucked a lot of cash but still I believe a lot of projects we

have not been able to control these aspects," he said.

Observing that the role of the real estate industry in the economy is very crucial, he said

construction is about 15 per cent of the GDP and it provides employment to a large number of

people.

With regard to increasing moratorium beyond three months, Kumar said, the call has to be taken

by the Reserve Bank of India.

However, he said, banks through Indian Banks' Association will request for raising the loan

moratorium period from the existing three months to may be 5-6 months depending on evolving

situation.

On enhancing emergency credit line to industry from the existing 10 per cent to 20 per cent, he

said, it can be considered on a case to case basis by the field level officials.

"Reassessment of working capital we are ready to do...you can approach the bank on revised

cash budget. Based on the revised budget, we will give 10 per cent or 20 per cent depending on

requirement. What I would suggest for getting all these help, you keep the account updated.

Clear your dues. Keep your account standard," he said.

He assured the industry that banks stand behind the industry in this difficult times.

Last month, SBI opened an emergency credit facility for borrowers affected

by coronavirus outbreak. The additional liquidity facility - Covid-19 Emergency Credit Line

(CECL), will provide funds up to Rs 200 crore or 10 per cent of the existing fund based

working capital.

The window will be available till June 30 and loan will be offered at an interest rate of 7.25 per

cent with a tenure of 12 months.

________________________________________________________________

Luxury home sales down; builders only sell 45% of 13k units

Only 5,926 luxury units have been sold till January this year, out of 13,290 homes in nine

major cities 1,131 units were launched at a price above ₹7 crore and only 554 have been

sold

Real estate developers have been able to sell only 45 per cent of luxury homes (priced

above ₹3 crore) launched during the last three years, with investors still shying away from

putting money in premium properties due to lower returns, according to PropTiger data.

Housing brokerage firm PropTiger, which is owned by News Corp and Softbank-backed Elara

Technologies, reported that only 5,926 luxury units have been sold till January this year, out of

the 13,290 homes launched by developers across nine major cities during the last three calendar

years (2017-2019).

The cities covered in the analysis are Ahmedabad (including Gandhinagar), Bengaluru,

Chennai, Gurugram (including Bhiwadi, Dharuhera and Sohna), Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai

(including Navi Mumbai and Thane), Pune and Noida (including Greater Noida, Noida

Extension and Yamuna Expressway).

As per the data, 1,131 units were launched at a price above ₹7 crore and only 554 have been

sold.

Similarly, 3,656 units were launched in a price range of ₹5-7 crore, and only 1,631 flats have

been sold so far.

In the price bracket of ₹3-5 crore, as many as 8,503 units were launched, of which 3,741 units

got sold.

"Real estate in India has been under immense pressure because of an on-going demand

slowdown. This has impacted the residential real estate sector across the board, including the

luxury housing segment," said Dhruv Agarwala, Group CEO of PropTiger and Housing.com.

The demand for luxury homes fell post-demonetisation, and that trend has not changed much

since, he added.

"The on-going crisis involving the coronavirus pandemic is likely to further impact demand

across the residential real estate sector in H1 FY21, including luxury housing," Agarwala said.

Newspaper/Online Live Mint (Online)

Date April 11, 2020

Link https://www.livemint.com/industry/infrastructure/luxury-home-sales-down-

builders-only-sell-45-of-13k-units-11586603708816.html

However, he said the NRI customers might buy luxury housing if the fall in the value of the

Indian rupee continues.

Anarock, PropTiger, Anil Ambani-led Reliance group backed Square Yards, Quikr Realty,

Investors Clinic and Wealth Clinic are major players in organised housing brokerage segment.

The commercial leasing business is dominated by global property consultants like JLL, CBRE,

Knight Frank, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers and Savills.

____________________________________________________________________________

Cement plants get nod to run in three shifts from home ministry

Two days ahead of the lockdown's slated end, the government has permitted over 15 types

of industries to start their work with minimum manpower and distancing norms on a

single shift basis.

Two days ahead of the lockdown's slated end, the government has permitted over 15 types of

industries to start their work with minimum manpower and distancing norms on a single shift

basis.

These include those involved in manufacturing of heavy electrical items like transformers and

circuit vehicles, telecom equipment and components including optic fiber cable, compressor and

condenser units, steel and ferrous alloy mills, spinning and ginning mills, power looms, and

defence and defence ancillary units.

Cement plants, however, can run in three shifts as cement production is a continuous process.

Pulp and paper units can resume their production in clusters where Covid-19 cases are low

based on the data by the state authorities, said a Home Ministry direction issued to all state and

Union Territory Chief Secretaries.A

Fertiliser plants, paints and dyes manufacturing, all types of food and beverages, seeds

processing units, plastic manufacturing units, automotive units, gems and jewellery sector units,

all units in Special Economic Zones and Export Oriented Units have also been exempted from

nationwide lockdown measures.

The Home Ministry instructed that the Development Commissioners will be given

responsibility for ensuring sanitation and distancing norms.

District authorities will monitor and ensure that those sectors which are allowed exemption

from lockdown need to adhere to safety, sanitation and distancing norms.

The government issued the instructions in view of maintaining a supply chain of essential goods

for the welfare of during the lockdown period.

________________________________________________________________

Newspaper/Online ET Realty (Online)

Date April 13, 2020

Link https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/allied-industries/cement-plants-

get-nod-to-run-in-three-shifts-home-ministry/75114775

Exclude lockdown period while computing 90 days for NPA:

Bombay HC

The decision of the High Court came on a petition by Transcon Iconica, which took a loan

from ICICI Bank, and twice failed to make payments - January 15 and February 15 - and

this has not been paid until now.

In a major relief to a Mumbai-based construction company, the Bombay High Court said the

period of the lockdown is to be excluded while computing 90 days for the declaration of non-

performing assets (NPAs).

The decision of the High Court came on a petition by Transcon Iconica, which took a loan

from ICICI Bank, and twice failed to make payments - January 15 and February 15 - and this

has not been paid until now.

According to the RBI circulars and notifications if payment is not made and the accounts are

not regularised within 90 days of the date of default, then the borrower's account gets classified

as NPAs. But before the completion of this period, the lockdown was announced. The RBI also

announced the moratorium on loan payments, which would start from March 1 to May 31.

The single judge bench headed by Justice G.S. Patel observed that the period of the moratorium

during which there is a lockdown will not be reckoned by ICICI Bank for the purposes of

computation of the 90-day NPA declaration period.

"As currently advised, therefore, the period of March 1 until May 31 during which there is a

lockdown will stand excluded from the 90-day NPA declaration computation until -- and this is

the condition -- the lockdown is lifted", said the High Court.

The court also observed that irrespective of the continuance of the moratorium until May 31, if

the lockdown is lifted at an earlier date, then this protection available to the petitioners will

cease on the date of lifting of the lockdown, and the computing and reckoning of the remainder

of the 90-day period will start from that earlier lifting of the lockdown-ending date.

The High Court also clarified that this order will not serve as a precedent for any other case in

regard to any other borrower who is in default or any other bank. Each of these cases will have

to be assessed on their own merits, it said.

After the RBI issued a circular giving liberty to all banks to allow a moratorium of three months

Newspaper/Online ET Realty (Online)

Date April 13, 2020

Link https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/exclude-lockdown-

period-while-computing-90-days-for-npa-bombay-hc/75114731

on payment of installments outstanding as on March 1, the construction company moved the

court seeking moratorium period to be "excluded even for the computation of any balance days

of the NPA-declaration 90-day period."

Justice Patel clarified this order is not a backward extension of the moratorium to January 2020.

"The moratorium period of 1st March 2020 to 31st May 2020 does not per se give the

petitioners any additional benefits in regard to the prior defaults, i.e. those that occurred before

1st March 2020. Thus, the relief to the petitioners is co-terminus with the lockdown period, not

the declared end of the moratorium. This is the only way to harmonise the present requirements

of both sides," observed the court.

ICICI bank, through its counsel Viraag Tulzapurkar, had however questioned the

maintainability of the petition.

________________________________________________________________

ED seizes posh Mumbai properties worth over Rs 32 crore in

FEMA probe

An order under section 37A of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) was

issued against Jaya Patel, the daughter of late Parmanand Tulsidas Patel, the federal

probe agency said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday said it has seized two prime properties, worth

over Rs 32 crore, in connection with a foreign exchange violation case against a Mumbai-based

woman for allegedly holding undisclosed assets abroad.

An order under section 37A of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) was issued

against Jaya Patel, the daughter of late Parmanand Tulsidas Patel, the federal probe agency said.

Two immovable assets located on Peddar Road in Mumbai, bearing a value of Rs 32.38 crore,

have been seized as "equivalent value of property in India for illegally acquiring properties

abroad", it said.

The FEMA probe revealed that Jaya Patel of Mumbai had "illegally amassed" properties in

foreign countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom, the agency said.

"Searches were conducted at the residential and office premises of Jaya Patel and her associate

which resulted in the seizure of incriminating documents about the illegal acquisition of

undisclosed foreign assets," the ED said in a statement.

Jaya Patel, it said, is associated with a British Virgin Islands-based firm, Ivory International

Properties Ltd.

"She is the beneficial owner of a flat at Chelsea Embankment, London, valued at GBP

15,25,000 and another in Central Park, New York, valued at USD 25,60,000," the ED said.

"Both assets were acquired through Ivory International Properties Ltd and probe found that the

firm mortgaged the said real estate properties to obtain loan and Jaya Patel had signed as co-

borrower in mortgage loan application form," the agency alleged.

Patel failed to explain the source of the funds for acquisition of these properties and the funds

"to acquire these overseas properties have been illegally transferred by violating sections of

FEMA," it said.

Newspaper/Online ET Realty (Online)

Date April 11, 2020

Link https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/ed-seizes-posh-

mumbai-properties-worth-over-rs-32-crore-in-fema-probe/75094830

Investigation related to the illegal transfer of money outside India to acquire the properties is in

progress, the ED added.

________________________________________________________________

Noida: Landlords who evict doctors to face National Security Act

NSA allows preventive detention for months, if authorities are satisfied that a person is a

threat to national security or law and order.

The stringent National Security Act (NSA) will be slapped on house owners exerting pressure

on doctors and healthcare workers to vacate their rented premises over coronavirus scare, police

said on Saturday.

The move comes in the wake of several reports of medicos being ostracised in Delhi and

Rajasthan.

NSA allows preventive detention for months, if authorities are satisfied that a person is a threat

to national security or law and order.

Noida’s additional DCP (law and order) Ashutosh Dwivedi said the decision to invoke NSA

against erring landlords in Gautam Budh Nagar has been taken as a preventive measure, despite

the fact that there has not been a single such complaint in the district so far.

“Doctors and healthcare workers are at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus. So, any

attempt to evict them from their houses by their landlords or housing society managers will

adversely affect the delivery of essential services provided by the medical community to the

society. Apart from NSA, violators will be booked under the National Disaster Act and

Epidemic Act,” he said.

Police issued the directions to the house owners, exercising their powers under Section 144 of

the CrPC. “The move will ensure that delivery of essential services do not get hampered in the

Gautam Budh Nagar. These orders will remain effective till 30 April,” the additional DCP said.

Meanwhile, police are also urging house owners not to take rent from tenants who have not got

their salaries due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

Rajnish Kumar, assistant CP (Zone 1), said that a woman working with a private company had

recently complained about her inability to pay rent as their March salary was delayed. “House

owners are requested to give extension for rent payment till the lockdown is in place,” he said.

________________________________________________________________

Newspaper/Online ET Realty (Online)

Date April 12, 2020

Link https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/regulatory/noida-landlords-who-

evict-doctors-to-face-national-security-act/75106064

Hyderabad landlord waives off rent for 75 tenants

In addition to waiving off the rents, he has also distributed Rs 2.5 lakh among 250 poor

families both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Playing the Good Samaritan, a house owner in Hyderabad has waived off rents of his 75 tenants

during the lockdown. The 41-year-old man who owns three buildings in the city has told his

tenants that they need not pay him rent for April.

“I know what it is to go hungry. I have had my own struggles in life. I do not want any of these

families to suffer during this crunch time,” says Koduri Balalingam, who lives in Balanagar. His

buildings have one-bedroom houses which are rented to industrial workers, mostly from Bihar.

The total rent he has waived off came to Rs 3.4 lakh. “If the lockdown continues and they have

no means of earning, I will think of waiving rent for the next month as well,” he told STOI.

In addition to waiving off the rents, he has also distributed Rs 2.5 lakh among 250 poor families

both in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

But donating money is not new for Balalingam, who hails from Rajapeta village in Telangana’s

Newspaper/Online ET Realty (Online)

Date April 12, 2020

Link https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/residential/hyderabad-landlord-

waives-off-rent-for-75-tenants/75106078

Rajanna Sircilla district. From the time he set up his own mechanical workshop at Balanagar in

2005, he has contributed a total of Rs 1.20 crore to people in need. This includes granting

scholarships to meritorious students, installing a water plant in his village, helping families of

RTC workers who were on strike and paying salaries for volunteers to assist with their teaching

in government schools.

Growing up as an intermediate in Kamareddy, he says he he had no money to support himself.

So he worked in a bar cleaning utensils. During holidays in 1996, he came to Hyderabad with

his friend and worked as a helper in a lathe machine workshop in Balanagar. He worked for

nine years in various workshops and then set up his own in 2005.

Now, he provides employment to 10 workers. “I gave my first donation of Rs 1 lakh to feed the

poor when I myself was running a debt of Rs 5 lakh. So, it is in my nature to help others,” he

says. With CM K Chandrasekhar Rao urging house owners to be considerate towards tenants,

Balalingam did what came to him naturally. Of the premises that he has let out, there are 25

shutters and 50 small one-bedroom houses and a couple of two-bedroom houses.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Online petition and FB group urge landlords to defer rent payment

The two initiatives want the state government to come to tenants’ rescue.

An online petition and a Facebook group, both calling for landlords to defer rent payments in

these cashstrapped times, have gained a lot of traction with Mumbaikars. Both initiatives have

sought the state government’s help, seeking an order to enforce this.

“Mumbai is a city of migrants. Not just labourers, but also people like us who have come from

elsewhere and made Mumbai our home,” says event manager and model Namrata Shetty, whose

online group ‘No Rent India’ has got 436 members since it was started a week ago. “Many of us

get paid on a project basis and since there is no work right now, we are not getting paid either.

How can we pay rent?”

Tejaswini Divya Naik, a freelancer with the film industry, says: “Rent is a big part of our

expenditure. People like me, who are not being able to work right now because of the

coronavirus, have been exhausting our savings on rent.” Naik started a change.org petition a

week ago asking Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ‘make a public announcement allowing

deferred payment of rent’. It has already acquired 7,850 signatories.

Both Shetty and Naik’s petitions are predicated on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s

recent announcement that landlords in Delhi should not take rent from properties rented out to

migrant workers. “In a way, we are migrant workers too,” says Shetty.

Naik shares an apartment with two others, and they pay Rs 42,000 a month. “I initially thought I

would petition only on behalf of freelancers in Mumbai. But I ended up widening the group

because there are lots of people across sectors who are working in different companies or

working from home, and haven’t received their salaries,” says Naik.

Like Parel (east) resident Rajesh Nehra. “The bank I work for pays my rent and this month it’s

delayed. But my landlord is not ready to wait,” says Nehra, 28. “I have friends whose

companies are treating this time as unpaid leave. If they have to pay rent as well, how will they

survive?”

BR Bhattad, president of the Property Owners Association (POA), which has over 6,000

landlords as members, says: “Only about 10 per cent of our members are well off. The other 90

per cent depend on rent for their livelihood. Some of them are senior citizens as well.” The

landlords also have to pay property tax. “Only if the BMC agrees to defer the collection of

property tax by three months can we request our members to defer their tenants’ rent as well,”

Newspaper/Online ET Realty (Online)

Date April 11, 2020

Link https://realty.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/residential/online-petition-and-

fb-group-urge-landlords-to-defer-rent-payment/75091277

Bhattad adds. The POA will, however, put out an advisory for its members to consider

deferment.

Merlyn Menezes feels it’s unfair to expect her to give up the rent she receives from her two

paying guests. “After my husband died 15 years ago, this is my only source of income,” says

Menezes, 73, who receives Rs 30,000 every month. “I stay alone, but I have other expenses. I

will have to pay my maid even though she has not been coming.”

Real estate lawyer Farid Karachiwala, a partner with J Sagar Associates, too feels a deferment is

unreasonable. “If someone rented a property for commercial uses and couldn’t do any business

during the lockdown, he can probably ask for a waiver,” says Karachiwala. “But how can you

refuse rent for a residence when you are using it, especially during the lockdown?” he asked.

________________________________________________________________