Observer Dawn

OBSERVER DAWN

Price `100, Year 2, Issue February 2013

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Editor Hariom Tyagi Managing Editor Achyut Nath Jha Consulting Editors Rakesh Purohit Manoj Chaturvedi lEgal Editor Makrand Pratap Singh CorrEspondEnts Rajkumar Chaudhry Amit Agarwal sub Editor Manish Kashyap salEs & MarkEting Ajeet Tyagi Shailender Chaudhry graphiC dEsignEr Umang Goel VidEo and photographEr Hariom Sharma P.D. Shah

Briefing 10 16

adMin. Jagat Kumar

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offiCE Observer Dawn Pvt. Ltd. S-507A, School Block, Shakarpur New Delhi-110092 Contact-011-42334982

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Observer Dawn, a monthly magazine is published and printed by Mr. Hariom Tyagi C-6C, Block-C, New Slum Qutrs, Pachim Puri, New Delhi – 110063. c All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, electronic, mechanical or otherwise without prior permission. All disputes are subject to the jurisdiction of competent court in Delhi / New Delhi only. Printed at Aravali Printers & Publishers Pvt.Ltd., W-30, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase-II, New Delhi-110020.

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Creating higher Value products

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Micromax Most selling phone of this Month

Without any title Much has been written about the merits and the great qualities of Manto’s short stories but very little attention has been paid on his other forms.

a civil engineer by profession and

serviced residence

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lifestyle of home decor Whether it be for your own personal enjoyment or to desire...

sandal lands Coming up with a new trend

fdi in retail

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overall, it’s not Walmarting, it’s a windfall

indian Cities slip to the bottom of the investment destinations list, according to the uli, pwC report on ‘Emerging trends in real Estate® asia pacific 2013.

unveiling innovation in real Estate pioneering new materials and methods, blending a new generation of innovative techniques and pooling global technology in design and construction have positioned ajnara group as one of the most

unstoppable Modi! love or hate him, the man is to stay here.

social media key of success Coming up with a solid action plan can become challenging ...

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Embarking on a new Chapter here we bring in important years, in chronological order, asociated with the man, ratan tata, the billionnaire scion and one who transformed a ' commomwealth conglomerate into a single entity:

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Letter From the Editor

Hoping for the Better For the Indian economy to look rosy, it is incumbent to take policy initiatives in pragmatic way.

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t's that time of year when we have option to both introspect and make resolution so that things move on positive note and result in optimistic outcome. As far as 2012 is concerned, it defies naysayers who went overboard, writing obituary for euro zone (which didn't split) and world at large( taking a clue from Mayan calendar). However, the global economy continued to flounder; Americans re-elected Barak Obama in the White House, who seems know battling against the Congress over "Fiscal Cliff". India, and its government, despite policy paralysis and a slew of scams, survived.

But, unlike the last year, we didn't have luxury to enjoy the dawn of new year as we were facing shocks and protests over the way half of India's population is treated. The death on 29 December of a gangrape victim shocked the nation and for the first times, we are forced to realise that everything about us is wrong. With economic prosperity which provided succour to millions of us, we forgot to provide safety to women, that too in Delhi, the capital city. India Gate and Road leading to Raisina Hills were virtually under the siege, police barricading became the norm of day to contain the simmering discontent among all who were just chanting, "Enough is Enough" and forcing powersthat-be to come out of slumber. We just hope that the reaction to the crime and the brave young woman’s death could address many of those ills of system which is stacked against girl child and women.

There are endless possibilities to do reform in judiciary and administrative measures to make cities and village liveable with crime against women being dealt severely.

For the Indian economy to look rosy, it is incumbent to take policy initiatives in pragmatic way. During the fag end of the year, government embarked on policy-making drive like allowing FDI in retail the effect of which could be realised in a couple of years once global retailers open their chains in cities and producers as well as customers have better position to bargain and reap the benefits. on the political front, the outcome of state-level elections, especially the hat-trick by Narendra Modi in Gujarat have shown that people are more worried about economic development than they are about caste or religion.

Rise and influence of social media further indicates that people will be judging the efficacy of systems to make them accountable.

Happy Reading !

Hariom Tyagi Editor, Observer Dawn

Connect with Hariom Tyagi @harityagi2003 @harityagi2003 @harityagi2003 @harityagi2003

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INTErvIEw Mr. Nand Kishore Aggarwal, a mechanical engineer, has been architect of the aggressive market positioning of the Brand Action TESA, that too in a span of just over a year. In a fac-to-face with Observer Dawn, he talks in detail how company is geared to sustain its pre-eminent position in the market.

Q

Mr. nand kishore aggarwal MD, Action Tesa Group

& Answer

When did you start your company? Does the venture target any specific group or segment?

Action TESA started in February of 2010. The product basket is targeted at the corporate, hospitality, institutions and the domestic segments. The products are for interior décor of any dwelling or works spaces. Its economical yet aesthetic.

Tell in brief about the vision and mission of your company.

Action TESA’s mission from its very inception has been to develop products and solution that’s aimed at the common man and the middle class/upwardly mobile population. The MOOL MANTRA is Value for Money and Customer satisfaction.

A short background of company’s MD along with a brief about important dates associated with the organization.

Mr. Nand Kishore Aggarwal, a mechanical engineer, has been architect of the aggressive market positioning of the Brand Action TESA, that too in a span of just over a year. With a keen eye for detail and a sensitive ear to understanding the customer needs and aspirations has ensured that “Brand Action TESA” is

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Action Group has it philanthropic side with it hospitals at Hissar and Delhi making quality health care accessible to the common man. The hospitals are with a charitable view point.

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synonymous with product quality standards in line with the international standards and with its mantras of “Value for money” & “Customer delight” Action TESA is committed to manufacturing value-added product that best meets the application, yet with key factor of Affordability.

Started commercial production in February 2010. Launched UV Coated Laminate Flooring in 2011 along with Laminate Flooring.It’s on course to launch thick MDF range in January 2013.

The early response from customers—modest or overwhelming Action TESA has been very cautious when launching a product.

It’s after rigorous testing and approvals that a product finds its way to the Indian Market place. The company has completed 2 financial years in FY 2010-11 & FY 2011-12 with great success achieving Rs.150Crs in FY 2010-11 and Rs. 275Crs in FY 2011-12 a record in the annals of the industry. Action TESA Particle Board is today the bench mark that industry follows . And, needless to state that we are the leadres/trend setters. Action TESA has launched products like the Embossed HDF, UV Coated Panels & Laminate Flooring that is till today being imported. TESA is approved with all the premier builders of the nation starting from the CPWD, MAP, NBCC, IRCON on the one hand & private

Mr. ajay aggarwal Director, Action Tesa Group builders like DLF, Unitech, Ajanra, Godrej, BPTP, ATS & a host of others. In the furniture segment TESA is the lead supplier in furniture OEMs B P Ergo, Debono, UNICOS, Featherlite, Godrej, Eurocaustic & others.

Even as some companies are facing flak over accountability and transparency, how are you managing it? Also some information about company’s work through CSR. Action TESA have always been a follower of the norms and doesn’t indulge in the malpractices of business. Short cuts have never been preferred.

Action Group has it philanthropic side with it hospitals at Hissar and Delhi making quality health care accessible to the common man. The hospitals are with a charitable view point. Apart from this the Group runs Dharmshalas for destitute women/widows in Vrindavan and Salasar Balaji. The Group have been the pioneer in the Ekal Vidayala movement. The Group funds and works tirelessly to spread the movement pan-India.

In term of revenue and employment, where does it stand?

The Action Group is group that believes in self-reliance in resources, be it manpower, raw material and revenue and has worked tirelessly towards this goal. It has achieved the market recognition of being a stable employer fostering an environment of mutual growth of an employee.

Action TESA has been very cautious when launching a product. It’s after rigorous testing and approvals that a product finds its way to the Indian Market place. The company has completed 2 financial years in FY 2010-11 & FY 2011-12 with great success achieving Rs.150Crs in FY 2010-11 and Rs. 275Crs in FY 2011-12 a record in the annals of the industry.

Is the prevailing business sentiment offering the requisite support to sustain and make profit?

The Company has posted profits in FY 2010-11 & FY 2011-12.

The market is tough and there has a be demand slide with an infrastructure slow down. But Action TESA has an enviable product bouquet and shall maintain status quo despite the current situation.

What is the USP of your company?

To honestly state the USP – incidentally, the most unique is the fact that the company manufactures products that are India relevant and for the Aam Aadami(common man) which is utility based and with the key essence of VALUE FOR MONEY. <

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rEAl ESTATE mensely competitive Realty and infrastructure development industry.

The AMR Group is a distinguished conglomerate with holdings spread across a host of verticals comprising Jewellery, Finance, Garments, and Real Estate Development. R.C. Jewellers is one of the sub-brands from the house of AMR which is renowned as a top manufacturer, exporter, and wholesaler of jewellery and artifacts. In addition, the group’s globally acclaimed export arm Royal Exports is a fully independent exporter of jewellery. The group’s projection into import and export business in KMK Fabrics Private Limited commands a strong presence in both domestic and international markets. The group’s subsidiary Arise Security System is one of the leading distributors of and solution providers in electronic security devices and is widely trusted by several top hotels, museums, government bodies, and organisations. All these make it as a channel-oriented organisation with global standards.

A Strategist Mr. kapil aggarwal Managing Director, AMR Infrastructures Ltd.

Creating Higher K Value Products A civil engineer by profession and with business as a legacy, Kapil has not just developed his family business of textiles further but also diversified into other industry verticals.

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eeping pace with tremendous growth which India realized in the recent times on account of its big stride in economy and technology, AMR Infrastructures Ltd., a renowned name with diversified portfolios, is on the way to achieve the next level of success by becoming the scion of aesthetic aspirations in architecture and building. With a customer-centric approach, the company has endeavored to deliver its product with excellence. The unique products of the highest quality at competitive pricing have become the USP of the company. AMR’s various initiatives such as the Great Adventure Mall, Delhi Film Council in association with actor-director Satish Kaushik, Young Designer’s Forum (YDF) under the aegis of Indian Fashion Company (IFC), the Indian chapter of New York Film Academy (NYFA) , are first-of-its-kind and unparalleled not only in the country but Asia as well. With incessant innovations befitting the brands like AMR, it has maintained a sustainable lead in the im-

With a promise to create better and higher value product, Mr. Kapil Aggarwal, Managing Director of AMR Infrastructures, has differentiated itself by delivering a venerable combination of safety, innovation, and world class construction standards. The 39-year-old celebrity businessman with an exhaustive industry experience, Kapil is one of the leading real estate developers in the country, and the brain behind India’s first all in one adventure and tourism destination – The Great Adventure Mall based at Tech Zone, Greater Noida. A civil engineer by profession and with business as a legacy, Kapil has not just developed his family business of textiles further but also diversified into other industry verticals. As of now, besides textiles and real estate, he has business interests in jewellery, artefacts, education, security systems, hospitality, power projects, entertainment and media. Kapil is passionate about providing youngsters with a platform such that they can follow their dreams - not just make but also enhance their careers. NYFA is currently setting up a campus at The Great Adventure Mall,

Greater Noida to offer more than 80 different programs like acting, film making, film direction, editing etc., to students from India and neighboring countries. NYFA shall work closely with DFC for practical hand-on training of its students with renowned directors. This is a part of Kapil's broader vision to make Delhi-NCR the second biggest film hub besides Mumbai.

YDF under the aegis of Indian Fashion Company (IFC) is yet another bold industry initiative by Kapil. What he has envisioned under this is to further the careers of talented young fashion design graduates by transforming them into complete professionals with their own fashion label. To do this YDF shall first scout for promising fashion graduates with great potential from reputed fashion schools in the country and abroad. These aspirants trained by YDF shall then be promoted and launched as professionals through graduation fashion shows.

Well-known for constructing green and intelligent buildings, Kapil manages his business professionally with best practices and corporate governance in place. Over the years he has made AMR Infrastructures a socially responsible and channel-oriented business organization that delves in all kind of projects - residential, commercial, IT parks and SEZs. Besides Delhi & NCR, he has expanded his real estate empire to tier II cities like Kurukshetra, Kundli, Ujjain, Jaipur and Raipur as well for he realizes the business potential that these places shall have in the time to come.

A Negotiator Mr. Kashif N Usmani, President at AMR Infrastructures Ltd., Is widely known for his rich industry experience and negotiation skills to deliver a win-win situation for his organization and other business parties. His acumen of developing the correct strategy based on market research coupled with his attitude towards ensuing delight for internal and external customers have won him laurels everywhere.

Usmani has had stints with TDI – Vice President, Ansal Properties & Infrastructure Ltd., as Head, International

Mr. kashif n usmani President, AMR Infrastructures Ltd.

Marketing; US Global Inc., as Vice President, Marketing; as well - more to gain exposure and experience - before taking on his current role of President at AMR Infrastructures Ltd . at a young age of 37 years. However, his domain is not just limited to the real estate business.

He has been instrumental in proactively assisting and at times, playing a leading role in other ventures of the Group like Delhi Film Council, Young Designer's Forum (under the aegis of Indian Fashion Company), New York Film Academy and Adventure Sports. In fact, he has introduced adventure and entertainment activities which are an eclectic collection of world's best and a first for India like helicopter joyrides, reverse bungee jumping, vertical anti-gravity wind tunnel, para motor, wax museum, artificial sea beach, 5D cinema etc.

Equipped with his two-decades of expertise and experience across a slew of blue chip companies, Usmani’s entrepreneur strength is propelling the growth dynamic of AMR. And the process is still continuing much to the delight of industry which always moves on dedication, devotion and hard work of professionals like Usmani.<

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INTErvIEw cleared, we may look there.

Q. In Noida and NCR, delivering homes at affordable price looks impossible…

A. We couldn’t deliver. We can’t because of rising cost of construction and delay in clearances further impact the cost.

There is normally a myth that builders intentionally delay the projects. The fact is they are more than eager to deliver in time as it helps in saving time and money. Sooner the delivery, it is better for them. So, under compulsion, they hike the rate. Project’s delay results in cost escalation and makes even viable projects unviable.

Q. If we talk about your project-Ikebana. Where is it and what’s its size?

Mr. deepak kapoor Director, Gulshan Homz

Providing An Ultimate Product

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n Indian housing landscape, few developers have been as sensitive to buyers’ need as Gulshan Homz.

Pick any project by the company and what you find is a sense of complete satisfaction in living in a comfortable environment and this could have been possible due to assiduous effort by a professionally managed team comprising dynamic people like Deepak Kapoor, who carry on the task of making the company at the front.

In a conversation with Observer Dawn, Mr. Kapoor talks in detail about issues related to Indian realty.

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Q. How is India’s real estate outlook? Is the prospect rosy?

However, for basic needs, say in Rs. 30 to 50 lakh bracket, the market is vibrant.

It’s rosy if there is no over commitment.

Problems start we start too many and so, instead of developing real estate, we get involved in financial jugglery and liquidity crunch and then try to come out of it. As far as growth factor is concerned, end-user growth is phenomenal; people are still there but situation goes out of hand due to demand and supply cycle. If we squeeze supply, rates go up. Interestingly, if rates go up, demands go down as it goes beyond the paying capacity of the common man.

Excerpts

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Q Area around the Yamuna Expressway is full of real estate activities. Do you have any projects there?

A. There is great future in Yamuna Expressway. First, let the government agencies clear all hurdles so that one may not face the situation like Noida Extension. Even the Master Plan is not cleared and once these hurdles are

A. Ikebana is in Sector-143 in Noida Expressway and it is spread in 50,000 sq.m area (about 12.5 acres). There are 1450 units of four size — 1340, 1495, 1695 and 1995 sq. ft. This is a luxury segment catering to middle and upper middle class and of ultimate luxury. It has excellent location advantage with green surrounding and seamless connectivity.

Q. What is the basic price and how you manage to deliver in this price whereas builders in the adjacent areas are charging more, something in Rs 6000 range?

We provide an ‘effective living planning’ and ultimate product to our customers.

A. Yes, we haven’t realised any slow down. We make building as landmarks and present things people always want to preserve.

Q. How does Gulshan Homz differentiate it from other developers?

A. We differ from others in term of “effective living planning”, taking care of minute details like lighting, air flow, landscaping and greenery. We also introduced the green building concept certified by IGBC.

Q. Something more about Ikebana…

A. Ikebana is a unique project in terms of features it contains. In addition to all

indispensable elements, it offers an aesthetic sense which is rarely taken into account by others. Making of entrance lounge and welcome lounge is done in such a way befitting a five-star ambience. Even five-star hotels don’t have such spacious and user-friendly features. Ikebana is a ultimate product, that too, in a competitive price, giving benefit to investors/end-users. After all, we grow as they grow.

Q. Few months back, the Finance Ministry liberalised the rules for increasing funds via external commercial borrowing (ECBs) by the local companies, mainly those engaged in the real estate sector. Your comment...

A. ECB is a welcoming policy for Indian realty. What is to be seen are policy procedures and implementation which should be open and pragmatic. Usually, it takes a lot of time to understand policy’s finer points. Often, there are many riders with rules and regulations and a huge amount of time is lost to configure them and impact of policy goes waste.

We have yet to find out ECB is practical and sync with Indian accounting standards. When things are clear, everybody will welcome it as it will infuse the much-needed capital and cost of earning will come down, removing the capital crunch and that’s a very positive step.<

A. The basic price is Rs.4650 per sq. ft.

Relatively lower price doesn’t mean we compromise on quality. We offered the finished product comprising all the topclass features and high quality standard.

Q. What about possession and overall response?

A. We started with estimate of delivering to customers within three to three and a half year although we have told them that final delivery will be done in four years. Sticking to our aim to give timely possession, work is progressing on war footing. 75% of all units of all sizes have been sold out which speaks about the unprecedented response from buyers and investors.

Q. So, you didn’t see any slowdown?

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rEAl ESTATE

A one-stop realty solution

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he Noida-based Goldmine Developers Pvt. Ltd. is a leading real estate consultant in DelhiNCR. The company specializes in services related to the purchase of properties, documentation, renting and leasing, investment advisory services, property valuation and assisting clients with home loans. It provides a complete customer satisfaction through expertise, commitment and unbridled dedication. As a financial services company, it has steadily emerged as a onestop investment solutions provider.

With a customer base of over 200,000, Goldmine Developers Group has an eye for the intricate financial needs of its clients and caters to both their shortterm and long-term financial needs through a comprehensive bouquet of investment services. It has been founded with the aim of providing world class investing experience to the investing community. Company operates in Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad. Within a short period of time and with a variety of products and having presence in Delhi-NCR, the company has become the most preferred property consulting firm. Goldmine has corporate tie-ups with topnotch companies like LG, CSC, Samsung, Moser Baer, TCS, , NTPC, GAIL, BHEL, Sahara, Tech Mahindra, IBM , just to name a few. This synergy enables the company to offer sales service to builders, group housings, corporate and retail clients.

Thanks to its wide spectrum of services in real estate, the company has achieved the status of a leading consultant, investment agent in the field of multi-storey residential, commercial projects, and land acquisition. Customers have the advantage of trading in all the market segments together in the same window, as the group understands the need of transactions to be executed with high speed and minimum time.

Thus, as a customer-focused financial services organization, it provides a range of investment solutions to customers.

Company works with clients to meet

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A Premium Real Estate Company with geographic footprints spread strategically across Metros and Tier I cities, Era landmarks is ideally positioned to make the most of the burgeoning realty potential across India.

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Mr. shaleen singh Director, Goldmine Developer Pvt. Ltd.

their overall investment objectives and achieve their financial goals. Clients have the opportunity to get personalized services depending on their investment profiles. Company’s personalized approach enables clients to achieve their total investment objectives.

The company was founded in 2004 by two dynamic entrepreneurs -- Mr. Gaurav Gupta and Mr. Shaleen Singh -who possess expertise in the field of marketing and finance. It is a professionally managed company led by a team with outstanding managerial acumen and cumulative experience of more than 400 men. The company envisages creating a progressive organization that can boast of global standards in integrity, ethics, corporate social responsibility(CSR) and business transparency. It aims to deliver high quality residential and commercial projects that correlate with global developers.

Projects Galore Goldmine Groups’ leading projects comprise Ajnara Group (Ajnara Daffodil, Aj-

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nara Grand Heritage, Ajnara Homes, Ajnara Integrity, Ajnara Grace); Gaursons Group (Gaurcity (Noida Extension), Gaur Grandeur (Sec-119 Noida);Mahagun Group (Mywoods (Noida Extension), Moderne (Sec-78 Noida);Sikka Group (Sikka Karnam (Sec143 B Noida);Prateek Group (Prateek Wisteria (Sec-77 Noida), Prateek Laurel (Sec-120 Noida) and Patel Group (Neo Town (Noida Extension).<

Benefit of Going with Goldmine • • • • • • • • • •

Expert Advice on Property A Hassle-Free Process Maximum Discounts in the Market Direct Channel Partnership Best Rates in the Industry Properties from all the Big Construction Houses Leading to a Wide Variety of Choices and Varied Quality Massive Range of Products and Services All Budget Range Long-term and Trustworthy Corporate Partners

ncorporated in 2005, Era Landmarks, the real estate arm of Era Group, is carrying forward its prime objective of positioning itself as a 360 degree provider of infrastructure solutions. Era Landmarks is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with wide product portfolio. Standing by its motto of “Believe in Difference”, in just few years, Era Landmarks has carved a distinct reputation for itself in the real estate fraternity. The backbone of Era Landmarks is the construction expertise when it comes to delivery and execution gained by the Group companies engaged in turnkey projects in Infrastructure development – roads/ highways, railways, aviation, metro, social infra, etc., to name a few.

In residential segment, from integrated townships to multi-storied housing and in commercial, from IT Parks to retail (malls & e-multiplexes) projects, Era Landmarks has forayed into every opportunity that came to its way. After delivering projects and establishing it’s footholds in Tier II cities, it has launched some premium projects in Metros and Tier I cities — the company’s focus areas in the future.

Integrated Townships include “GARDENIA ESTATE” and “ASPEN GARDEN” at Meerut, “LAUREL GARDEN” at Sirsa, are all delivered and now a habitat of thousands of happy residents. “LAUREL GARDEN–II” at Sirsa has just been launched.

“ERA GREEN WORLD” at Palwal is in the construction stage.

Multi-storied housing includes the “REDWOOD RESIDENCY” & “ERA DIVINE COURT” at Faridabad which are almost

“CITY CENTRE” & “GALLERIA” at Sirsa with constructions in full swing and the “ERA MALL” at Meerut which is operational with the best of shopping, entertainment and eating experiences.

With geographic footprints spread strategically across Metros and Tier I cities, it is ideally positioned to make the most of the burgeoning realty potential across India.

Era Landmarks’ innovative plans are aimed largely at developing one-stop paradises, where comfort and lifestyle are in close quarters aimed at transforming living, working and shopping experiences to the next level – all “with a difference” that’s spectacularly surreal so to speak!

Donning the Mantle Mr. Sumit Bharana, Director, Era Landmarks, is young, talented and dynamic entrepreneur. Sumit Bharana is an architect, strategic thinker and born leader.

He combines the wisdom of his lineage with the new-age mantra of business leadership. Sumit comes with years of experience, deep understanding and varied exposure in the real estate sector.

He has first-hand and hands-on-experience with several real estate projects in Gurgaon, national capital region(NCR) and elsewhere in the country.

Mr. sumit bharana Director, Era Landmarks ready for possession. In the highly competitive markets of Gurgaon, the company has few premium projects which are in the early stages of conceptualization.

Additionally, the commercial projects of Era Landmarks include multipurpose projects – “IT Square” at Greater Noida is a very premium projects at best of the locations for corporate and IT Giants. Among retail, the projects include

Mr. Sumit Bharana formally joined Era Landmarks Ltd. in January 2010 after his Bachelor Degree in Architecture from Amity University. His experiences count right from his school days under the able guidance of Mr. H. S. Bharana, CMD of Era Group. The rise from trainee to the present position is a remarkable journey where he follows the motivational management and leadership style, empowering professional teams and maximizing their levels of productivity. As the Director, he is responsible for day-to-day operations and functioning of CMG, PMG and PMC of the company. <

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rEAl ESTATE larger than a hotel room, with small kitchen (kitchenette) is provided with basic facilities of a household such as cutlery, crockery and vessels for cooking along with a piped gas connection, many other services are provided such as large size bedroom with alleviating space with attached bathroom, living area with home office, sleek kitchenette with attached dining space, fully loaded refrigerator, Microwave EPABX, Cable/Satellite TV, Wi Fi/Internet Connectivity, DVD players with movies on rent, Daily newspaper, iron and Ironing Board on request and Electronic Safe for valuables, sometimes even provided with concierge service. The lodging rates are generally way cheaper compared to the hotels which charge exorbitant rate to its customers.

Sandal Lands Coming up with a New Trend

Serviced

Residence The concept is new and an uncharted domain, which poses a huge potentiality in terms of market. In India, the market is at its nascent stage and is expected to gain momentum in short span of time.

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n the light of robust economy witnessed

by India in this decade, it is noticed, there has been an untamed demand for business travel across India with more integration towards the global economy. Due to which growing impetus of business and medical tourism in India has witnessed manifold growth over period of time.

Given the fact, hospitality sector has boomed shortly, formation of huge gap in number of travelers and hotel accommodation has become a matter of concern. It is expected that there will be a shortage of quality accommodation in near future, as in, supply of hotel is apprehended thereof.

With increase in corporate travel and spending weeks and months for working from different location has become frugal these days.

Where people are left with no other options apart from lodging in hotels which is always a costly affair in own terms. With the advent of newer concept; ‘Serviced Apartment or Serviced Residence’ offers an alternative solution to the problem. A ‘serviced residence’ is a mean by which one can lead a homely stay while staying away from home. It is built in a manner where a furnished accommodation, comparatively

The concept is new and an uncharted domain, which poses a huge potentiality in terms of market. In India, the market is at its nascent stage and is expected to gain momentum in short span of time. The size of this segment is diminutive in comparison to the South Asian and Pacific markets where it has been acknowledged, popular and accepted already. In the Indian pretext, the target group is the High Net Worth Individuals, Corporate and Leisure Travellers and foreign tourists, who prefer ‘service apartment’ over hotels; belonging from a different culture and having specific living standard. Keeping this in mind, the service apartments are basically developed complying to the norms of international standards with three star hotel facilities. Proliferation in sectors like BPO, ITES, and Financial Institutions are pulling the crowd for serviced apartments in India.

The concept which embarked on Mumbai around 2003-04, has seeped in cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi NCR region. It has propelled 25 – 45 % double digit growth in the last five years and is anticipated to gain maturity at a steady pace with due acceptance and popularity.

In view of this concept and in recognition of dormant potential demands the segment posses. ‘Sandal lands Pvt. Ltd’ (sister concern of Assotech Realty Pvt. Ltd) has taken the initiative to deliver quality ‘Serviced Residences’ across 25 cities in India, further pioneering themselves in this field in India. Earlier it has been successful in delivering 'Serviced Residences’ christened as ‘Cabana Serviced Residences’ at Indirapuram, Delhi NCR in 2008.

The concept offers a lucrative investment option for its owners as well. The customer or the investor buys a unit in ‘Serviced Residences’ and the company manages and maintains the property. The rental income earned is divided equally among all the investors with a part kept by company for meeting the expenses, maintenance, security, wages, administration, and housekeeping etc. The investor is paid a continued rental per month as a return on his investment and company offers returns as high as 21-24% per annum, subject to occupancy and demand pattern. A brain child of Mr. Neeraj Gulati, Managing Director – “Sandal Lands Pvt. Ltd”, an astute finance professional, responsible for drawing the blueprints of the said concept and materializing it for the company which was established in the year, 2003; further he has been able to carve a niche for the company in positioning them-

selves as leaders in Delhi NCR in the office space realty segment, and also, has reputed residential projects under its belt developed across Delhi/NCR. ‘Sandal lands Pvt. Ltd’ has taken long stride in positioning themselves as a successful player in real estate, now focusing on, to consolidate its foothold in the pan India market. The company has initiated acquiring lands for their ‘Business Parks & Serviced Apartments’ outside Delhi and NCR. It plans to launch a spree of Service Apartments in the name of “Sandal Suites” across the nation, under 3 major segments i.e. Leisure, Business and Pilgrimage. To add cherries on top, the service resident complex are stacked with an array of facilities like double height Guest Entrance Lobby, state of the art Health Club with Spa, Business Centre, Board/Conference Rooms, Meeting Rooms, Terrace and Pool Side Multi-cuisine restaurant for guest to savour to their individual taste, recreational area, coffee and pastry shops. The charges pertaining to lodging varies from Rs (2,000 – 10,000) per night depending on the time period, category of room and amenities provided for the stay.

The company also offers lucrative investment options where there is a guaranteed return on investment on a monthly basis for the investors. In particular, it is mend for investors who desires a recurring return on investment. As these residences, which are strategically located near the corporate hubs. The, occupancy levels are expected to remain high throughout the year. In addition to the investment the investor are given a privilege of free stay for a limited period across India along with a club membership with the company.

The concept is a unique blend of hospitality and real estate creating a new pool of investor and target group of its own. An attractive returns makes Sandal Suites an ideal investment opportunity. ‘Sandal lands Pvt Ltd’ has been able to steam roll ahead and set up new bench mark with a unique line of innovative concept by amalgamating two domain. Keeping this in mind the company is heading for an expansion and has Ahmedabad as its new destination, on its radar. Further it intends to explore opportunities in Goa, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore and etc. and has also roped in Shirdi, Katra and Tirupati for pilgrimage destination. <

FEBRUARY 8OBSERVER DOWN7 17

Will he rule over the Realty Space and Realtors?

In his childhood, he used to play â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;building houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.

When he grew young, he dreamt to build wonderful edifices.

And now he is constructing the highest tower in India.

Will his passion for building transform him to the zenith of real estate industry?

Read the untold story which unfolds trajectory of a Young Turk.

Coming Soon...

IN FOcuS

achyut nath Jha

A Overall, it’s not Walmarting, it’s a windfall.

fter days of parliamentary logjam, weeks of cajoling and behind-the-scene confabulation, months of licking to two-step forward and one-step backward and years of remaining as backbencher when it comes to economic reform, Manmohan Singh government got the mandate to allow 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail sector and 100% FDI in single brand. This policy decision which could have passed by the ruling dispensation of the day looked to become a scapegoat at the altar of political convenience that often dictates economic benchmark India should pursue for larger interests. But then, we often see powers-that-be resorting to short-term electoral investment at the cost of overall economic interests. Policy proponents seem to be convinced that small traders will benefit through FDI in single-brand retail as they will get access to enhanced capital and advanced technology. Then there is exposure to global managerial practices, technologies as well as opportunities for integration into global markets.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of Micro, Small and Medium

FDI in retail

opes & urdles

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Enterprises (MSME) K. H. Muniyappa said, "FDI complements and supplements domestic investment. The small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would be benefited through FDI, by way of enhanced access to supplementary capital and stat-of-the-art technologies."

But for the proposals involving FDI beyond 51 per cent, MNC retailers will have to source 30 per cent of the value of goods from India, preferably from MSMEs, village and cottage industries, artisans and craftsmen. Muniyappa’s view was further supported by Prime Minister, who said, "I am confident that it will benefit the farmers, and the consumers and our country." Speaking as a chief guest at Punjab Agricultural University's golden jubilee function, the Prime Minister said, "It (FDI) will introduce new technology and investment in marketing agricultural produce. India must take full advantage of modern technology and operational and management experience of big supply chains in the food retail business to make this happen."

Yet, skepticism persists over what it will achieve and where it will percolate—to the targeted group. Those who justify it rely on the premise that farmers and consumers would benefit once middlemen or intermediaries are done away with in the wake of investments by global retailers who will enter with their own level of operational efficiency.

However, in retail trade, whose productivity is low, the economy can benefit by opening up it to FDI. Modern retail has grown in India, especially in the last decade, but the sector remains largely informal and this growth has been limited. Moreover, the advantages of FDI in retail will probably unfold slowly. There are many hurdles retail businesses have to cross before investment spending can begin.

Economists are free to say that the government supports FDI in retail to make a political point, bring in for-

Those who justify it rely on the premise that farmers and consumers would benefit once middlemen or intermediaries are done away with in the wake of investments by global retailers who will enter with their own level of operational efficiency. eign capital or send a signal to investors and stop rupee’s continuous depreciation. But don’t all these reasons take India a step closer to increasing competition and achieving higher productivity in retail? With FDI being allowed in multi-brand retail, large Indian companies that are either already in the business or have planned to enter it are likely beneficiaries. As years pass, they could emerge as global players in retailing and could open their chain in other countries.

Some analysts also argue that FDI will lead to a greater variety of products for sale and increased consumer choice.

In years to come, these will penetrate deep into the hinterland of Indian economic activity and do much to improve the country's infrastructure and logistics.

In the short-term, the direct FDI impact from retail chains will be modest.

According to the available data by a firm, FDI in 2008 was $35 billion and declined in 2009 and 2010. In 2011, it came in at around $27 billion or so.

Now the moot question is: Will MNC retailers bring in enough to get back on the 2008 level, that too, in one and a half year to two year time? It is really a hazardous guess.

It is also to be taken into account that big retailers just don’t enter into venture. Their approach is cautious in the beginning and they start by setting up a pilot project through a partnership with local chains. Their strategy is to learn about the local markets. At this entry level, which usually takes 18-to24 months, they bring in some investment to cover their set-up costs. Now equipped with feedback at the entry levels, retailers now open more stores and increase both the scale of operations and scope of products. It is at this juncture that we see considerable investment in the form of real estate acquisition, operational infrastructure, establishing supply chains and increasing logistics. Bolstered with their success, big retailers are now expansion drive which comes with investment. They look for new locations and bring in investment that commiserates with growth in volumes. Even after policy decision is taken, it will take a couple of years to exactly assess the investment and its impact on the economy.

The majority of people involved in retailing agree that foreign retail chains’ arrival could spell positive impact on the way retailing is done in

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IN FOcuS India. Their supply chains and logistical capabilities will spur significant improvements in the infrastructure needed to source, ship, store and deliver products. Domestic competitors will have to invest in infrastructure and logistics, as well as greatly speed up the emergence of product standards. Thus we see that along with direct impact, it could be a force multiplier that spearheads even more investment from everywhere.

Impact on local kirana store The most vocal critics of FDI are saying time and again that the policy will decimate kirana(mom-and-pop)store and badly impact domestic retailers in the neighbourhood markets. But a close look into the modus operandi of local an MNC retailers demystify this. There are several reasons for this.

Walmart, the most iconic of big-box retailers and the one often cited as a threat to Indian stores, applies different models in different countries where it ventures. In USA, Walmart is based on "everyday low prices” and competes as a cost leader. Once established here as an eminent retailer, it started locating in rural areas and then moved to suburban and semi-urban areas. In India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand and Mexico, the vast majority of educated middle and upper classes live in the cities where infrastructure support system very expensive and population density is high. Simply put, any MNC retailer will have to fork out a substantial amount in opening the shop and as a result, their price points may be higher than the local kirana stores. The real competition will be from the domestic multi-brand retailers.

According to a recent study, the size of organized retail of in 2010 was 6% to 7% of the total retail market in India. The study predicted that the size of retail (putting both organized and unorganized together) would grow to $1.25 trillion by 2020. The share of the size of organized retail could grow to $260 billion or about 20.8% of the total market. So, taking this prediction in mind, the logic of small retailers being wiped out doesn’t hold water.

Yes, MNC retail chains may create a significant impact on traders who have been dominating the whole gamut of procurement process of commodities, both perishable and non-perishables, including grains and cereals. The main Opposition party,

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SWOT

analysis of indian retail sector

1 2

Strengths a. b. c. d.

A major contributor to GDP: the retail sector in India is hovering around 33-35% of GDP as compared to around 20% in USA. High Growth Rate: the retail sector in India enjoys an extremely high growth rate of approximately 46%.

High potential: since the organised portion of retail sector is only 2-3%, thereby creating lot of potential for future players.

Employment Generator: the retail sector employs 7% of work force in India, which is now limited to unorganised sector only. Post-FDI, this percentage is likely to increase substantially.

OD view : Some of above mentioned drawbacks are mostly politically created.

Most of economists and policy makers agree that with the implementation of this policy all stakeholders will benefit whether it is consumer through quality products at low price and farmers through more transparency in trading.

3

Opportunities a.

b.

c.

d.

Weaknesses a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

Lack of Competitors: According to the latest study on global retailing trends, India is least competitive market of the world.

e.

Highly unorganised: The unorganised portion of retail sector is only 97% as compared to US, which is only 20%.

f.

Low Productivity: Mckinsey study claims retail productivity in India is very low as compared to its international counterparts.

Shortage of professionals: the retail trade business in India is not considered as reputed profession and is mostly carried out by the family members (self-employment and captive business). Such people are not as professionally qualified as it demands.

No-Industry status: the retail sector in India does not enjoy industry status in India, thereby making difficult for retailers to raise funds.

g.

4

Organized retail will need more workers. In China, the employment in both retail and wholesale trade increased substantially, post-reforms in retail sector in that country.

Healthy competition will be a check on the prices (inflation): Retail giants such as Walmart, Carrefour, Tesco, Target and other global retail companies already have operations in other countries for over 30 years. Until now, they have not at all become monopolies rather they have managed to keep a check on inflation through their healthy competitive practices.

Create transparency in the system: the intermediaries operating as per mandi norms do not have transparency in their pricing. According to some of the reports, an average Indian farmer realises only one-third of the price, which the final consumer pays.

Intermediaries and mandi system will be evicted, hence directly benefiting the farmers and producers: the prices of commodities will automatically be checked.

For example, Walmart has introduced Direct Farm Project at Haider Nagar in Punjab, where 110 farmers have been connected with Bharti Walmart for sourcing fresh vegetables directly.

Quality control and control over leakage and wastage: Presently, 40% of the production does not reach the ultimate consumer. Food often gets rot in farm, in transit and in state-run warehouses. Cost conscious and highly competitive retailers will try to avoid these wastages and losses and it will be their endeavour to make quality products available at lowest prices.

Flow of capital will help in building up the infrastructure for the growing population: India is already operating in budgetary deficit. Neither the government of India nor domestic investors are capable of satisfying the growing needs (school, hospitals, transport etc.) of the ever growing Indian population. Hence foreign capital inflow will enable us to create a heavy capital base.

There will be sustainable development and many other economic issues will be focused upon: many Indian small shop-owners employ workers, who are not under any contract and also under-aged workers, giving rise to childlabour.

Threats a. b. c. d.

Independent stores will be compelled to close: This will lead to massive job loss as most of the operations in big stores like Walmart are highly automated requiring less work force.

Big players can knock-out competition: they can afford to lower prices in initial stages, become monopoly and then raise price later.

India does not need foreign retailers: our kirana stores can satisfy the whole domestic demand.

Remember East India Company it entered India as trader and then took over politically.

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IN FOcuS

Bharatiya Janata Party’ (BJP) virulent opposition to FDI is not surprising as these traders who form its support base could lose their stranglehold. Hence, the so-called ‘traders interests’ getting harmed. Inefficient and mismanagement in government’s procurement forced farmers and many other rural producers at the mercy of large and well-organized traders. These traders have pan-India presence and have virtual monopoly across all geographical areas. When global retailers like Carrefours, Walmarts and Tescos set up direct procurement mechanisms with sophisticated procurement systems, decade-old system of middlemen dominating the scene will evaporate.

In the recent times, several independent agencies have highlighted the pathetic situations where main producers earns about 30% or even less of the final price paid by the consumer. Is this single reason is not enough to welcome the global retailers? Enough of nationalist posturing in the name of safeguarding the domestic traders who

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As far as India is concerned, challenges come from several quarters like restrictive operational clauses, non-availability rightlypriced real estate, diversified consumers and their shopping habits, unorganised domestic supply chain, different policy regimes that vary from state to state, and bureaucratic red tapism which retailers have to face. appropriate a major chunk of windfall without taking account of interests of farmers and producers!

Having said that, we should be honest to say that foreign players’ entry will, in no way, benefit everyone as economic impact doesn’t necessarily come with a holistic approach. However, the main beneficiaries in this case will be Indian consumers, job seekers and the producers of goods.

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Challenges Ahead No doubt, foreign firms, such as Walmart, the world's biggest retailer, and its British and French rivals, Tesco and Carrefour, impressed with the look of India's economy and its fast-growing middle class, and have been knocking at the door. Moreover, retail is a highly capital-intensive business and investments are typically long-term. Retailers with global chains will come as they know India market is promising. Even if conditions are tough to comply within

the multi-brand retail FDI policy at this point, the long-term potential in the India market is significant.

Aside this hypothesis, there are some fundamental issues which leading multinational retailers need to pay attention to as they face with growth prospect. One big challenge is from the emergence of new trend and the rise of a new class of retailing called 'verticallyintegrated e-tailing'. It is estimated that this new breed of retailers which includes Bonobos, Shoedazzle and Stelladot have their revenue already in excess of $1 billion, and it is rising. They, along with the 'traditional' e-tailers such as Amazon, can take some more business away from general retailers, thus putting more pressure on their revenue growth potential.

Questions are also being raised of MNC retailers’ viability of bringing in their retail formats to countries like India. While retailers such as Carrefour achieved some success in the 1980s and 1990s in making their business

Enough of nationalist posturing in the name of safeguarding the domestic traders who appropriate a major chunk of windfall without taking account of interests of farmers and producers. truly global, they could achieve only marginal success in 2000s. Aggressive and resourceful retailers like Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour Marks & Spencer have found the going really tough in some foreign markets. One couldn’t forget Tesco’s retreat from the US, after incurring huge loss.

Then, in recent times, a new phenomenon has emerged in supply chains. One major inducement for global players has been the low-cost supply of products and manpower in countries such as India. As the trends indicate that low-cost supply bases could rise leading to a costlier manufac-

turing. Rising cost of energy, shipping and logistics will automatically commiserate with increasing cost to customers. Retailers have an uphill task to strategise to offset the revenue loss.

In the wake of allegation of lobbying by Walmart, many large global retailers is seriously making attempt to comply with workers' rights and fairtrade practices. The compliance needs to be done without increasing the overall cost of sourcing. The recent disaster in Bangladesh factory where more than a hundred workers died when fire engulfed the factory is a pointer to this issue. The factory has been producing

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IN FOcuS Simply put, it will take at least couple of years from now to see the exact volume of FDI and number of MNc retailers.

sources for some global brands. When so many big brands are coming, it is difficult to differentiate. In a tough competition, it is incumbent upon retailers to maintain customer engagement and deliver more value for their money. Already they are using multi-channel through offline and online mediums to reach out to the consumer.

Massive digitization in media has, of course, offered them technology to expand across customers of different class and group.

With euro zone crisis still to be staved off and revival in economic conditions a far cry, international retailers are taking cautious approach to invest in new markets. Of course, there are a few which have that could take risk in massive investment. For most of them, it will be ‘wait and watch’ philosophy.

Walmart : Rise and Rise of a Retail Behemoth we remain excited about the opportunity to grow our business in one of the world’s most vibrant economies, expand opportunities for farmers and help lower the cost of living for families in India. we believe that allowing 51 percent foreign direct investment in multibrand retail is an important first step for the Government of India to further open this sector and strengthen the Indian economy,” the walmart spokesperson said, in response to some of my queries.

G

As far as India is concerned, challenges come from several quarters like restrictive operational clauses, non-availability rightlypriced real estate, diversified consumers and their shopping habits, unorganised domestic supply chain, different policy regimes that vary from state to state, and bureaucratic red tapism which retailers have to face.

Simply put, it will take at least couple of years from now to see the exact volume of FDI and number of MNC retailers. Both proponents and opponents of MNC retailers better wait for the period when muchsought-after billions of dollars strike the Indian market. Till then, there is no need to worry about Walmarting.< rob Walton Chairman, Walmart

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eorge Will, Pulitzer Prizewinner columnist, named Walmart "the most prodigious job-creator in the history of the private sector in this galaxy" and that "by lowering consumer prices, Wal-Mart costs about 50 retail jobs among competitors for every 100 jobs Wal-Mart creates".

Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Walmart is an American MNC retailer that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores globally. According to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2012, the company is the world's third largest public corporation. It is the largest retailer in the world. With over two million employees, it is also the biggest private employer in the world Walmart remains a family-owned business and is controlled by the Wal-

ton family who own a 48 percent stake.

Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, it was incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. Walmart is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51 percent of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.

Walmart has 10,000 retail stores in 27 countries, under 55 different names. The company operates under the Walmart name in the United States, including the 50 states and Puerto Rico. It operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Company's operations are organized into three divisions: Walmart Stores U.S., Sam's Club, and Walmart International. It does business in nine different retail formats: supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise stores, cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants.

Walmart has operated in Canada since its acquisition of 122 stores comprising the Woolco division of Woolworth Canada, Inc in 1994. In the mid 1990s Walmart tried with a large financial investment to get a foothold in the German retail market. However, several reasons led to Walmart's failure in the German market. Company's low price strategy yielded no competitive advantage. Also its corporate culture was not viewed positively among employees and customers in Germany. Also Walmart's "Big Box – Low Price" Model, a price strategy that works well in the U.S., was not successful in Germany. In July 2006, it announced its withdrawal from Germany

WALMART: AT A GLANCE Industry Founded Founder(s) Headquarter Number of locations Area served Key people Products

Revenue Operating income Net income Total assets Total equity Owner(s) Employees Divisions Subsidiaries

Retailing 1962 Sam Walton Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S. 8,970 (2011) Worldwide S. Robson Walton (Chairman), Mike Duke (President & CEO) Apparel/footwear specialty, cash & carry/warehouse club, discount department store, discount store, hypermarket/supercenter/superstore, supermarket US$ 446.950 billion (2012) US$ 26.558 billion (2012) US$ 15.699 billion (2012) US$ 193.406 billion (2012) US$ 71.315 billion (2012) Walton family 2.2 million (2012) Walmart Canada Asda, Sam's Club, Seiyu Group, Walmex

due to sustained losses. The company announced a JV with Bharti Enterprises in November 2006 to open retail stores in India. As foreign retailers were not allowed to directly enter the retail sector in India, Walmart operated through franchises. Bharti manages the front end involving opening of retail outlets, while Walmart takes care of the back end, such as cold chains and logistics. Bharti Walmart operates stores in India under the brand name "Best Price Modern Wholesale". The first store opened in Amritsar in May 2012.

Presently, the company is also battling against allegations like bribing(lobbying) in India and Mexico. There is widespread concern about the effect of

walmart has 10,000 retail stores in 27 countries, under 55 different names. The company operates under the walmart name in the united States, including the 50 states and Puerto rico.

its stores on local communities, particularly small towns with many "mom and pop"(read kirana in Indian context) stores. In one of the studies on the economic impact of Walmart on small towns and local businesses, jobs, and taxpayers, it was found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Walmart store opening. However, in another study, the same analyst concluded that shop owners who adapt to changes in the retail market can thrive after Walmart arrives. But there are both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the new supercenter locates, a later study showed. website, www.walmart.com says, "for 50 years, Walmart (NYSE: WMT) has been helping people save money so they can live better. Our everyday low price model is making a difference around the world ... and we're committed to delivering growth, leverage and returns for our shareholders". And despite some reservations, most of us hope that company succeeds in its India foray with the same business model. <

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i

outlook

ndian

C iTie lip2

s

TheBottom of the investment destinations list, according to the ULI, PwC report on ‘Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific 2013.

B

angalore, Mumbai, and Delhi have slipped sharply to the 19th, 20th and 21st positions respectively in the list of 22 investment destinations covered by the Emerging Trends in Real Estate® Asia Pacific 2013, published by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). In the previous report of 2012, these cities were placed at 10th, 15th and 12th rank respectively.

While Bangalore is perceived to be a mature market and has demonstrated fairly stable pricing and reasonable absorption trends, Bangalore’s over-re-

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liance on the sluggish global IT industry translates into low growth potential in the medium term. Mumbai is plagued with over supply across asset classes, resulting in record levels of vacancy and stagnant yields. The report, however, casts a positive light on Delhi and the surrounding NCR in view of the expected master development plans for Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida, perhaps indicating a flight of capital from Western and Southern India to the North in the medium term, the report pointed out.

The widely anticipated forecast provides an overview of Asia Pacific real es-

FEBRUARY 2013

tate investment and development trends, real estate finance and capital markets, and trends by property sector and metropolitan area. It is being released today at a program in Mumbai.

Gautam Mehra, Executive Director at PwC India, said: “While Indian real estate may currently be grappling with certain socio-political and economic issues, particularly rising inflation; uncertainty on fiscal policies; and subdued interest from opportunistic investors, there appears to be light on the horizon.

India’s favourable demographics and inherent, latent demand continue to be

redeeming factors. Several micro-markets continue to provide suitable investment opportunities for investors and end-users alike.

The need of the hour is to deliver focused political and economic reforms.

The recent decision to permit foreign investment in multi-brand retail, for instance, should lend a spark to the dormant retail real estate space. The authorities have also shown intent to adopt clear, singular stands on contentious tax and regulatory matters, thereby soothing the frayed nerves of foreign investors.

From a regulatory stand-point, the introduction of the Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) regime has sought to streamline and regulate myriad investment schemes, in a bid to boost investor confidence. One area that is yet to be developed is Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) regulation, which could provide an additional exit route for investors and enable retail money to be channelized into the sector through a regulated network,” Mehra added.

The report stated that for Asia Pacific as a whole, steady economic growth, rising incomes, and stable or increasing

property values are all contributing to an overall sense of optimism. However, the outlook is tempered by growing concerns among investors that prime assets in key real estate markets are becoming overpriced. For instance, capitalization rates across Asia remain more compressed than in many western markets, and yields for core office stock in cities such as Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore are returning as little as two percent. “With high rents, high capital values, low yields, and an abundance of local capital, many international investors are struggling to see attractive investment opportunities in Asia Pa-

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outlook cific’s prime real estate markets,” commented ULI Trustee and ULI North Asia Vice Chairman Richard Price, Chief Executive, Asia Pacific for CBRE Global Investors. “As a result, investors are expanding their horizons as they seek compelling investment opportunities.

Some are looking at frontier markets such as Indonesia, while others are revisiting often overlooked capitals such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, which explains the strong showing for these locations in this year’s report.

Secondary markets such as Kowloon in Hong Kong and second-tier Chinese cities are also experiencing increased interest from international buyers. At the same time, core investment markets in many mature, western markets are seeing a surge in demand from newly formed Asian Institutional Investors seeking to capitalize on the post-global financial crisis corrections there.”

In addition to Shanghai, other cities in China – including several second-tier cities as well as Beijing – were placed in the top ten listing for both investment and development prospects.

Despite concerns related to rapid growth and surging prices, the report points out that it is not unusual for emerging markets to witness unexpected price movements, and that such shifts must be viewed within the context of local market conditions. Japan, notes Emerging Trends, continues to recover from the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011; however, a number of investors are seeing potential in the logistics sector as the country rebuilds its distribution infrastructure.

While Tokyo is ranked 13th for investment prospects and 18th for development prospects, many investors feel the city’s outlook is improving. It is seen as a magnet for foreign investment, with core funds looking at the office sector, and more opportunistic investors heading for the residential sector. <

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2.

Shanghai

S

1.

T

Jakarta

opping the rankings for both investment and development for the first time, Jakarta is described as a “surprising” choice given the city’s lack of investment grade stock and its economy, which while growing, lacks the enterprise, scale and infrastructure of its more developed neighbors. However, Jakarta is seen by many real estate professionals as the most favorable emerging market in the region, with business transactions generally easier and more transparent than in other frontier markets such as Vietnam. The country’s interest rates and inflation are stable; the gross domestic product is growing steadily; and foreign direct investment grew by 39 percent in the first half of 2012. Demand for property is strong, resulting in year-to-year office rents leaping by 29 percent. Despite some challenges, such as difficulties securing bank debt and locating reliable local partners, Jakarta holds significant promise.

hanghai’s office market and retail market have proved mainstays for foreign funds looking to invest in Chinese real estate. Both sectors remain popular, given the city’s relatively user-friendly business environment, growing volume of institutional grade properties and historic market performance.

However, in spite of Shanghai’s strong ranking, the city is not as appealing to foreign investors as it was a few years ago. Prices are considered to be relatively high, the market has become saturated, and Chinese regulators have become less open to foreign investment, as they have increasing confidence in the ability of local real estate practitioners to finance and develop properties. While Shanghai will remain firmly on the radar of foreign funds with a mandate to invest in China, activity in the city will remain muted for the short term.

3.

Singapore

S

ingapore retains its popularity among real estate investors who see the market as a safe haven offering solid, but not spectacular, returns that are underpinned by the city’s position as a global financial hub. The city’s office market has recently run out of steam with significant amounts of new Grade A office space drawing tenants away from existing buildings, a problem which is compounded by a shrinking head count in the local financial sector. Rising vacancies and falling rents are causing problems for some international funds looking to exit the market.

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outlook

4.

Sydney

S

ydney has seen a limited amount of new supply of commercial space in recent years, although a significant amount of office and retail space is in the pipeline for 2015. A shortage of institutional grade property has continued to suppress sales volumes and kept prices buoyant, driving up total returns for office assets. Australia has absorbed more international real estate investment over the past year than any other country in the Asia Pacific region. Office assets remain a popular target for these funds and some analysts believe that foreign investors account for 30 percent of the transactions in the sector.

5. Kuala Lumpur

K

uala Lumpur is beginning to enter the real estate limelight, offering a stable market with good opportunities for opportunistic returns. While property sales slowed noticeably in most Asian markets during the third quarter of 2012, Kuala Lumpur was the exception. The long-term prospects for the commercial property market are deemed by many to be strong, due to the success of the government’s Economic Transformation Programme in drawing foreign investment.

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Cover Story

Unveiling

Innovation in

Real Estate Pioneering new materials and methods, blending a new generation of innovative techniques and pooling global technology in design and construction have positioned Ajnara Group as one of the most reliable real estate company.

Pramod Gupta, JMD, Ajnara India Ltd. Receiving IRA trophy from Cabinet Minister Harish Rawat.

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Cover Story

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hile talking about innovation one often defines the term too narrowly and loosely. But the fact is, innovation can – and does occur in every industry of our economy, from consumer electronics to health care to realty products. With millions of Indians looking for property as an asset and place to live in, once considers sleepy industry, is smartly innovating and benefiting from new markets and technology. Construction in buildings also is an area where innovation is gaining steam. By measuring a building’s usage, businesses that specialize in this technology begins promoting new designs to attract home-seekers and tenants. At the same time, companies have started investing in smarter usage practices. Of course, this requires a clever mix of tech savvy and financial resources. Today, a separation of the design and construction disciplines, plus the lack of an overall systems approach, means that the majority of new efficient buildings are effectively prototype projects. This situation can only be remedied by addressing the overall process.

Customised Project with Sustainable Quality

G.P. Gupta, Founder, Ajnara India Ltd.

established in 1991, Ajnara is today known for the quality of its products. It is one of the first developers to have been certified ISo 9001:2000 in North India and offers the most diversified product mix comprising residential, commercial/It parks, retail, hotels. the well-recognized brand, Ajnara has collaborated and synergised with internationally acclaimed architects and design consultants for various projects. recently, the company has ventured into the infrastructure business by launching It Park, thus leveraging its decades of experience and expertise in real estate. Ajnara India ltd. is surging ahead with a pan-India footprint.

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For the first time, among the renowned realtors with pan-India presence, Ajnara envisages buildings designed specifically for customisation, using agile production of pre-manufactured products and components that are easy to assemble and readily adaptable to customers’ wishes. Radical innovation in all phases of the creation and use of buildings is required to meet future challenges of sustainability, energy conservation and industrial competitiveness. In almost all projects launched by Ajnara such as Grand Ajnara Heritage, Ajnara Daffodil, Ajnara Elements or the mega township at Crossings Republik, just to name a few, innovation is a significant driver.

Today, real estate industry has become full-fledged and competitive. But, to be a game changer, innovation is important. That is what Mr. Ashok Gupta and Mr. Pramod Gupta with support from professionally managed team comprising board of directors, are targeting, and it is consistent with their DNA as entrepreneurs who never compromise on quality and standard of projects, both residential and commercial. In more than two decades since its inception, the company is embracing changes, adopting new facets of real estate business and collaborating with innovative techniques and the result is for everybody to see.

Professionally-Managed Core Team 46-year-old Ashok Gupta, a Banaras University alumnus, is at the helm of affairs, guiding and carrying forward his mission to take Ajnara Group into pinnacle of achievement with unprecedented growth at par with global standards. As a commerce graduate from a prestigious university, he is well versed in nitty-gritty of policy initiatives required to manage a branded company in real estate. So, when, the central government announced FDI in multi-brand realty, a few months back, he welcomed it, saying, “It is seen as a very important reform to revive the economy and it will ease supply side pressure and mitigate inflation and ben-

Vinod Gupta, Director, Ajnara India Ltd.

vinod Gupta’s effort helped the company immensely to widen the project financial resources which subsequently created the requisite capital for the company’s growth and expansion. efit, especially, the small and medium enterprises by way of greater market access and higher profit margins.”

The RBI has cut the policy repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 7.75 percent. It unexpectedly also reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the share of deposits that banks must keep with the central bank, by 25 bps to 4.00 percent, which will infuse an extra 180 billion rupees into the banking system. RBI's latest easing will contain inflation and revive the growth. On the RBI initiative, Ashok Gupta said that step will spur demand in housing segment as the cut in policy rates will result in lower EMIs, encouraging home buyers. The move will also infuse extra cash and reduce the liquidity crunch, thus bolstering the real estate.

There are a few who know that Ashok Gupta left his well es-

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Cover Story tablished family business in Guwahati and came to Delhi to enter in to construction business. However, there are many who narrate the story about his devotion and perseverance which finally resulted in achieving a distinguished place for himself and the company, known with reverence as Ajnara.

lieve that by providing our customers the best of quality construction only, we can create the trust amongst them. Hence we always stress on the technology and quality of material used and every other process used in the construction is well analyzed.”

A civil engineer from Sumaya College of Engineering, Pramod Gupta is the brain behind incorporating engineering marvel in company’s project. An acclaimed strategist, he showed his leadership qualities during the transition phase when Ajnara was planning its forays into high-rise building blocks and apartment. Whenever company goes for working on new projects, he makes it sure to have an in-depth analysis of everything. After all, he has to adhere to principle: “Offering high quality construction is the fundamental philosophy of my company.”

Company’s finance department is headed by Vinod Gupta, another director. When it comes to mobilizing financial resources, he makes planning and required strategy with Ashok Gupta and Pramod Gupta. According to company sources, Vinod Gupta’s effort helped the company immensely to widen the project procurement which subsequently managed to create the requisite capital for the company’s growth and expansion.

Ajnara Group’s management team also comprises young directors like Vineet Gupta who is responsible for planning, coordination, procurement of equipment for plant and machinery as well as raw material. A management graduate with expertise in the field of procurement and coordination, he is an absolute believer of quality materials. He is often credited to bring in farreaching changes to maintain a very high level of quality control. Putting things in perspective, he says, “Construction has always been the highlight of Ajnara India Ltd’s working. We be-

buyers and investors. It is committed to provide projects with luxurious lifestyle amenities like power backup, round-the-clock water supply, clubhouse and swimming pools. This is another reason that despite the spiraling price of property, buyers with higher disposable incomes flock to these high-end projects.

Vineet Sharma, Vice-President (Marketing), has bolstered the company’s growth with conceptualizing and marketing strategies. A professional to the core, Sharma is a man of details and has created a vibrant vendor network and a active customer care team which works round-the-corner with prospective clients.

Jai Kishen Gupta, Director, Ajnara India Ltd.

Moreover, when it comes to providing a constant support to the top management in term of his various capacities in the field of construction and planning, Jaikishen Gupta’s name comes to fore. He has been instrumental in bringing many radical changes in the field of construction.

In all the ventures so far completed, Ajnara has proved its dedication towards quality, design and construction. At Ajnara, great emphasis is laid on the aesthetics and utmost care is taken to ensure that all the undertakings are architecturally soothing to the senses. Appeal and affordability are the characteristics of Ajnara, and the company is focused to its commitment to the time schedule and timely possession.

Established in 1991, Ajnara is today known for the quality of its products, it is one of the first developer to have been certified ISO 9001:2000 in North India and offers the most diversified product mix comprising residential, commercial/IT parks, retail, hotels. The well-recognized brand, Ajnara has collaborated and synergised with internationally acclaimed architects and design consultants for various projects. Recently, the company has ventured into the infrastructure business by launching IT Park, thus leveraging its decades of experience and expertise in real estate.

Ajnara India Ltd. is surging ahead with a pan-India footprint.

Ajnara Ambrosia, London Square, Grand Ajnara Heritage, Integrity, Ajnara Daffodil, Vice Royale, Panorama, Ajnara Gen-X, Ajnara Grace, Ajnara Homes, Ajnara Le Garden, Ajnara Homes121, Ajnara Landmark, Ajnara Pride and Ajnara Fragrance are the residential projects by the company and these are scattered through Noida, Noida Extension, Greater Noida

Vineet Sharma, VP, Marketing, Ajnara India Ltd. and Ghaziabad. In commercial segment, there are Arcade and Orbit Plaza at Crossing Republik on NH-24, Ghaziabad: Orchid and Multiplex in Raj Nagar Extension and IT Park in Greater Noida. Quality construction and employee contentment are two important things which help Ajnara position it as a topnotch brand. By developing premium projects, it wants to satisfy every customer’s need for a better experience. With a well-managed architectural and engineering team that has closely partnered and worked with internationally acclaimed architects and many others, Ajnara achieves both aesthetic and efficient designs. Despite tremendous growth potential, use and application of innovation in India’s real estate is at the initial stage and developers like Ajnara does not want to lag behind in configuring out the benefit of technological upgradation.

Taking a clue from its impact on international arena, the company has started deploying strategic technology and innovative techniques in its residential and commercial projects which include the mega township project. We express our sincere gratitude to all our channel partners for their unflinching support to make all our projects a great success. n

Ashlesh Gupta, Director, Ajnara India Ltd. Ashlesh Gupta’s contribution is in various capacities of human resources, administration and legal affairs. A firm believer in talent pooling and fair administration, his expertise is in the field of H.R & Administration which has helped company to attract and retain talented resources from different streams.

Credit for much of Ajnara’s position as one of the best employers, needless to say, goes to Ashless Gupta.

Advantage Ajnara

Vineet Gupta, Director, Ajnara India Ltd.

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Equipped with strong and skilled manpower and successfully led by a board of director, Ajnara has been able to leverage its expertise. Addressing people’s need across all verticals, Ajnara’s project, residential as well as commercial, is first choice among

In both residential and commercial segments in DelhiNCR, buyers and investors have shown great interest in projects developed by Ajnara Group mainly because with handsome return they get what they want—property at competitive price without any compromise in quality and design.

–Honey Katiyal, CEO, Investors Clinic

Ajnara offers all projects to cater to middle and upper class to invest their hard and earned money in NCR. We are great full to Ajnara Group for providing us many wonderful projects.

–Sunil Kumar, Director, Goldmine Developers.

Good location, connectivity and ambience make Ajnara a good choice for buyers and investors in Delhi-NCR. Ajnara today enjoys very good reputation with all sales channel partners.

–Vipul Gupta, Director, Neo brix

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Cover Story I have always divided my ambition into two parts, one for my staff and the other for the society. By providing shelter to all sections of society gives me immense satisfaction and at the same time the prosperity of my staff members gives me solace and happiness.

–Pramod Gupta, JMD, Ajnara Group

Ajnara India limited Pramod Gupta, JMD , Ajnara Group

Offering high quality construction along with timely delivery has been the backdrop of Ajnara Group. How is the company managing to remain as an eminent developer without compromising on the above fundamental philosophy?

See, the company has already put in place a well documented ‘Project-Management-Policy’ under which the entire project schedule and its completion is worked out immediately after the official launch of the Project. Offering high quality construction is the fundamental philosophy of my company.

How has been Ajnara India's journey been so far?

Excellent! In fact when I look back in the year 1991, I feel proud of the fact that the achievements of the company are even beyond my expectations.

I feel that the GOD has been very kind to my endeavors.

Tell in brief about the ambition and mission of your company/group I have always divided my ambition into two parts, one for my staff and the other for the society. By providing shelter to all sections of society gives me an immense satisfaction and at the same time the prosperity of my staff members gives me solace and happiness.

Could you share with us in a brief about your important dates and milestones . (i) Year 1987 –B.E (Civil) from M.S. Ramaiya Institute of Technology- Bangalore (Karnataka) (ii) Year 11-11-1991 Incorporation of my company. (iii) Year 2005, the Launch of my first ever township at Crossings Republik GZB. (iv) Year 11-03-2010 Shifting to my new corporate office at Sec-63 Noida.

What has been the overall response from buyers and investors? How did the company perform in 2012?

Every time I plan a new Project, the first thing which comes to my mind is the list of our satisfied customers and my ever dependable investors. They provides the initial impetus of booking for new projects. However the

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year 2012 has been a mix bag in terms of sales particularly in GNIDA Projects.

Even as some companies are facing flak over accountability and transparency, how are you managing it? Tell us some information about company’s work through CSR. We have a professional senior management /HODs and managerial staff working with us for the last so many years. The trust and capabilities of my senior staff enables me to achieve the desired goals. However all matter relating to marketing/operation/finance/accounts/procurement/construction are under direct supervision of the management.

As regards CRS the company is already involved in various activities and look forward to other areas.

In term of revenue and employment, where does it stand?

What's Ajnara's outlook in 2013?

The Revenue of the company has increased manifolds from 1991 to 2012. However I am hopefully looking forward to best year in 2013 as far as sales are concerned.

The company has also formulated a separate plan to shift focus to 2-3 tier cities and also to other infrastructural projects.

Is the prevailing business sentiment offering the requisite support to sustain and make profit?

The Prevailing trends in the market do not felicitate impetus to sales. I feel the real impetus will depend on the policies that the central & state Govt adopt by providing land at reasonable rates which will sustain both builders and the buyers.

What is your Mantra of success? Are there some new projects in the pipeline?

My mantra of success is to work hard for the company and feel good about my staff members and leave rest to the Almighty GOD. I am sure by putting in hard work, good things are bound to fall in line. As regards new projects we are planning some new areas of operation and will spring a few surprises in the year 2013. We make it sure that Ajnara always adheres to global standard and quality construction. n

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Cover Story

Ajnara India limited Shri Ashok Gupta, MD

Date of Birth :

:

3rd Feb.

Schooling and Higher education

:

H.S.C & B.com from University of Banaras.

what is the Turning point in your life

:

When I left my well established family business in Guwahati and came to Delhi to enter in to the construction business.

Year of Marriage and the most memorable moment

:

1991, when i garlanded my wife and vowed for a happy married life.

When not working on projects how do you manage your leisure time

:

Watching news channels and Movies.

when in distress, whom do you look to

:

My Parents, My family and The Almighty.

Who is your role model and inspirational figure?

:

Shri K.P. Singh Chairman DLF.

Zodiac sign

:

Aquarius

Hobby/ Sports

:

Badminton

Your vision as a successful entrepreneur

:

Continue to progress despite hardships and hurdles.

Pen that you use

:

Mount blank

Your favorite gadgets

:

Black berry

Your favorite apparel brand

:

Armani

CAR of your choice

:

AUDI Q7

Any secret you want to share

:

Sorry, Let secrets be secret

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Ashok Gupta, a Banaras university alumnus, is at the helm of affairs, guiding and carrying forward his mission to take Ajnara Group into pinnacle of achievement with unprecedented growth at par with global standards.

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Mohit Arora, Director, Supertech receiving IRA trophy for excellence Award

Sumit Bharana, Director, Era Landmarks receiving IRA trophy & certificate for excellence Award

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Deepak Kapoor, Director, Nidhi Lal, Director & Sanjay Visht, Marketing Head from Gulshan Homz holding IRA trophy for excellence Award

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mArket

New Delhi Among THE MOST EXPENSIVE MARKETS

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ndia continued to feature in the list of World’s most expensive office markets, with New Delhi (Connaught Place – CBD) moving up from 9th position to 5th position (with an overall occupancy cost of US$ 183.30)according to CBRE Global Research and Consulting’s semi-annual Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey.

Mumbai, on the other hand, continues to drop further. The current report lists the city’s CBD – Nariman Point at 25th position. In July Mumbai was at 20th position. The latest survey provides data on office rents and occupancy costs as of September 30, 2012.

Anshuman Magazine, CMD, CBRE South Asia Pvt. Limited, said, “In prime

CBD locations, the supply of space is extremely limited with almost no new supply expected in the near future. This is especially true for quality office space which has led to occupancy cost remaining high.

The dominance of Asia-Pacific in the top 10 most expensive business locations worldwide continued, led by Hong Kong-Central – the world’s most expensive market - and five other Asian markets. However, it was a U.S. market, San Francisco (Downtown), that had the strongest year-over-year increase in prime office occupancy costs with a 36.4% rise driven by that market’s hot technology sector.

the dominance of Asia-Pacific in the top 10 most expensive business locations worldwide continued led.

Hong Kong Central led the “most expensive” list with overall occupancy costs of US$246.30 per sq. ft. per year. This topped London’s West End, which had total occupancy costs of US$219.81.

Tokyo (Marunouchi Otemachi) was the third most expensive market for office space, followed by Beijing’s CBD and New Delhi’s CBD. Other Asia-Pacific markets in the top ten include Beijing-Finance Street (6th) and Hong Kong-West Kowloon (7th).

Despite economic headwinds, occupancy costs increased by an average of 2.1% worldwide over the past year, led by the Americas with a 5.2% annual increase and Asia Pacific with a 2.6% increase. EMEA continued to be hindered by economic recession in much of Europe and recorded a 0.4% decrease in prime occupancy costs. Prime office occupancy costs increased in 74 markets, decreased in 37 office markets and had no change in 22 markets.

CBRE tracks occupancy costs for prime office space in 133 markets around the globe. Of the top 50 “most expensive” markets, 19 are in EMEA, 18 are in AsiaPacific and 13 in the Americas.

While comparisons in dollars are affected by currency exchange rates, annual percent change calculations are based upon occupancy costs in local currency and not influenced by currency changes. n

Exchange Foreign CURRENCY AT THE BEST RATES

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ow do I get foreign currency for my next trip?

That’s the question people always ask while on traveling. Part of the challenge of saving money on a holiday is exchanging money. Banks and other money changers have lots of fees that can empty your wallet quickly. Here are the details they prefer you ignore.

In most places, it's cheaper to get local money from an ATM in the country after you arrive. Airports almost always have ATMs where you can do this - especially handy if you need local money for a taxi. If you have transport from the airport booked with your hotel already, you can just as easily wait until checking into your hotel; then walk around and get your bearings and use an ATM close to your hotel.

Another reason to use an ATM to get local currency is safety. You can pull out enough for a few days at a time and not worry about losing lots of cash due to theft or misplacement. This is the reason travelers' checks used to be popular, but nowadays they're antiquated devices, difficult and time consuming to exchange.

All cards are not created equal. Stick with Visa or Mastercard - the others are not widely accepted. Every card issuer charges different rates for cash advances in a different country than your own. In general, using a debit card linked to a checking or savings account will be the cheapest because they usually don't charge cash advance fees.

You're withdrawing money you already have, not charging money and paying for it later. You will still have to pay your bank's fees for using other banks' ATMs, if applicable. In addition, you will be charged a foreign transaction fee, usually about 2-3%. Using a credit card ver-

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In most places, it's cheaper to get local money from an Atm in the country after you arrive. sus a debit card incurs the foreign transaction fee, but also a cash advance fee which varies greatly. Often it's 3-5%, but can be a flat rate of $10-15 (home currency, USD in this example).

You'll find your bank's debit card ATM fee of $2-3 (home currency, USD in this example) is a lot less than the cash advance fee. In other words, it's cheaper to pay a $2 ATM fee and 3% foreign fee than a 3% cash advance fee plus 3% foreign fee. Every card is different. They only way to know is to call every card issuer and ask for these 3 rates: ATM fee, cash advance fee, foreign transaction fee.

In some places the rate to change cash are better than the rate your bank/credit card company provides. It really varies on the city, not just the country. In Bali for example, money changers were offering 8,500 Rupiah per US dollar (the actual exchange rate newspapers/Internet show), but other places in Indonesia were offering less than 8,000 or even 7,000 in some remote areas. In comparison, the effec-

tive credit card rate was about 8,2508,325, depending on the card and the date.

If you do take cash, make sure to take crisp bills with no tears or damage.

Money changers will offer less or not accept worn bills. Also, $100 bills have the best cash exchange rate; $20 bills and smaller are changed at a lower rate. Beware of whom you change money with.

If the Internet says the rate is 8,500 and you see signs on the street offering a rate of 9,000, just laugh to yourself and keep walking. These places are notorious for folding bills over, quickly swapping stacks of bills, and other con-artist tricks. They obviously can't afford to give a rate better than the real rate so they lure people in with "great" rates and cheat them to come out ahead.

Usually the fancy money changers in the airport with multiple digital displays charge very high transaction fees and/or offer lower exchange rates. Exchanging money at your local bank before leaving is not recommended due to poor rates and/or high fees and the risk of carrying large sums of cash. n

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PolItICS

Unstoppable Modi!

Love or hate him, the man is to stay here.

Achyut Nath Jha

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Love or Hate Him! 48

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e have some of ragsto-riches stories revolving around some individuals who did exceptionally well in important phase of their lives despite severe odds they faced in their childhood days and years following. We all recognize their contribution in our society and nation building. However, in politics, especially, in this part of world, the same narrative is rarely found on account of significant importance being given to legacy which one carries. And if you are on the other side of political dynasty which has been running the nation since independence, virtually uninterrupted, chance of remaining marginalized is maximum. Narendra Modi, Gujarat chief minister, who has just made a hat-trick after trouncing the Congress again at the recently concluded assembly elections in the state, is one among this rare breed.

Modi swept back to power in Gujarat for the third successive term. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 115 seats — two less than its previous tally (117). The Grand Old Party (GOP) was routed yet again, managing just 61 seats out of 182, while the Gujarat Pari-

vartan Party (GPP,) launched almost on the eve of polls by BJP rebel and former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, could get only two of its candidates elected.

As for the Congress, since Madhavsinh Solanki’s 148-seat victory in 1985, the party has not been able to test power in Gujarat.

At a public meeting after results were declared, the Chief Minister savoured his victory and in his inimitable style, spoke in campaign mode in Hindi and thanked the people of Gujarat for “voting for development in the State and country.” Some of his supporters kept chanting “PM, PM” but the 62-year-old media savvy, and shrewd politician took care to reiterate his desire to work for the State for the “next five years.” Thanks to continuous debate over Modi’s choice for the Prime Minister if BJP-led National Democratic Alliance(NDA) scores better than Congress-led United Progressive Alliance(UPA) in the next Lok Sabha elections, public discourse gets directed to a bipartisan discussion centered around proponents and opponents of Modi as a suitable candidate for the covetous post. "No need of looking behind ...FORWARD!...We want infinite energy, infinite courage, infinite

patience..." Modi said on the microblogging site Twitter in the wake of trends that he was set to create a hat-trick. It was interpreted in some circles as a subtle comment indicating his intention to be in the prime ministerial race.

While Modi’s supporters are taking his latest feat as a clarion call for a march to Delhi, a section within the BJP and NDA are not comfortable with Modi’s rise to Centre. Modi is clearly a front runner for the PM’s post, much to the chagrin of other aspirants in the party. It is but for Modi, the discussion has already moved on to his future plans as his third consecutive win has boosted his chances of being projected as BJP’s next prime ministerial candidate. There are lingering doubts within the BJP’s top echelons about Modi’s ability to lead the country because of his style of functioning. Then there remain immense uncertainties, most importantly about the question of Modi’s dominance in the BJP. In the coalition era of ruling, prime minister needs to hold together supporting allies and make compromises.

Modi is not good at both and this could be one reason why factions within the BJP are profoundly reluctant about him.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s

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PolItICS continuance also looks uncertain; he may be forced to step down later this month because of corruption allegations. Gadkari is close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which doesn’t approve Modi’s independence.

Sources confided that senior RSS pracharaks worked for Keshubhai Patel’s GPP during the campaign and refused to work for Modi. Thus, political analysts guess that Gadkari’s fall will increase Modi’s influence substantially. Many party leaders such as Yashwant Sinha, Ram Jethmalani and Shatrughan Sinha had openly revolted against Gadkari.

Jethmalani was given suspension order on his defiance of party line on the issue. It’s quite a different thing that Gadkari's supporters say that Modi's win is not a threat to him. In fact, Modi has created history by emerging as the first BJP chief minister to have third successive win at a time when the party is in dire need of a strong leader to get back to power at the Centre.

How significant is the victory of Modi can be gauged from the presence of who’s who of BJP and some of the potential allies along with corporate bigwig during the swearing-in ceremony at Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel stadium.

Presence of the BJP’s entire top brass reinforced the fact that Modi’s big win has elevated his stature in the party and given a fillip to his prime ministerial ambition.

Among the allies present was Punjab CM and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal. Both Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena and Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena attended the event.

Ramdas Athavale of the Republican Party of India and Om Prakash Chautala of the Ind i a n National Lok Dal also marked their presence on the o c c a s i o n . Ta m i l Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa, who shares a good rapport with the Gujarat strongman,

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after a decade of Gujarat riots, a major chunk of muslims shy away from openly supporting modi, who, however, consciously tried to build bridges with the minorities by holding Sadbhavana fasts all over the state was also there. The BJP has assiduously wooed her for months now as her party, the AIADMK, is expected to do well in Tamil Nadu in the next Lok Sabha election.

As expected Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose party JD(U) is in alliance with the BJP, gave Modi’s coronation a miss. An image of being anti-Muslim and question about his acceptability to a cross-section of people beyond Gujarat are still some irritants in Modi’s way. Even Sushil Modi, Bihar’s deputy CM who belongs to the BJP, skipped it.

Earlier, its Gujarat state leader Vashist Narayan Singh declared that though the victory would strengthen the BJP as a party at the national level, the JD(U) was clear that the candidate for Prime Minister should have a secular image. State BJP chief C. P. Thakur was, however, present. Also significant was the absence of any RSS representative. Also, Modi’s attempt to rope in two major political parties in Andhra Pradesh — Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) — into the NDA fold appears to have born no result. None from these regional parties was pres-

FEBRUARY 2013

ent there. Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik also remained absent.

Needless to say, stigma associated with the man who is accused of presiding over administration when state was burning in communal riots, still makes him “untouchable” for some regional parties whose support base comes from minority. In fact, he is the most targeted leader in the current times with his opponents ready to go to any extent to hurl invectives on him. The Gujarat strong man is accused of polarising the state on communal lines. His critics( and there are several) say that Modi will always have to carry the taint of 2002 Gujarat riots for which he has consciously avoided expressing regret or offering any apology. In one interview to Shahid Siddiqui, the MP and editor of the Urdu newspaper Nai Duniya, Modi had said that he should be hanged if he was found guilty of orchestrating the 2002 Gujarat riots. The remarks were perceived to be tailor made for the Muslim readership. Even after a decade of Gujarat riots, a m a j o r chunk of

Muslims shy away from openly supporting Modi, who, however, consciously tried to build bridges with the minorities by holding Sadbhavana fasts all over the state. At the same time, he did not give ticket to a single Muslim in a bid not to ruffle the feathers in the core supporter. Modi also tried to reach out to his core constituency by organising state-wide yatra by projecting Swamy Vivekananda as his ideal.

Even those who openly disapprove Modi and his brand of governance agree that he is a leader with a difference; a personality one may love or hate but cannot ignore. He is no ordinary politician and has made a name for development in a state that has always nurtured mercantile skills. There is strong belief that Gujarat’s growth and prosperity has trickle-down effect and benefitted people across the segments, cutting across the barrier from caste and community. Modi's admirers, on the other hand, hail him as "Hindu Hriday Samrat". Modi baiters often say that the situation is so polarised in Gujarat that Congress president Sonia Gandhi's remarks accusing Modi of being a "merchant of death" had cost the Congress in the 2007 polls. So during the electioneering for 2012 polls, the party shied away from raking up the issue of riots.

Political analysts say that Gujarat’s growth has been heavily tilted towards middle and upper class. But then Modi also received huge support from tribal and Dalits. One shouldn’t forget that he, too, didn’t belong to a legacy of a privileged caste which mostly determines and shapes out career in Indian politics.

The third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and Heeraben, during his schooling days, in the mornings, Modi used to help his father who had a teashop at the Vadnagar railway station. Primary education in small school, his father’s meager earning which was not just enough to sustain a big family marked his growth. He wanted to do something big and so, at the age of 17, he left his parents and siblings for good. However, he has been in touch with his mother, Mira Ben and despite emerging as the most-talked after leader, he never misses the opportunity to pay obeisance to his nonagenarian

mother who is very proud of his son.

After Modi’s third time victory, Hira Ben said,” My son has won Gujarat, he will now win India.”No doubt, his mother is now his biggest admirer. His journey from there to where he is now speaks about his perseverance, dedication and devotion. Of course, the RSS provided him the requisite platform to carry forward his zeal and enthusiasm to finally transform him as a strong political fig-

ing capability which corporate houses praise and support for. For his businessfriendly image, corporate honchos could be lobbying to see the man at the top. For Modi and his Gujarat, January 2013 will see the seventh edition of "Vibrant Gujarat"-- a massive gathering of investors from India and abroad and a show piece to encourage development in the state. As per the record, the previous meet in January 2011 attracted

Casting aside all expectations and projections, investment mous to the tune of rs 12 lakh crore or $241 billion were signed at the end of the vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit-2013. the amount is more than double the investments drawn by the three earlier editions of vibrant Gujarat. the mous promise creation of job opportunities for 25 lakh persons.

Investors from India as well as from abroad signed over 8,500 mous during the summit. ure in Gujarat. Modi’s victory set him on course to a role in national politics.

Being a skillful organisation man, he would like to be in charge of the organisational network of the party. A man of details, Modi cultivated his personality which made him accessible to his supporters and electorate. Despite criticism, he used to his advantage both conventional and non-conventional (technological like NaMo, with 3D presentation, till now unused and unheard in India’s electioneering). In 2005, he was denied visa by USA for his inaction and complicity in 2002 riots. But gradually, he is getting feelers from Western countries with Britain even sending its emissary to meet Modi. It’s his organis-

more than 10,000 businessmen from 100 countries. At that time, investors had promised investments in excess of $450 billion, the largest-ever sum for a single event in an emerging economy.

Armed with the latest mandate from what Modi often calls,” six crore of Gujaratis”, Modi succeede again to make the biennial show a grand success much to the chagrin of his detractors whose survival, ironically, depends on how scathing and vitriolic their invectives are against him. As things stand today, several observers feel that a divided BJP has no option but rally behind him as it’s only Modi who could be party’s trump card and face to take on a beleaguered Congress. <

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Social media key of SucceSS

strategy

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oming up with a solid action plan can become challenging when you have to evaluate what works, what doesn't, and what to maximize to bring the best results. Creating a powerful, consistent brand presence allows you to step out from the ordinary and differentiate yourself from your competitors.. Brands are under increasing pressure to perform. Tougher demand for greater returns on marketing spend, structural changes in the marketplace, tougher regulatory constraints and of course, increasingly competitive brands, mean building the right positioning In today’s cluttered real estate marketing environment, consumers are trained to tune out messages that don’t seem to address their real and unfulfilled wants and needs. In other words, if your message doesn’t clearly deliver a solution to exactly what your prospect is looking for – if it doesn’t slot into an open position in your prospect’s mind – then your efforts and money and time will go down the marketing drain. Real estate companies have realized that the best positioning strategy to communicate to break the cluttered real estate market is to touch down on the selling propositions your projects possess keeping in mind the overall brand image.

At SVP, our supreme focus is to develop a communication plan that develops & reinstalls trust & faith of the consumer in our brand. “…positioning is not what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. That is, you position the product in the mind of the prospect.” Keeping this thought in mind, it is very important to understand how exactly you want your brand or your brand to be positioned. Depending upon the need, all companies should have a strong corporate positioning strategy in order besides various product positioning strategies.

In my experience, 85% of your marketing strategy is set during the listing presentation when you and the seller agree on the right price and therefore the right market position for their home.The best brand positioning is always simple and clear. The greatest product or organization in the world won’t be successful if people can’t or don’t bother to comprehend why they should care about it.

Your story must be able to break through the clutter. Getting people to understand the brand is the first step, but no less important is ensuring they value the brand. The best brands stand for things people care about or desire.

Research reinforces the value of PR is more than a common belief...it's a proven reality. Public relations are a vital component for building brand value, maintaining brand vitality, and establishing brand credibility. Most of the companies establish a strong bond with their customers through branding. Each company creates a brand identity that has connected it with its target market through a shared ideology or system of beliefs. The brands have staying power because the companies consistently deliver on the promises made through the brand. But you don’t need to be a corporate giant to benefit from branding. All

companies need a brand strategy – whether you are a small business manufacturing product for a local market or a start-up firm with the long-term goal of going global. Moreover, one has to understand the value of establishing a cohesive, consistent and unique company identity that accurately portrays what the company has to offer its customers.

tively. Public relations and marketing work together to devise innovative promotional materials and a cutting-edge Web site that will catch and keep your target market’s interest and enable them to interact with the brand. With advertising and marketing, you control 100 percent of the message 100 percent of the time. With PR, you relinquish control over exactly what will be said.

Whether you are competing on a local or global scale, having a great product is no longer enough. Today, we see slew of real estate projects being launched.

And because there are so many options to choose from, the customer’s expectations are higher. Furthermore, we are constantly bombarded with promotional messages, so it’s much harder to capture the customer’s attention. You can no longer sit back and wait for the customers to come to you. One has to establish a distinctive identity – like a thumbprint – in the minds of your customers. Find what is unique and different about what you have to offer – something your customers will relate to – and then use it to set yourself apart from the competition.

Selecting the right marketing communications vehicle depends on the real estate marketing message you are sending and who you are sending it to.

Marketing messages have two primary purpose to provide the reader with information about you and your services and to persuade the reader to take specific action.

Targeted public relations is an important component of brand-building and has proven to be a very effective means of generating excitement about the brand. It helps a company achieve ‘transparency,’ which is what customers demand in today’s economy. Working to generate positive media coverage is a big part of public relations. Stories in the media are like third-party testimonials, and people are more likely to believe what they read in a news story than in an advertisement. In SVP, we have used PR tools & techniques effec-

There seems to be no limit to Internet and online real estate advertising ideas.

These include advertising on other websites, using banners, box ads and text links, classified advertising, email, google's adsense and similar pay-perclick advertising, your own website. As with all advertising, before spending any money or money on Internet and online promotion, ensure that whatever approach one choose can effectively convey the message to target market.

In addition, social media marketing has become a powerful tool and with all the social media available, it has became a lot easier to advertise your brand. Using social media for business-to-business marketing can be integral to promoting the brand and forging industry contacts. If there's a Twitter chat going on, join the chat before trying to promote your agenda or brand. Anyone can post a link to Twitter and one effective way of searching for topics and active con-

In my experience, 85% of your marketing strategy is set during the listing presentation when you and the seller agree on the right price and therefore the right market position for their home.the best brand positioning is always simple and clear.

Jayanta Barua Head Corp. Comm. at SVP Group versations on Twitter is to click on or search for certain hashtags relevant to your industry.

Another great way is to join groups on LinkedIn and start relevant conversations. LinkedIn also has a Q&A section where employees of different companies seek advice on different topics. Providing helpful answers to these questions can help cement your role as a leader and reliable source of information in your field. The company or brand can create a company profile on LinkedIn. This way, whenever an employee of company posts a link in their status, it becomes aggregated within the company profile.

Traditional divisions between marketing, advertising, and branding are no more. The widespread use of social media necessitates a fully integrated approach to communicating the value of a brand by integrating social media marketing into all phases of your marketing plan. Using social media as a platform for content marketing (that is, for establishing a narrative around products or services, and engaging the customer as part of the dialogue), results in greater respect and acceptance of the brand. Companies can triumph in this brave new world, if social media is used wisely. <

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home decor

Refurbish your home Creatively

Arjun rathi ambassador lamp

Vintage Tea Bag Chair with Footrest

Envy Reclaimed Wood Iron Garden Chair

Creaky wheels coffee table

Envy Reclaimed Wood & Iron Bench

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righten up your home by infusing it with trendy and creative furniture decor. With a single click visit www.homehero.in, and your stylized piece of furniture will be delivered to your doorstep. HomeHero, a current entrant to the Indian furniture market redefines your concept of personal craftsman. Homehero provides you customized furniture without any hassles– be it making a customized piece from the existing HomeHero collection or handcrafting completely new design.

While it sounds like a premium service to custom-order furniture and have it delivered to your home, however with

Homehero, it will actually cost you less than from your local carpenter, while the quality of the work remains assured.

Wherever possible, HomeHero uses reclaimed materials. The commonly used materials are wood and iron. It's a practice that doesn't just help the environment; it produces wonderful designs with unexpected color and organic textures.All products are made from scratch – thus size and dimensions of all furniture are made to suit specific requirements. The outdoor furniture range offered by HomeHero.in is equally stylish and weather resistant.

The range includes comfortable chairs

to relouncher to picnic tables.

As Wolf Zech, founder HomeHero, points out: “This time of the year, people generally prefer to refresh their homes or add some new features to their existing set up. HomeHero will act as a personal craftsman to get your customized piece of stylish furniture made. Everything is available with just one click.”

Hunting down a reliable carpenter can be challenging and there is no guarantee as to what type of wood quality is being used. But even more tiring is hopping from one furniture shop to the next. There’s always one shelf less, or one inch too much, or the colour is just not the shade of cream you wanted.

That is precisely why we have launched HomeHero”, Wolf further highlights. <

Envy Reclaimed Wood Iron Outdoor Chair

Wood Iron Sunlounger

Vintage Drawer

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technology Battery

Micromax: Most Selling Phone of This Month

For everlasting experience, the Canvas 2 A 110 comes with a standard Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery which goes well with the device. When tested, battery performed excellent results on 2G and above average on 3G. The stand by time delivered was up to 180 hours on 2G and up to 145 hours when on 3G whereas, the talk time was up to 5 hours on 2G and up to 4 hours on 3G. So, we can say that Micromax A 110 ensures average battery results.

Memory The Micromax Canvas 2 A 110 comes with in built memory of 4 GB, from which 2 GB is user available memory. The memory can further be extended to 32 GB using a micro SD card. The phone supports 512 MB RAM space.

Camera Design

Canvas 2 A 110 comes with tremendous 8 megapixels main camera with auto focus and dual LED flash and it also has a VGA front facing camera. The camera quality of Micromax A 110 is great. When tested, the outdoor images captured were rich and clearer in colours and the camera worked quickly and hardly took a second to be ready for next image. The Canvas 2 camera supports JPEG, PNG, GIF, WBMP, BMP and AGIF image type. The indoor shoots were even good. The A 110 camera has a 3264 x 2448 image resolution. The images from front camera were average.

The Micromax A 110, famous as Canvas 2 is among the best domestic manufacturer Dual Sim and Dual camera phone today.

It’s fast, slim and solid and assures better performance. It has a massive 5 inch screen size with IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display type. Micromax A 110 sizes 147 mm x 76.5 mm x 9.7 mm dimensions in height, width and depth. This design is simply superb with dual sim functionality. It weights 168 gm. and the all plastic body is well fitted in the device. Below the screen is a physical home key along with back and menu touch keys. And on the bottom of the phone has a USB/charging connector with a mouthpiece alongside it. On the top of the device is a 3.5 mm earjack whereas, the left side gives you volume controls and lanyard eyelet. The right side holds the lock/power key but lacks with the dedicated camera key on the phone. Above the screen is a front facing camera with light sensors and earpiece. On the back of the phone is a great 8 megapixels camera with dual LED flash and speaker grill on the bottom. The overall construction of the Canvas 2 is great and it’s handy too.

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Audio/Video

Interface/OS

Features

Micromax A 110 primarily runs on Google Android 4.0 ICE (ice cream sandwich) operating system, which has done full justice with the device and to its buyers. The phone is power packed with Dual Core 1 GHz MediaTek MT 6577 processor. When tested, the browsing on this interface with power packed processor and RAM was a better experience. The speed was good when on 3G and multitasking to swapping applications was smoother.

Dual SIM service of this phone allows you to receive calls while you are connected to the internet or even if you are already talking on the phone on the other SIM card. The Micromax Canvas 2 A 110 is pre loaded with SNS integration. It includes all major social sites like, Facebook, twitter, You Tube, Linked In and many more.

It also offers Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Calendar, and Google Talk like options to the buyers. Wi-Fi direct, Voice Calling and All Share are also featured in this power packed phone.

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Model: A110 Price : Rs.10,000

The Micromax A 110 has not compromised with its voice/sound quality. The sound quality when tested was good with headphones and even when on speaker mode. T Micromax Canvas 2 A 110 supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, e AAC+, AMR, WB-AMR, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis and PCM audio formats. Like other smartphones, Canvas 2 also has a Stereo FM radio. The video quality of this phone is wonderful. It features 1080 pixels full HD recording and playback at 30 frames per second. The video call quality from its VGA front facing camera is good but the sound quality drops down if you hold it at a hand’s distance. It supports MPEG4, H.264, H.263 video formats. When tested, the video captured from the camera was in superior quality and gave 480 x 854 pixels resolution.

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book revIew

By Mohammad Aleem

Mohammad Aleem is a prolific writer.

Known for oustanding novels and plays, he is the winner of various national level awards like Sanskriti Award in Literature and Urdu Academy Delhi Award.

Present novelette, translated in English, is , for the first time, being published in any magazine.

T

his is the title of the novelette of one of the greatest short story writers of India, Sadat Hasan Manto. The edition which I have at present with me goes back to many decades earlier during the Partition days. It was published by Ashoka Publishers, Jalandhar, Punjab. It was priced at three Indian rupees. The pages are quite yellowish and in decrepit condition.

The writer has broadly divided it into six small chapters and it runs into 149 pages.

Nothing more is written about it here.

I was very happy to think that I could get the chance to read it. I went straight to the Sahitya Academy Library to find it. Luckily, after some search in the piles of books in stacks, I could find this old one. But I was pretty disappointed to see the state of it.

When I saw on its history page where usually issue dates are written, I was pretty surprised to see that after 1 October 1984, I was only the second one who could come to issue this book. Such is the state of the readership of our books kept in our libraries. It shows how scantly we pay attention to our literary works and very few of us have time to do so.

My second greatest disappointment during the search was that much of books could be found on the literary merits of his short stories rather than his other genres of writings. But my interest lies primarily in novels, so I picked this one eagerly. I have tried my level best to go through it.

But I am quite sorry to say that as a reader and also as a simple practitioner of the same genre, this book was a big disappointment for me in terms of its art and craft. The question here arises, what makes a book a great book, that too, a novel? I had an impression that I am going to read one of the great books of a great writer of our times. But it was not so. The novel seemed very loosely constructed in terms of plot

and characterization. And we do aptly know that Manto is known for its style of writing and constructing an impeccable quality of plots. But it was the case with his short stories not with his novels. I would mainly talk about his this novel, Bagair Unwan Ke, which I have loosely translated, “Without any title”. So a question naturally came into my mind: why such a writer of world reputes could produce such a bad book in his life? Was there any compulsion or helplessness behind it? Had he written this book just to get some money at the behest of some publishers as it was the case most of the time with him? We do know well that he was famous for his professional approach even in his literary writings. Most of the time, it is being said that it was the money or need of some material gains that had forced him to write. But these days where writing a good novel also brings a big fortune in term of money and fame, it can’t be termed a weakness from the part of any writer. And we also can’t say that Manto had done something wrong while doing so. Though, I have often read these lines that he was the writer who wrote only for money. But contrary to all that, it was the same compulsion and circumstances which had made him a fertile ground for producing some of the world class short stories. And it's quite intriguing to me to know how a writer of great merits could produce both types of works, standard or substandard?

Much has been written about the merits and the great qualities of his short stories but very little attention has been paid on his other forms of writings. And it shows how his other works perhaps could not generate much interest among the readers as well as critics. We rightly know that any book of great merits could not be put into oblivion for a long time. It would get its due sooner o later. If everybody praises his short stories, there must be some truth and

Without any Title

reason behind it. But if I say that this novelette doesn’t pass the merit of a great book, there are some reasons behind it.

Very lately I had been to the birthplace of Manto and I was quite exhilarated and excited to think about that. I had also got the opportunity to visit the famous Wagha Border where the line of control of the two great countries, India and Pakistan exists. When I saw the signboard while travelling towards the border, on which it was written that world’s famous city Lahore is situated just some thirty miles away from this city, Amritsar, I felt an agonizing stab of pain to think that if this artificial dividing line between these two nations had not been existed, I would have also got the opportunity to visit that great city of the world. And it is a great loss, no doubt, not only for me but all of us.

Manto had seen, watched, observed and above all, lived the pain of the Partition. He had felt that anguish and shame which this great human tragedy of our times had ever produced. And it was natural to come through his views and experiences while writing his short stories. But when I went through his novel, there was nothing much written or discussed about this great human tragedy of the twentieth century. It shows that this novel came into being much before the days of the partition and killing of millions of innocent people. But it depicts here and there some vague scenes of communal riots and its effect on the mind of the dwellers of the city, Amritsar. He writes on page no. 23 of this book: “The city had already been witnessed many devastating communal riots. But on that street where Saied’s

Sadat Hasan Manto house was perched, its poisonous effects had not reached. If he had taken a decision to extend his love to Pushpa, Vimla or Rajkumari, then it was evident that all pigs and cows of the world would have been gathered here in that very street. And Saied strongly abhorred these regular occurrences of Hindu-Muslim communal conflicts. It was not so only because they used to crack the heads of each other’s and sprinkle the drops of blood but because on these occasions, the beheaded heads would get strewn with much contempt and ugliness.”

It is mainly a novel of love and a subtle feeling of human minds and hearts.

Manto himself seems that he lived this pain in his early years of life. The protagonists are mainly those boys who are in their early twenties. Saied, Aslam, Raju and many others are also of the same

age. And we can’t expect that a character of that immature age could think of a great thing instead of love and passion. The whole journey of the lead character, Saied seems to revolving around in pursuit of love and passion.

He was badly in need of a beloved to whom he could express his passionate love with much interest and zeal. But sad to say that he could not get one till the fag end of his life which he lived in the pages of this book. It was not so that there was a dearth of such fair ladies but he simply could not generate strength and grit to do so. This English proverb, faint heart never won fair lady, righty goes to him. He was a man of feeble mind and weak personality. Every time he seems in the grip of some unknown fear. He was brought up in a tightly observed conservative environment. His late father was a strict disciplinarian.

And he wanted to see him free from all bad vibes and worldly sin. But he paid little attention that his son was growing up and he needed company of any girl or woman as it would be the case with anyone to satiate his carnal desires. But when his father died, he found that freedom for which he lamented and wished. But when he found that freedom, still it was hard for him to come from that hard shell of fear to be in close with any girl or wench. He simply sighs and grieves and does nothing to get one. He sees his other friends are doing the same thing with much pleasure and excitement but he lacks that charisma and the whole story goes almost around his this feeling and fear that what he should do or not to do. It can be rightly said that he only craves to get one but has no strength to pick one.

I felt an agonizing stab of pain to think that if this artificial dividing line between these two nations had not been existed, I would have also got the opportunity to visit that great city of the world. and it is a great loss, no doubt, not only for me but all of us.

much has been written about the merits and the great qualities of manto’s short stories but very little attention has been paid on his other forms.

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book revIew “Saied was in a great dilemma to think that how love could be generated in the weathered and dry heart of anyone. He himself could live in that agony and pain of love and could make happy. But he could not do love for which he was so desperate.”

He, at one point of time prepares a long list of girls whom he could offer his love.

But it fails to garner any result. Among them, there is one girl whose name is Raju and she works with a merchant and lives in his house to do his household works. He has four brothers and all of them think that they have every right to sleep with her. And the girl simply bears that pain just to avoid hardship and penury in her life. Later on, when the situation gets worse, she leaves them and joins the household of Saied to eke out her living. Saied knows all about that. Even in his colony, everybody knows about her licentious life but very few have the guts and strength to come and say that what she was doing was not worth living. She would visit every house. They would get their works done by her but did not come to help her in any way. Saied wants to extend his love to her but he fears to think that a girl of such bad character could be his beloved. When she comes to work in his house as a maid, he goes through the same dilemma, should I extend my love to her or not. It also shows how he used to take the things through his own narrow views. It was his conservative upbringing which was preventing him from doing so, though he wanted to do so.

In between during these struggles with

alone to fend off with herself. When she finds out that she has been cheated by him, she feels heartbroken. Saied, in between, comes to this city to convalescence and stays coincidentally at the same hotel. In the end, he gets an opportunity to meet her and comes to know about the sad part of her story.

But instead of reproving her or showing his repugnance towards her, he offers his sympathy and compassion to her. He takes a room on rent in the city and Firaya also comes to live with him. Saied is reluctant to share the room with her since he fears that his relatives and acquaintances would come to know about that and it would not send a good signal about him in the society, but he doesn’t gather courage to tell her no. They soon leave every fear behind and start living like a compassionate lover. passion and lust, he falls ill. He is admitted to a hospital. And there he meets one Anglo-Indian nurse, Fariya. He quickly feels drawn towards her and also succeeds in drawing her attention by his wit and manners. She wants to say that I love you and expect the same from you. But again, Saied doesn’t find strength to do so. After coming out from the hospital though he sends her a beautiful sari to pay the favour she had extended in the hospital. But when that girl sees that he was a timid lover, she starts seeing another man who lures her into physical relation by saying that he would marry her soon. And as a naïve girl, she believes him and comes with him to live and marry in Lahore.

They stay at a hotel for some days but one day he deserts her and leaves her

How Saied, who was so timid and conservative in his ideas and approach till the very time, could come to that decision to adopt a life of licentious and lascivious behaviour? It jolts the reader for a moment. But the very second moment, it comes to mind that it was the opportunity for which he ultimately craved all his earlier days. And when he got it, he could simply not say no to it.

Manto perhaps himself had lived and transformed his life like this. It very aptly shows that how from a conservative background he could bring himself up in an open society and how long years took to get him transformed.

“His life was like a story that could never come out in the pages. As a writer gets confused in the labyrinth of plot and

after coming out from the hospital though he sends her a beautiful sari to pay the favour she had extended in the hospital. but when that girl sees that he was a timid lover, she starts seeing another man who lures her into physical relation by saying that he would marry her soon.

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ideas and incidents of different nature, his life was also like the same with so many unripe ideas and which was stacked in utter uproar and confusion. He was going on a long road whose end was not known to him. He was fast in his pace and what he had left behind; he never paid heed to it. What was going to come in future, he was equally unaware about it. He was oscillating between the boundary of past and future and playing with his present.

And this play of fate was beyond his comprehension even if he tried to do so.”

I would like to conclude with this last extract from the book: “Saied sat on the bed. He brought out a cigarette from one of his pockets and looked towards Fariya who has just separated from his warm company of love. He was also very upset to think that he had left this whole session unfulfilled quite

manto perhaps himself had lived and transformed his life like this. It very aptly shows that how from a conservative background he could bring himself up in an open society and how long years took to get him transformed.

abruptly and bluntly. He said to Fariya, “You would not understand my entangled thoughts. Your life is straight but mine is quite different. I have nothing except confusion. I had said once earlier also that I am not capable of you. And I again reiterate that. I am not capable of you.”

She asked in utter desperation, “why?”

“I say about that,” he said. But instead of hearing his reply, she said in a very frank way, “Would you marry me?”

Saied lighted the cigarette and said after a deep brooding, “I have thought over it several times but every time I got the same reply from my heart that you are not such a brave person who can do that.

I don’t think I am capable of doing that.”

Finally, Fariya replied, “Can we not live together without getting married?” 4 The novel ends with this happy turn. Finally, Saied, even though, he is in the grip of uncertainties about his own life, accepts her as she was. <

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home decor

Lifestyle of Home Decor 62

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hether it be for your own personal enjoyment or to desire to knock the socks oďŹ&#x20AC; of the future in-laws coming to town for dinner next week (which is enjoyable) we find the invitation into your home and life as designers to be just as important as a large scale production or red carpet aďŹ&#x20AC;air.

We feel that the homestead is an opportunity to create an environment where you wake up well rested and inspired to take on the challenges of day to day living by having an environment that is joyful, makes you smile, and is filled with meaningful details and decor that reflects your current taste and standards. Believe us when we say that paying attention to these things has a great

impact on our experience and matters.

If you would like to wake up to fresh floral arrangements from week to week, have been feeling the need to re-conceptualize certain elements of your home, or need help preparing for an intimate event on the horizon we are here for you and look forward to the opportunity to facilitate and accommodate your living experience. <

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newsmaker “You can live in a house, drive a car, make a phone call, season your food, insure yourself, wear a watch, walk in shoes, cool yourself with air-conditioning, and stay in a hotel all courtesy of Tata firms,” said an article in The Economist, which briefly puts the omnipresent presence of Tata brand. 44-year-old Cyrus Mistry, only the second non-Tata is at Tata helm now.

1997

Ratan Tata becomes chairman of all key Group companies

1998 Tata Indica, touted as India's first indigenously-developed passenger car, launched Tata Safari launched Voltas demerges its white goods and domestic refrigerator into a JV controlled by Electrolux.

1999 Tata group sells 7.2% of its stake in ACC to Ambuja Cement Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd. (GACL)

2000 Sells their remaining stake in ACC to the GACL group and exits cement business Tata Group and Aditya Birla merge their mobile telephony business and rebranded as Idea Cellular Tata Tea acquires Tetley Group, UK for $450 million, the biggest overseas acquisition by any Indian company till then.

Embarking on a New Chapter

here we bring in important years, in chronological order, asociated with the man, ratan tata, the billionnaire scion and one who transformed a ' commomwealth conglomerate into a single entity:

2005 Tata Steel acquires Singapore-based NatSteel. Tata exited Idea Cellular to focus on CDMA based mobile telephony business Tata Tea acquired Good Earth coffee brand in USA Indian Hotels (Taj group) takes over management of The Pierre, NY Trent acquired strategic interest in Landmark chain of bookstores

2006

Tata Sky satellite television service launched across the country Infiniti Retail launches Croma, India's first national chain of multi brand outlets for consumer electronics and durable products Tata Tea buys Eight o Clock Coffee US

2007 Tata Steel acquires the Anglo-Dutch company Corus (now known as Tata Steel Europe), making it the world's fifthlargest steel producer Develops Eka, one of the fastest supercomputers in the world The Taj group acquires Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco (now known as Taj Campton Place) Tata Power wins 4000 MW ultra-mega power project at Mundra, Gujarat.

2008 Tata Motors unveils Tata Nano, world’s cheapest car Tata Motors acquires the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from the Ford Motor Company Mamata Banerjee forced Tata Motors to relocate Nano Plant from Singur.

2009

2001

Tata Teleservices announces pan-India GSM service with NTT DOCOMO Tata Chemicals launches Tata Swach — the world’s most cost-effective water purifier

Tata AIG — a JV with American International Group Inc (AIG) to enter insurance sector

2010

2002 Tata Sons acquires a controlling stake in VSNL (now known as Tata Communications), India's leading international telecommunications service provider

New plant for Tata Nano at Sanand inaugurated Tata Tea announces joint venture with Pepsico for health drinks Tata Tea rebrands itself as Tata Global Beverages, headquartered in London Tata Chemicals launches i-Shakti dals, enters in food and agri-segment

2003

2011

Tata Teleservices launches Tata Indicom mobile service under CDMA platform

2004 Tata motors acquires commercial vehicles unit of Daewoo Motors, South Korea TCS goes public in one of the largest initial public offering (IPO) in the Indian market, raising nearly $1.2 billlion for Tata Sons Indian Hotels unveils IndiOne, a first-of-its-kind chain of no-frills budget business hotels

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Tata BP Solar becomes wholly-owned Tata company (now known as Tata Power Solar Systems)

2012 Tata Global Beverages and Starbucks form joint venture to open Starbucks cafés across India. Tata Communications completes world’s first wholly-owned cable network ring around the world India’s first iodine plus iron fortified salt launched by Tata Chemicals Ratan Tata steps down as chairman of Tata Sons on 28 December.

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entertainment

BOLLYWOOD

Actors People Admire Most

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In India, cinema is the only means of entertainment for the masses.

Every Friday,cine-goers wait for new releases to see their favourite heroes entertain, amuse and provide relief from mundane chores,difficulties and monotony.

Fans of particular actor make it sure to take a glimpse of largerthan-life image of their heroes in silver screen.

The 2012 also offered a slew of movies bringing in new ways to entertain movie goers.

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GOLF POOH-BAH AT SHUBHKAMNA GOLF TOURNAMENT

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he famous golfers of the country came together in an action at the same field in the Shubhkamna Championship which held at the Noida Golf Course. The championship was one-of-its- new kind of competition which was hosted by ace golfer Jeev Milkha Singh recently and it delineated top-notch 30 stars of the golf world.

As Jeev Said, while announcing the tournament “ This tournament aims to showcase the best talent in Indian golf from all over the world. The Shubhkamna Champions will mark a milestone in Indian Golf when all the best Indian pro Golfers will play together in a grand finale to the year.

I hope Indian fans and media will appreciate the staggering talent that is coming together in December at Noida Golf Club. I’m grateful to my old friends Arjun Atwal & Daniel Chopra to make it all the way from Florida to make a rare appearance and thank all the other top Indian pro’s who will make this occasion special – like a coming together of a large family. I’d like to thank Piyush Tiwari & Diwakar Sharma ofShubhkamna Advert and Rishi Narain, himself a former Asian Games gold medallist, for making this event possible. I welcome all fans and media to watch the tournament and you can be sure we, the players, will put on a great show for you.”

Piyush Tiwari, Director, Shubhkamna Advert, the title sponsors of the tourna-

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ment said “ We have signed a three year contract with Jeev Milkha Singh at the start of 2012 and have also sponsored the Shubhkamna Noida team at the Louis Philippe Cup Pro Team event. Our main aim is to create huge excitement about this sport in which Indians have been so successful all over the world. Indian players chaperone by Jeev, Atwal and Randhawa which have been winning international titles consistently for the past two decades.

However the players like Atwal, Chopra and Gangjee are busy in the US, Jeev also has been busy in Europe and Japan – so we wanted to bring them all together in one platform, what we hope will become an almanac season ending finale which all these players will look forward to. This championship format of 54 holes is an unique and ideal and hope the fans will enjoy seeing all our stars together – a very rare hapenning occurrence and we think it is the energetic gathering of Indian golf professionals ever seen in history. A great opportunity for the young stars like Rashid Khan to play alongside these Indian greats for the first time.”

The star line up of players was be led by tournament host Jeev Milkha Singh, India’s most successful and famous golfer of all time who has come off a great year with a big victory at the Scottish Open. Florida based Arjun Atwal is the only Indian to win on the USPGA Tour, Daniel Chopra of Indian origin, now a Swedish citizen, who grew up in Delhi and is also based in Florida with two USPGA titles to his name, Rahil Gangjee who played the 2012 Buy.com tour in the US; European Tour regular who is currently also ranked 7th on the Asian Tour – enjoying a boost in late season form - Shiv Kapur; Two time European Tour winner SSP Chowrasia of Kolkota, Former European Tour member and Asian Tour champion Jyoti Randhawa, Bangalore’s Anirban Lahiri with two Asian Tour titles, and Gaganjeet Bhullar, who’s on his superb form after two wins on the Asian Tour recently. <

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desk news Lavasa ups the marketing ante

M3M Launches Woodshire

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3M India Limited, announced the launch of M3M Woodshire, a premium residential project comprising of 18 mid-rise towers spread across more than 19 acres in sector 107 of Gurgaon along Dwarka Expressway.

With a total of 984 units encompassing 2-3-4 BHK apartments and Penthouses, M3M India is looking to realize a total sales value of Rs 850 crore from this project.

In an attempt to address individual and collective needs of the society in premium community living, M3M Woodshire has been strategically priced in the range of Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore. Located along the national capital boundary, M3M Woodshire perfectly fulfills the requirement of those who aspire to live life away from the crowd yet in the heart of the city.

Woodshire is a product of intelligent and contemporary design – sustainable in architecture as well as smart in looks. The towers are planned in an intelligent cluster that enables the buildings to shade each other. The

avasa, India’s first planned Hill City plans to tap newer markets across India to raise awareness and boost sales.

The promoter company Lavasa Corporation plans to setup ‘Lavasa Experience Zone’ at leading malls in key metros across India to educate home buyers and prospective business partners about the new city being developed near Pune.

The first ‘Lavasa Experience Zone’ is scheduled to come up at the Select City Walk Mall in Saket, New Delhi.

Customers will get the feel of Lavasa beginning Friday, November 30 up to Sunday, December 2, 2012. At the ‘Lavasa Experience Zone’ customers will be able to get a comprehensive overview of Lavasa city. The Master Plan for Lavasa city has been developed by internationally renowned planning and design consultant, HOK, USA. Based on the principles of New Urbanism the Master Plan brings together all the components essential to daily life in a more organized manner thus creating spaces within walking distance from each other. It

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has won accolades from Congress of New Urbanism (USA) – Charter Awards for Best Master Plan; American Society of Landscape Architects – Award of Excellence and American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award. Lavasa when complete will comprise 5 towns - Dasve, Mu-

gaon, hamanohol, Sakhari-Wadavali and CBD (Central Business District).

Commenting on the new marketing initiative, Ms. Anuradha Paraskar, Sr. VP, Marketing & Sales, Lavasa Corporation Limited, said, “With all urban advantages in a natural setting”. <

project framework has been intricately designed so that it generates abundance of open spaces in the form of walkways in which neighbours connect, tree-lined gardens; where the elderly gather to absorb the peace and feel the freshness of the grass under their feet, sports

courts; where people rejuvenate, and play zones for children. On the occasion of launch, Pankaj Bansal, Director, M3M India said, “I am extremely delighted to announce the launch of M3M Woodshire, a classy premium project that will be known for its quality and aesthetics. <

Spanish touch to Maharashtra

SARE Petioles in Gurgaon

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n a unique housing scheme in the city of Gurgaon, SARE Homes is offering an opportunity to own apartment by making 60 per cent of payment on possession in Petioles. The project unveiled the concept of luxury private sky deck in Gurgaon, Sector 92. The possessionlinked concept has been announced by the SARE Homes to facilitate home buyers to own their dream home in a hassle-free manner by making 60% payment on possession, with a commitment of on-time delivery.

Developed on a sprawling 48-acre integrated township, Petioles consists of 4 BHK and 4 BHK + Servant room apartments with the area of each apartment in the range of 2,040 – 2,226 sq. ft. Each floor would have just

egend Siroya Realtors gets Spain to Maharashtra with their luxury township project ‘Marbella’ in the famed holiday destination of Lonavala. Modeled on the lines of Spanish architecture and culture, Marbella is inspired by the town of the same name in southern Spain. Exquisite scenic beauty, beautiful beaches, ancient architecture with the unique combination of advanced technology characterizes this Spanish town.

Marbella is a 38-villa luxury project, conveniently located on the MumbaiPune express highway, at New Tungarli, about 100 meters from the famous Fariyas Resort. One of the prime locales of Lonavala, the area is often termed as the ‘Altamont Road of Lon-

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avala’.

The project promises to deliver amenities and features that are unique and never heard of in a single project. A Roman-style ‘bathhouse’, private surf simulator, amphitheatre, and outdoor cinema have been designed to enable the residents to ex-

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perience pure luxury.Each villa too has been designed with special attention-to-detail, complete with individual swimming pools and deck.

The larger villas have lobby-height of 40 feet; more than double the usual height. <

3 apartments designed with a view to offer maximum privacy. The apartment buyers will enjoy Gurgaon’s first luxury private ‘Sky Deck’ consisting of a viewing deck, yoga and meditation zone, viewing deck, water wall and putting green. Strategically located on the main 60 meter sector road, the project enjoys excellent connectivity via NH-8, Dwarka Expressway and Metro line. “Petioles’ is just 40 minutes

drive from the IGI Airport Commenting on the SARE Homes latest customer initiative, Mr David Walker, Executive Director, SARE Homes said, “It is always our endeavour to come up with unique schemes for our esteemed customers. Paying 60% on possession with the SARE promise of on time delivery is the latest one among them.” <

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desk news Lanco Hills Brings in Mega Mall

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ndia’s largest mixed development project in a single phase The Mega Mall - will be the largest mall in South India once constructed. Planned with in depth research and benchmarked with the best in the world, the Mall will bring a completely new experience for the people of twin cities. Unlike most of the other malls in the country that are skewed towards only one format, the Lanco Hills Mega Mall will be a destination mall which will serve to all demographics and tastes with widest range of options in every sphere like shopping, movies, gaming, entertainment, and dining. The concept of the mall is in line with the promise of Lanco Hills to offer everything under one roof from luxury homes to office spaces to shopping and entertainment zones.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Pochendar Shenigarapu, CEO Lanco Hills said, “The Mega Mall is one of the main highlights of Lanco Hills, a world class project designed with utmost

Somany’s new showroom

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detailing to enhance the experience of Urban Living for the customers. It has always been our endeavor at Lanco Hills to bring fresh and energetic luxury offerings for the people and this Mall which will redefine and revolutionize the luxury retail experience for the people of Hyderabad is the next in line after Domina.”

The 12 screen multiplex will present a Cinema experience like never before

to the people of South India. The multiplex will consist of Gold Class theatres, which will offer a luxurious movie experience and an Imax Auditorium. Major anchors and over 130 stores to begin with and ultimately more than 250 retail brands will launch their flagship stores in the shopping arena. The Mega Mall will also be a culinary paradise with a 25 acre lakeside view. <

omany Ceramics inaugurates its 3rd Somany Exclusive showroom in Delhi, the perfect destination for premier tiles. Somany Ceramics Ltd. is one of the leading players in the Indian ceramic industry inaugurated its third ‘Somany Exclusive Showroom’ at Ceramic India, F-175176, Jagatpuri, Delhi. The showroom was inaugurated by Mr. Tapan Jena, Joint President-Sales & Marketing, Somany Ceramics Ltd. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Tapan Jena, Joint President-Sales & Marketing, Somany Ceramics Ltd. said, “We are very proud to announce the opening of our third Somany Exclusive showroom in Delhi. The capital has been a very strong market for us because of the fast growing real estate & construction sectors”. He further added - “With the industry adapting the latest technology, Somany is committed to provide the best in class products to its cus-

tomers. Our latest offerings in digital and large format tiles have been very well accepted by our patrons and we

will keep offering more such innovative products, going forward. “ <

Godrej Comes with Locks

Legend Siroya’s Worldin

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n a first-of-its kind venture, Legend Siroya bring to Mumbai its premium residency project Worldin, with a swimming pool, bar and barbeque area available in each apartment of the 40-storey project, ranging from 2.5 BHKs to the Grande 8-bedroom duplex Condos.

For those who prefer to live life kingsize, the 4, 6, 8 bhk residences include the additional amenities of a grand double-door entrance, a separate alfresco party area and also a sprawling spare space that can be converted into a private cinema hall, game room, library, art room, gym, studio or just about anything else that can be imagined. Worldin promises a clustered and crowded life of Mumbai as you return to our spacious and

odrej Locking Solutions and Systems (Godrej LOCKSS), the leader and innovator in the locks category has announced the launch of Knock N’ Lock - a unique invisible lock that is designed to provide the highest degree of security available for outdoor and indoor facilities. This revolutionary locking unit is based on patented Knock Code technology that enables a concealed lock with no visible access point, thus preventing break-ins. First of its kind in India, this unconventional product is designed with sophistication, embedded with smart technology, forged for superior security and programmed for greater convenience.

Commenting on the launch of Knock N’ Lock, Mr. Shyam Motwani, Execu-

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tive Vice President and Business Head, Godrej Locks, said, “Knock N’ Lock is an innovative product which by far is the most advanced invention in the history of locking solutions. This unique concept of a virtually invisible lock with sophisticated access control and key management system will provide a complete solution to our customers and meet their safety

FEBRUARY 2013

needs. Knock N’ Lock is the epitome of technology and will set a benchmark in the locks industry.’’ Knock Code Technology is a patented approach to locking that resembles no conventional system in the market. The locks are virtually invisible – they have no keyhole or external interface that can be tampered with. Unlike a conventional key, the KnocKey transmits a sequence of mechanical pulses to open the lock. The user simply holds the KnocKey against the locking unit or an adjacent hard surface and enters the code, which passes straight through to the lock – even through solid metal, wood or glass. The system is extremely secure and robust, because it never uses the same code twice. So it’s impossible to imitate the key — even by recording the code. <

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elaborate apartment each day. The smallest flat in the project will be about 1,700 quare feet, a rare feature in residencies of the city. Along with swimming pools, each apartment will also boast of its own attached terraces, walk-in wardrobes and a service space that can be used as a laundry room or abode for the domestic help, sanitary fittings by UKbased luxury brand Villeroy and Boch among other amenities. According to Mr. Rishabh Siroya, Director, Legend Siroya, “The project is an attempt to provide the customers with a ‘flat that comprises the entire world’. In a metro like Mumbai, spacious houses are a rare luxury. We believe in giving this luxury to our customers. <

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desk news Gulshan Homz’s Social Initiative

Unity Bags Mantralaya order

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ulshan Homz, a major realty player based in Delhi/NCR region, recently organized a painting competition for children and Free Health check up for women at their Project site of Gulshan Vivante in sector-137, Noida. The event was organized on the eve of 26th January, the Indian Republic Day and was aimed at encouraging children towards education and educating women on how to look after their health which due to the lack of money they often neglect.

Gulshan Homz, a major player in the real estate sector with projects like Grand (Indirapuram), Centrum (Indirapuram), Homes 121 (sector-121, Noida), Gulshan Ikebana (sector-143, Noida) and Gulshan Vivante (sector137, Noida) has been making its mark in the realty sector for over a decade now. But this time they chose a different platform. The company in last few years have been associated with two different NGOs working in two sepa-

nity Infraprojects Ltd., one of India’s major civil contracting firms, has secured Mantralaya renovation project order worth Rs.138Cr . The order is for Mantralaya renovation project at South Mumbai by Government of Maharashtra and the said project is to be completed within a period of 8 months under Public Development Plan (PWD), Government of Maharashtra. The project value is Rs. 138 Cr.

rate dimensions. Turning life foundation, one of the NGOs working in tieup with Gulshan Homz, works for Education for underprivileged children which is the key in addition to which the NGO also addresses issues like healthcare, poverty, population

control, unemployment or human rights issues. Gulshan Homz in tie-up with the NGO has also established a small school at Gulshan Vivante (sector-137) for the children of the labour force working at its site. <

Ashiana Unveils its New Logo

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shiana Housing Limited ( Listed BSE NSE) one of the fastest growing real estate developers, unveiled its new brand logo making the most encompassing transformation of its corporate identity in the Company's history. The new logo is designed to reflect Ashiana Housing as an institution built on the strong foundation of honestly and transparency.

The need for a new identity arose as Ashiana reached an inflection point along three axes: it was growing panIndian, it was getting into JVs and it needed to prepare for a real estate market that will be dominated by global names. The new logo was unveiled by Mr. Vishal Gupta, Managing

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With the addition of this project, the order book of the company stands at Rs.4232.17Cr. Commenting on the occasion Mr. Kishor K. Avarsekar, Chairman and Managing Director, Unity Infraprojects Ltd., said “We are extremely grateful for partnering with the Government of Maharashtra for Mantralaya makeover project. Undeniably, this is a great opportunity to exhibit our high-level performance in operations and quality supported with planning and highly skilled

Kishore K Avarsekar Chairman and Managing Director

workforce. We are sure of executing this fast track project in the given

time to bring greater effulgence in the future.” <

Jain Group Forays in South Bengal

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Director along with Mr Ankur Gupta, Joint Managing Director Ashiana Housing Ltd at a press conference held in the city. Commenting on the new face of Ashiana, Vishal Gupta said,

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“We hope our new identity will reinforce our commitment as a safe and transparent real estate company. That is our differentiator, today and tomorrow.” <

ain Group announced their ambitious foray in South Bengal with Dream Eco City, a unique residential project developed with Biophilic Design.

“For Jain Group, real estate is not about building houses, it is about creating value for our customers and upgrading lifestyles of the people who choose to trust us. Dream Eco City is a project that is in perfect harmony with the eco system. We decided to incorporate biophilic design as an integral part of this project. We did extensive research to come up with various design changes, various processes that would make the project more sustainable and less taxing to the eco system. Water, Energy, wastage all would be efficiently man-

aged within this township project”, said Mr Shrayans Jain, Vice Chairman, Jain Group. Situated at a prime location in Muchipara on NH2, next to NSHM Knowledge Campus, Dream Eco City offers easy connectivity to Durgapur Railway Station. Surrounded by scenic natural beauty, it

provides the best of indoor living and the natural world imbued with highest quality standards. Spread over 8 acres and over 1 million sq. ft. of healthy living, Dream Eco City will house 800 families who subscribe to the healthy way of life. <

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