No environment clearance needed for construction on 20,000-50,000 sq metre area: Environment Ministry’s notification

 11 October 2021

The centre’s draft environment impact assessment (EIA) notification lays down rules and process for granting permissions for proposed developments and industrial projects.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released the new draft Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2020, on March 23, 2020. This draft EIA notification replaced the earlier EIA notification 2006. The draft was released at a time when the country was going for a nationwide lockdown following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new iteration of the environmental law outlines the procedure and requirements for infrastructural and industrial projects related to prior environmental clearance (EC). The draft was initially made available for public comments for two months and later extended up to August 11, 2020.

In 2019, the centre, in its modified notification on the environment impact assessment (EIA), had said that construction in areas between 20,000 and 50,000 sq metres would not require environment clearance from the government anymore. The notification, issued by the Ministry of Environment, stated that it had decided to ‘re-engineer’ the EIA rules, based on amendments and the experience over the years in its implementation. “As the principal notification has undergone substantial changes over the years, the ministry has decided to re-engineer the entire notification, in line with the amendments issued and circulars issued from time to time and experience gained over the years in implementation of the EIA notification,” it said.

Under the new notification, the process of clearances granted for sand mining and construction activities was eased out, a decision that did not go down well with environmental activists, who claimed that the EIA notification compromised on public hearings. The draft allows district-level authorities, headed by the district magistrate, to seek exemption from public hearing, while granting green clearance for sand mining in areas up to five hectares of land.

Lawyer and environmentalist Vikrant Tongad said that through the notification, the government was trying to give benefit to builders and mining companies, which in turn, was weakening the EIA. “Under the modified EIA, building and construction in areas between 20,000 sq metres and 50,000 sq metres do not require environmental clearance, which has been taking place all this while. In the sand mining sector, no public hearing will now take place for mining in an area of 0-5 hectares. It is a wrong move and public hearing must take place,” Tongad said. He said, the government was ‘trying to give benefit to builders, mining companies and industries, by weakening the EIA notification of 2006, which would increase pollution and corruption in India’.

EIA is a process of evaluating the likely environmental impact of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.

Sharing his view, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) deputy director general Chandra Bhushan, said this draft has weakened the existing EIA. “My first impression is that this draft, if it is converted into the final law, will weaken the environment assessment. EIA needs substantial strengthening. Public participation part has been weakened,” he said.

Bhushan said that the entire process has become meaningless and will not help in bringing down corruption. “This notification does not set up right institution for compliance of the conditions under which clearance is given. The entire process becomes meaningless. Corruption remains a major issue. The draft is a status quo draft,” he said. The activists were also of the view that this new notification would violate court and National Green Tribunal orders, by which several amendments included in the EIA draft have been quashed already. “The kind of changes which are being brought in, is a violation of court/NGT orders,” Tongad said. No comment was available from the Environment Ministry.

(With inputs from PTI)

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT NOTIFICATION?

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) notification is issued under Section 3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. It aims to impose restrictions on the development of new projects or activities or the expansion or modernisation of existing projects. The section specifies that such measures should benefit the environment.

WHAT IS EIA DRAFT NOTIFICATION 2020?

Some of the key proposals in the EIA draft notification 2020:

* Reduced time for public consultation and hearings: The draft proposes to reduce the notice period for public hearings from 30 days to 20 days and the completion of public hearings from 45 days to 40 days.

* Exemption of projects: By classifying projects into A, B1 and B2 categories, several projects have been exempted from scrutiny.

* Post-clearance compliance: After a project gets approval from the authority concerned, the proponent projects are required to adhere to certain rules laid down in the EIA report.

* Post-facto clearance: The draft allows a project that has been operating without environmental clearance, to be regularised or apply for post-facto clearance.

* No public reporting for non-compliance: The EIA notification 2020 excludes reporting of violations and non-compliance by the public.

* Rules on project modernisation or expansion: Building construction projects of built-up area up to 1,50,000 sq metres have been exempted. Environment clearance may be granted for the projects after scrutiny by a state-level expert appraisal committee. Earlier, construction projects up to 20,000 sq metres were exempted.

EIA NOTIFICATION 2020 LATEST NEWS

EIA notification to be in regional languages: Centre to Madras HC

The central government has informed the Madras High Court that it has decided to release the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 2020 in regional languages, including Tamil. It will publish the draft EIA 2020 in all the 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Mumbai: Realty sector bestows festive 'Dusshera' offers to homebuyers

 12 October 2021

The realty sector is hoping that Dussehra 2021 is propitious for them.

Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, national vice chairman of Naredco & MD, Hiranandani Group, said, “The festive fall season will see flash of arrays of new launches by the branded organised developers who have manged to refinance their debts and survived in for business continuity. Indian homebuyers are sentiment driven, and taste of auspiciousness is a win-win situation for both – homebuyers and consumers.”

Considering the rise in housing sales, several renowned developers are offering festival bonanzas to their customers. Nahar Group is offering homebuyers investing in its Chandivli project zero stamp duty and registration. The cost of a one-bedroom kitchen flat is Rs 99.99 lakh.

The Wadhwa Group too has Navratri specials underway, for its projects at Matunga, Kandivli and Chembur. The group is offering zero stamp duty along with a 25:75 Payment Plan.

Bhasker Jain, head, sales, marketing & CRM, said, “The real estate sector generally sees an uptick during the festive period starting from Navratri. The buyer gets a diverse choice of offers, schemes, prices to make their homebuying decision convenient. All nine days of Navratri are auspicious, have sacred importance and are perfect to take the plunge when it comes to home-buying decisions.”

Sumit Woods Limited, a prominent realty player in Mumbai, has a ‘Teen ka Tadka Offer’ for its project Arcenciel at Mulund. It is offering a 12-month EMI holiday in additional Rs 3 lakh discount and a ‘wheel of fortune’ for lucky winners to get an extra discount of up to Rs 2.5 lacs. Bhushan Nemlekar, director, said, “Buying a home at auspicious times and festivals is believed to bring prosperity and opulence in life. Therefore, homebuyers planning to invest, wait for this time of the year. Considering this festive mood, we are providing attractive offers for the homebuyers, that becomes an attractive value proposition, amidst the economic slowdown.”

Cherag Ramakrishnan, managing director, CR Realty, stated that people are keen to explore new investment opportunities and developers too offering lucrative schemes. An upward movement is anticipated during the festivities, a development that has given builders a reason to believe that the sector may bounce back to business-as-usual by the end of 2021.

Raymond Realty Forays Into Commercial Development

 06 October 2021

Raymond Realty said that it is evaluating several options through joint development agreement without land acquisition in the Mumbai Metropolitan region.

NEW DELHI: Raymond Realty plans to develop 'Grade A' commercial and high street retail space at Thane land spread across 9.5 acres, the company said in a media release.

The company also plans to build residential units comprising of 3 & 4 BHK configurations spread across 1 million sq. ft.

Raymond Realty said that it is evaluating several options through joint development agreement without land acquisition in the Mumbai Metropolitan region.

"The current project has given us enough confidence now to expand our horizons beyond Thane and our venture into real estate is not limited to land monetization only. We are exploring various options of joint development without land acquisition outside Thane," said Gautam Hari Singhania, chairman and managing director of the company.

With over 100 acres land parcel in Thane, Raymond forayed into the real estate space in 2019 with its project '10X', which is spread over 14 acres.

"Structurally, the first three towers of our maiden project are complete and we are committed to deliver the first unit 24 months ahead of the declared RERA deadline," said Singhania.

Brick by brick, Indian real estate market is climbing out of the Covid hole

 05 October 2021

The Indian real estate market is showing signs of steady recovery with both residential and commercial property segments recording robust performance in the July-September quarter.

Real estate activity gained momentum during the quarter as the country began to cautiously return to normal economic tempo supported by aggressive vaccination drives.

Record-low home loan interest rates and sops offered by realty developers helped top Indian property markets move upward after a lull in the April-June quarter marked by the pandemic's resurgence and restrictions imposed by various state governments.

Top seven Indian property markets recorded over 124% on-year jump in housing sales at 32,358 apartments, data from JLL India showed, while the Knight Frank data recorded 92% rise in housing sales across 8 cities at over 64,010 units.

"The market seems to have factored in the very low likelihood of a complete lockdown as was seen last year due to the ample availability of the Covid vaccine. Comparatively lower residential prices, attractive interest rates and higher household savings rate over the past year should support housing demand going forward. With the upcoming festive season, the market is gearing up for new project launches and consumers are likely to reciprocate," said Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India.

The growing need for home ownership and stable employment scenarios led by sectors like information technology and healthcare drove housing demand during the quarter.

“Developers have already started launching optimal sized apartments to capture changing consumer preference across most of the cities. The Indian residential sector is expected to witness sustained growth in the coming quarters. Renewed buyer confidence has been instrumental in the recovery of the housing market in Q3 2021, which recorded good volume of sales and launches compared to the same period last year and almost inching towards the pre-covid era,” said Siva Krishnan, head - residential, India, JLL.

Mumbai has consistently been the largest contributor to sales over the past five quarters. In the September quarter, Mumbai and Delhi each accounted for one-fifth of total sales followed by Pune and Bengaluru. Recovery is well underway as sales surpassed pre-covid levels.

India’s office transactions also recorded a strong quarterly growth at 12.5 million sq ft, up 168% on-year despite a more severe second wave of covid infections and the looming threat of a third wave, showed the Knight Frank data.

According to analysts, the total office transactions of the eight India markets during the quarter have improved and reached 83% of the 2019 quarterly average level.

Among the larger markets, Chennai, Bengaluru, and National Capital Region (NCR) recorded the highest recovery in the September quarter with transactions reaching the level of 123%, 112% and 93% respectively of the quarterly average of the year 2019.

The Information Technology sector was the largest consumer of space during the quarter and took up 34% of the space transacted. The heightened transaction activity from this sector is an encouraging driver for office demand as it is the most prolific occupier category in the office market. Occupiers also took up nearly 23,500 co-working seats across the eight markets during the quarter, the highest this year.

New completions of office projects also picked up significantly with 11.9 million sq ft delivered during the quarter, a 67% on-year growth. Bengaluru, Pune and Hyderabad accounted for 73% of the new completions with Bengaluru witnessing the most space delivered at 4 million sq ft.

The fourth quarter of 2021 is expected to see heightened traction as seen in 2020, if infection levels continue tto remain low and vaccination targets are achieved.

In terms of pricing and rentals, the market is heading towards stability in both residential and commercial segments.

In the office market, NCR was the only market that experienced rental growth during the quarter. However, that was also restricted to 1%. Landlords’ strategy of offering relaxed lease terms is reflected in the fall in rentals on a year-on-year basis across most markets. However, the fall in rentals has reduced in the last few months.

In the residential segment, to push sales, developers had earlier pursued an aggressive pricing strategy over the year with spot discounts, finance deals,stamp duty waivers and other freebies to entice buyers. This has been observed to have reduced in the September quarter as the price decline in most markets has been arrested. Residential markets such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have seen prices increase marginally during the quarter.

Housing sales up 92% in July-Sep across eight top cities: Report

 05 October 2021

"The total residential sales of the top eight markets under review during Q3 2021, reached 104 per cent of 2019 quarterly average," the consultant said, adding that sales have breached pre-COVID levels.

NEW DELHI: Housing demand has breached pre-COVID levels with 92 per cent year-on-year growth in sales during July-September period units across eight major cities, mainly on the back of stable prices, very low mortgage rates, property consultant Knight Frank India said on Monday. Releasing its India Real Estate Update for Q3 (July-September quarter) of the 2021 calendar year, the consultant reported that housing sales increased to 64,010 units from 33,404 units in the same period last year. In the previous April-June quarter, 27,453 residential units were sold.

"The total residential sales of the top eight markets under review during Q3 2021, reached 104 per cent of 2019 quarterly average," the consultant said, adding that sales have breached pre-COVID levels.

Addressing a video conference, Knight Frank India Chairman and Managing Director Shishir Baijal attributed "stable housing prices, historically low-interest rates on home loans and changing attitude of customers towards homeownership" for the sharp recovery in housing sales.

Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist, and National Director- Research, Knight Frank India said, "Stamp duty cuts were a significant intervention applied by several state governments to spark a sharp recovery in sales volumes. These measures have convinced the fence-sitters to make the home buying decision."

With the upcoming festive season, Baijal said the market is gearing up for new project launches and consumers are likely to reciprocate.

"While financial stress remains a significant factor for developers across markets, homebuyers' preference for grade A developers and their access to cheaper credit has positioned them well in this recovering market," he added.

Baijal said the market seems to have factored in the very low likelihood of a complete lockdown as was seen last year due to the ample availability of the COVID vaccine.

According to the latest data for Q3, 2021, housing sales in Mumbai more than doubled to 15,942 units during the July-September period from 7,635 units in the same quarter last year.

The delhi-NCR market witnessed 48 per cent growth in sales to 9,101 units from 6,147 units.

Housing sales in Bengaluru jumped over two-fold to 11,337 units from 4912 units, while demand in Pune grew by 94 per cent to 9,565 units from 4,918 units.

Chennai saw a 17 per cent rise in sales to 3,610 units from 3,085 units.

The sales of residential properties in Hyderabad were up more than three times to 5,987 units from 1,609 units, while Kolkata saw a 75 per cent increase in demand to 6,861 units from 3,921 units.

Housing sales in Ahmedabad went up by 37 per cent to 1,607 units in July-September 2021 from 1,176 units in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Knight Frank India, in its report, also mentioned that the share of sales in the ticket size Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore grew to 35 per cent in Q3, 2021 compared to 32 per cent a year ago. This can be attributed to the homebuyers' need to upgrade to larger living spaces with better amenities.

The share of home sales in the under Rs 50 lakh ticket size category dropped to 43 per cent in Q3 2021 from 45 per cent a year ago, as the income disruptions caused by the pandemic were more keenly felt by the lower-income demographic, it added.

Weighted average prices across markets remained stable in Q3 2021 and did not decline compared to the preceding quarter. The Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata markets saw prices increase marginally on a Year-on-Year basis during the quarter.

JLL Residential Market Update: Sales up by 47% YoY during January to September 2021

 04 October 2021

Most new launches in larger markets of Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi NCR were in affordable and mid segment

Lower COVID-19 cases and cautious unlocking of the economy due to the ongoing vaccinations has paved the way for higher residential sales in India in Q3FY21.

Residential sales increased 47 percent in seven top cities during January-September 2021 as compared to the same period last year, according to JLL's Residential Market Update – Q3 2021, released on October 4.

In numbers, 77,576 units were sold in Q3FY21 compared to 52,619 units in the year-ago period. "This implies that the second wave had limited impact on sales in the first three quarters of 2021," JLL said.

The report added that sales were also boosted due to many factors such as "lower COVID-19 cases in Q3 backed by robust vaccination drive which led to cautious unlocking of the economy in various states."

Among cities, Mumbai has consistently been the largest contributor to sales over the past five quarters. In Q3FY21, Mumbai and Delhi each accounted for 21 percent of the total sales, followed Pune and Bengaluru. Recovery is well underway as sales surpassed pre-COVID levels, the report added.

It further said that the top seven cities under consideration witnesses new launches of 32,863 units in Q3FY21, an increase of 21 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). As the economy began to improve and with the festive season around the corner, developers continued to launch residential projects across the country.

The sveen cities under consideration were Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Mumbai here included Mumbai city, Mumbai suburbs, Thane city and Navi Mumbai.

Most of the new launches in the Bengaluru, Mumbai and Pune markets were in affordable and mid segments. Hyderabad continued to dominate new launches and accounted for 29 percent during Q3FY21, followed by Pune and Mumbai, which contributed 23 percent and 19 percent, respectively, to the overall new launches.

The markets of Kolkata, Delhi-NCR and Pune witnessed a substantial increase in launch activities during Q3FY21, when compared to the same period last year as well as from the previous quarter, the report said.

Development focus on mid and affordable segments continued in Q3FY21 with 77 percent of the new launches in the sub-Rs 10 million category.

Developers continue to be cautious towards launches

Although Q3 2021 witnessed healthy launches, new launches continued to remain below par when compared to pre-COVID Q1FY20 around 40,500 units) and the average quarterly launches witnessed in 2019 (around 34,000 units).

Developers remain cautious in launching new projects as they are focused on off-loading their unsold inventory and recovering sales volume of the past few quarters, the report said.

Developers are largely aligning their launch strategies in sync with actual market demand, thereby keeping the market fundamentals robust.

The first three quarters of 2021 witnessed launch of 93,873 units registering a significant increase of 38 percent compared to the same period last year. Improving markets sentiments on the back of improved economic activities and the upcoming festive seasons have instilled confidence amongst developers as they strategically launch projects across cities to tap the growing demand.

Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR and Pune witnessed maximum growth in launches during the nine-month period ended September when compared to other cities, it said.

Unsold inventory in Q3FY21 remained almost stable when compared to Q2FY21 as demand and supply dynamics remained steady. An assessment of years to sell (YTS) reveals that the expected time to liquidate this stock has increased marginally from 5.2 years in Q2FY21 to 5.3 years in Q3FY21.

Prices are expected to remain range-bound. Residential prices in a majority of India’s residential markets have remained stagnant in the past few years. In Q3 2021, prices remained largely stagnant when compared to the previous quarter, across all the seven markets under review.

With the festive seasons around the corner, developers are now offering various discounts such as straight-up price discounts, deferred payment plans and other incentives like no pre-EMIs for under-construction properties, waiver of floor rise and car parking charges, free home furnishings, attractive gifts and so on to attract fence sitters and prospective home buyers.

With the residential prices holding steady along with various incentives offered by developers, the residential market is likely to witness an upward trajectory.

Maharashtra collects Rs 7,507 crore in revenue from property registrations in Q2 FY22

The registration of properties across Maharashtra in the second quarter of the ongoing financial year has outpaced the number of registrations in the corresponding quarter in the pre-pandemic 2019-20 fiscal.

PUNE: The registration of properties across Maharashtra in the second quarter of the ongoing financial year has outpaced the number of registrations in the corresponding quarter in the pre-pandemic 2019-20 fiscal.

As per data available with the state registration department, Rs7,507 crore was collected in revenue during the July-September quarter, slightly higher than the Rs7,112 crore earned during the same period in 2019.

Registrations are the largest source of revenue for the state exchequer.

The state’s inspector-general of registration and stamps, Shravan Hardikar, told TOI that high-value registrations during the second quarter primarily helped boost revenue. “We registered many government projects, mortgages and even land transactions of a higher value,” Hardikar said, adding, “Smaller transactions such as gift deeds and leave and license agreements have seen a decrease.”

Officials said they were expecting increased registrations and revenue this month too, with the impending rollout of the e-registration facility — software that would allow developers register properties right from their offices.

Senior government officials, however, pointed out that there were no sops this year, such as reduction in stamp duty that was announced last year, to boost revenue and registrations. Despite this, with the festive season around the corner, developers said they were expecting an increase in registrations.

State Credai president Sunil Furde said there was a positive sentiment among developers and buyers, which has buoyed the market. “Aided by lessons from last year, realtors are managing to cope better in the aftermath of the second wave, with relatively less stringent restrictions. The aggressive vaccination strategy in the state too has helped,” Furde said.

He said they had sought sops — on the lines of the stamp duty reduction this year too and were awaiting a positive response from the government.

A recent survey by real estate consultant Anarock stated that, catalysed by the second wave, home buyers were increasingly looking to purchase properties in the range of Rs 90 lakh to Rs 2.5 crore, rather than in the affordable segment. While 35% favoured properties priced between Rs45 lakh and Rs90 lakh, 27% preferred affordable housing. In the previous quarter, nearly 36% had been in favour of budget homes, the report stated.

Rollout of software for e-registration next week

The state registration department will roll out software next week that would allow developers to register properties right from their offices. The software is being tested right now with the help of 350 developers, most of them from Pune and Mumbai. Hardikar on Saturday said operators and developers will be trained in using the software, which is aimed at streamlining the entire process.

“From the coming week, the process can commence. This will enable more developers to come forward and also reduce footfalls at the registration offices,” Hardikar further added.

Pune Credai president Anil Pharande said the software will ease the entire process of registration.