Raheja Developers: December 2013

Sunday 29 December 2013

Gurgaon most prosperous city in India, Chennai second: Report

GURGAON: Credit rating agency Crisil has confirmed what many had suspected for long: that newbie Gurgaon has emerged as the most prosperous city in the country, leaving the country's financial capital Mumbai way behind. Using ownership of consumer durables as a measure of prosperity, Crisil found Gurgaon has the largest proportion of households with all basic gadgets, including a computer or a laptop. The study covered the top cities in 16 states. Gurgaon, with 27% of its households owning all gadgets, is sharply ahead of Chennai, which is second at 24%. Bangalore comes in a close third at 23.6%. Mumbai, however, trails way behind at 15.7%. Delhi, a city state, and union territories were not included in the study. TV is the most popular consumer durable in Gurgaon — over 77% households have one. Almost a third of Gurgaon's households own a computer or a laptop, and over 41% have a two-wheeler and nearly 30% a four-wheeler. Mobile penetration is also very high in the city with over 60% owning a mobile phone.

Vidya Mahambare, principal economist at Crisil, said the exponential growth of Gurgaon's wealth could be attributed to the "high growth of financial, ITES and IT services in the city and a surge in its real estate prices". Despite having the richest concentration of households, Gurgaon has a significant number of poor households with almost 7% families in the city without any consumer durable at all. However, this is only 2.2% in the case of Mumbai. The study also highlights that the high incomes in Gurgaon have selectively benefited only the skilled and educated workforce and those who own property. Chhattisgarh capital Raipur has emerged as the poorest Indian city with only 4.6% of its households possessing all consumer goods against 21% with none at all.

Source: The Times Of India

Sunday 22 December 2013

SBI, HDFC cut home loan rates

State Bank of India (SBI) and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), on Thursday, reduced the home loan rates with effect from December 20.

“The interest rate on home loans has been reduced significantly, and a separate interest rate structure has been rolled-out for our woman home loan borrowers,” SBI said in a statement.The slab for the lower interest has also been raised from Rs.30 lakh to Rs.75 lakh and now a uniform interest rate on home loans up to Rs.75 lakh is being offered to SBI’s customers. “The revised interest rates on our home loans will be with effect from December 20,” the statement adds. The revised loan structure of SBI would be: up to Rs.75 lakh, the interest rate will be 10.10 per cent annually for women customers and 10.15 per cent annually for others. For loans above Rs.75 lakh, the interest rate will be 10.25 per cent annually for women customers and 10.30 per cent annually for others.

Concession for women. Loan rates for women applicants will be available “where the woman is the sole applicant or first co-applicant and also the sole or first co-owner of the property,” the statement adds. According to SBI statement, the revised EMI per lakh for a loan tenure of 30 years will be Rs.885 for women and Rs.889 for others against the prevailing EMI of Rs.900.

Meanwhile, HDFC has announced a special ‘winter bonanza’ for its home loan customers effective Friday. “This is a limited period offer, and is valid for all new applications submitted before January 31, 2014, and first disbursement taken by February 28, 2014,” HDFC release says. “The new rates for home loans up to Rs.75 lakh will be 10.25 per cent per annum,” HDFC statement adds.

The markets were expecting a hike in indicative policy rates when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reviewed its monetary policy on Wednesday, in the light of high inflation rates. However, the central bank preferred not to hike the rates and it kept the repo rate and Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged at the current levels.

Source: The Hindu