Smriti looks to extending lead in fifth leg of Hero-WGAI Women’s golf
Smriti looks to extending
lead in fifth leg of Hero-WGAI Women’s golf
Gurgaon, September 17: Smriti Mehra will look to extending her
lead on top of the Hero-WGAI Order of Merit, as she gets ready for the fifth
leg of the Hero-WGAI Women’s Pro Tour at the DLF Golf and Country Club.
The
fifth leg gets underway on Wednesday, though the golfers went through their
practise round on Monday. The club is closed on Tuesday and the first round
gets underway on Wednesday.
On
Monday it rained a bit in the morning but the course conditions at DLF Golf and
Country club were near perfect as the golfers are eager to tee off.
Smriti
Mehra has won two of the four legs held so far, while Vani Kapoor and Sharmila
Nicollet have won one each. Sharmila, however, has not played since the second
leg.
Last
week at Srinagar, Smriti was in excellent form and it will be hard for others
to catch up is she continues in the same vein. Smriti has won twice, finished third
once and fourth once.
The
one to catch the eye has been Rookie Vani Kapoor. The 18-year-old has won once,
the third leg, and was also runner-up, losing in play-off to Sharmila Nicollet
in the Opening leg. Vani was fifth in the other legs, the second and fourth and
is now second on the Money List, behind Smriti.
Nalini
Singh Siwach has been consistent without winning. She has been second once,
third twice and fourth once. But she will be looking for is her first win of
the year at DLF Golf and Country Club this week.
Tee times: First round on
Wednesday:
8:30
AM: Nalini Singh Siwach / Preetinder Kaur
8:40
AM Vani Kapoor / Ankita Tiwana / Priya
Puri
8:50
AM Neha Tripathi / Saaniya Sharma / Smriti
Mehra
9:00
AM Rani Sonti / Meghna Bal / Nikki
Ponappa
9:10
AM Pallavi Jain / Shraddhanjali Singh / Vandana
Agarwal
Realty
cash crunch may end soon
Govt
sends positive signs
·
Banking Secy discusses
housing industry issues with IBA, CREDAI
·
Developers call for
easing funding norms
·
Bankers agree to address
the issue
·
Focus on speeding up
approvals across the country
MUMBAI,
September 17, 2012:
Sending positive signs from easing the cash crunch for the realty sector, Secretary for Financial Services Mr D K
Mittal today asked the commercial banks to focus on funding partially
completed projects on a priority basis and development of projects in small
towns.
Presiding over a joint meeting of
Indian Bankers Association (IBA) and developers apex body CREDAI at SBI in
Mumbai, Mr Mittal asked the realty industry to conduct a survey of unsold
housing stock in cities in batches so that a decision would be taken on
unlocking their value.
He also asked CREDAI to come with
norms for development in consultation with the NHB and standards for funding
the projects.
He told CREDAI to work on rating the
real estate projects for the benefit of bankers as well as buyers.
The meeting was called to understand
the issues of housing sector and the problems being faced by developers in
terms of funding the projects. Apart from SBI, many leading bankers like HDFC,
NHB, Bank of Baroda attended the meeting.
Describing the outcome of the
meeting as “positive”, CREDAI Chairman
Mr Pradeep Jain said: “We are happy that a good beginning has been made and
we hope this will send positive signals to the real estate market as such. As
we move on, we hope to solve the various issues one after the other.”
Briefing media on the meeting, CREDAI National President Mr Lalit Kumar
Jain said “we highlighted the problems related to supply aide as well as
demand side. All bankers more or less agreed that besides banking, the other
factors like project approval delays, limitation on land availability for real
estate and even the FSI restrictions should be addressed for the development
housing sector.”
Bankers also felt that the knotty
issue of speeding up the approval process should be addressed across the
country by sensitizing all the States since real estate is typically a local
issue and the rules differ from state to state and even city to city, Mr Jain
said. This will help create adequate housing stock in the country.
On the issue of restructuring the
realty debt, it was felt that it has to be addressed by the regulator RBI.
Bankers on their part also insisted
on the one-project one-bank norm and opening escrow accounts. In metro cities,
the developers should have one lead banker for funding. They also suggested
incentivising the rated projects through lower rate of interest.
Mr Lalit Kumar Jain said at the meeting that credit limit
for realty projects should be raised to 25% of the total credit from the current
2.8%. In other countries, the norm is as high as 30%.
Referring
to the reduction of CRR by the RBI today, Mr .Jain said “This is not enough.”He
said there could two options to contain inflation: Either to cut monetary
supply or increase the supply of products.”The second option is the right one
since it will generate employment and contribute to growth of GDP,” he said.
He said the rollover facility for
commercial real estate (CRE) should be on par with the industry since it is the
safest sector to lend.
He reiterated CREDAI suggestion to
reduce the rate of interest on housing loans to 7% to strengthen demand. All
other expenses like stamp duty and the various taxes should be added to the
overall cost of project and should be funded up to 90% of the total cost.
The real estate project funding
should be at 10% instead of the prevailing 15.5% and even the costly funding by
NBFC sector should be brought down, CREDAI said. CREDAI called for easing the
RBI risk weightage of 1.25 given to real estate sector.
CREDAI expressed its happiness that
the positive vibes generated by the meeting would help the home buyer as well
as the developer as the revival of real estate industry would help rejuvenate
hundreds of other industries, generate massive employment and contribute to the
nation’s growth.
About CREDAI:
The
Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) is the
apex body for private real estate developers in India. CREDAI represents over
8,800 developers through 20 states and 114 city chapters across the country.
Its numerous initiatives and activities help developers come together and work
towards better practices, improved customer service and a stronger realty
industry.
Acting as
the voice of India’s Real Estate industry, CREDAI has been the guiding force
for the growing Real Estate sector in India bringing more transparency to rid
the sector of its most potent virus, Corruption and Red-Tapism.
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