NHB LAUNCHES HOUSING PRICE INDEX IN 5 INDIAN CITIES

In a move that is expected to bring transparency to the real estate market, finance minister P Chidambaram launched the official Housing Price Index, developed by India's home loans regulator, the National Housing Bank. Named as NHB Residex, the index has been introduced as a pilot for five cities-Bangalore, Bhopal, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. The index covers different localities in each of the five cities for five years: 2001-2005. The index will track the movements of residential property prices and can be used to estimate the house wealth, considered an important component of personal wealth. Banks and housing finance companies can also use it in portfolio evaluation and collateral security for their housing loans.

DLF TO INVEST RS.1000 CRORES IN MULTIPLEX BUSINESS

Real estate giant DLF is likely to invest about Rs 1,250 crore on expanding its multiplex business, DT Cinema, by adding about 500 screens in the next four to five years. Currently, DLF is at a pre-operative stage with about seven screens. In another four to five years time, the target is to have 500 screens across India. By September this year, two DT Cinema complexes in Delhi and one in Chandigarh would be operational and 35 screens are expected to be functional in the next seven months. Once these initial projects start, the mid-term aim is to have about 150 screens operational within two years. Apart from north Indian cities, DT Cinema plans to set up multiplexes in Hyderabad , Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa andKolkata. The size of each multiplex could be between 35,000 sq ft to 90,000 sq ft. DLF believes that the multiplex business offered a big opportunity as there is a shortage of nearly 40,000 screens in India.