Realty News Roundup: From Opposition to Land Bill to Selling of Air India Properties

With the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill, dealings in real estate in India would be more transparent. But today, the opposition to it has become more intense with Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi deciding to protest against the Real Estate Bill, along with home buyers at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. Here are the other important real estate news stories on Monday, May 4, 2015: To trim down its debt, Air India has decided to sell its real estate assets worth Rs. 1,200 crore in the next two years. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has ordered the bondholders of Sahara India Real Estate Corp (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) to claim refunds with the proof of investment. Let us now go into these stories in detail.

To cut debt, Air India intends to sell its real estate assets. In the next two years, the debt-ridden Air India expects to raise Rs. 1,200 crore through selling its real estate assets. Though Air India had planned to sell its real estate assets worth Rs. 5,000 crore by March 2014, it could not get the approval from the government. In the Fiscal Year 2013-14, Air India is expected to declare a loss of Rs. 3,900 crore. As of March 31, 2015, Air India, India's third-largest airline, has a debt of around Rs. 40,000 crore. Air India expects to recover from debt by 2018-19.

The opposition parties plan to take on the government over the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill. The government had deferred the Bill on April 30, 2015, because the opposition parties insisted that Bill should be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad had met leaders of other opposition parties to decide on a strategy to take on the government. The Bill expected to transform real estate in India was passed by the Union Cabinet in April 2015.

Responding to the Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who has termed the Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill as pro-builder and anti-buyer, the Union Law & Justice Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said it is not fair to oppose the Bill in its initial stage. The minister said the provisions in the amended Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill favor ordinary home buyers in India. Gowda urged Rahul Gandhi to study the Bill in detail.

To find out the Sahara investors who are eligible for refunds, the capital markets regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has ordered that bondholders of two Sahara firms should claim refunds along with the proof that they have invested in bonds of Sahara. It is the bondholders of Sahara India Real Estate Corp (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) that are expected to claim refunds with proof. Sahara claims to have refunded 95% of the investors. SEBI had received 4,900 refund claims in the previous year.