Realty News Roundup: Thane To Raise FSI; Sweden Interested In Building Smart Cities In India

The Thane Municipal Corporation will on May 20, 2015 consider a proposal to raise the FSI for buildings which are more than 30 years old by 15%. This will allow redevelopment of old buildings in Thane, thus paving the way for high rises to come up in the city. If the proposal is approved, the FSI will go up from the existing level of 1.33 to 1.55. Low FSI level has been preventing redevelopment of property in Thane. There are around 1,061 buildings in Thane that stand to benefit if FSI is raised.

Here are the other real estate stories of the day:

Maharashtra development authority to raise Rs. 1,000 crore: The MHADA plans to raise Rs. 1,000 crore for a development fund to support projects for affordable flats in Mumbai. The development fund will be managed by a financial institution with expertise in home development financing. The fund will lend to developers of low-cost and affordable homes. MHADA will choose the fund managers by inviting tenders.

Modi govt might reconsider UPA clause: Union Rural Development Minister Choudhary Birender Singh said the Narendra Modi government at the Center might consider bringing back the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-inspired consent clause in the land acquisition Bill. The opposition parties have opposed the amendments the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government introduced in the Bill. The NDA government promulgated the ordinance on the Bill twice, and in agreement with the opposition parties, have referred the Bill to a joint select committee to be headed by former Union Minister SS Ahluwalia.

Sweden interested in building smart cities in India: Sweden plans to build smart cities in India through public-private partnership (PPP). According to a senior Swedish official, Karnataka, Telangana and Maharashtra are the states in which Sweden intends to build smart cities. The Swedish government plans to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on urban development framework to facilitate the collaboration.

PropTiger.com to hire 1,000 employees in FY16: Real estate portal PropTiger.com plans to hire 1,000 employees, and expand its operations to 25 cities in the financial year 2015-16. Funded partly by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, PropTiger.com has eight offices in India, with nearly 550 employees. Since 2011, users have purchased around 12,000 homes worth $1.2 billion through PropTiger's platform. Recently, PropTiger.com joined hands with the property listing website, Makaan.com.