#RealtyNewsRoundup: Travelling In Delhi Metro May Get Costlier, Year After Year

If the recommendations of a Centre-appointed panel are accepted, the Delhi Metro will again increase fares in January, 2019.  The two-phase fare increase that was implemented in May and October this year was recommended by the same panel, headed by M L Mehta.  In its report, the Fourth Fare Fixation Committee (FFC), constituted under the Metro Railway Act, has also recommended an "automatic annual fare revision", under which commuting tariff will go up by up to seven per cent.

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The Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has asked the taxman to go after taxpayers who have filed a revised income tax return (ITR) after demonetization. The CBDT has told the Income-Tax (I-T) Department to slap a "higher tax rate" in case there is any hint of unaccounted money in such cases. The policy-making body of the I-T Department has issued a two-page directive to all regional chiefs of the department on November 24, suggesting ways to assess cases selected for suspicious financial activity after the note ban.

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The Haryana government has appointed the chiefs of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for its Gurgaon and Panchkula Benches.  While K K Khandelwal has been appointed as RERA chairperson for Gurgaon, Rajan Gupta will hold the post in Panchkula. Khandelwal is an additional chief secretary with the government while Gupta is a retired IAS officer.

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Even as foreign investors, primarily from the Asia-Pacific region, are expecting the country's maiden real estate investment trust (REIT) to be launched in the first quarter of 2018, domestic investors are still in a wait-and-watch mode. According to a survey by PwC and Urban Land Institute, the maiden REIT is likely to be listed towards the end of the first quarter of 2018, providing a long-awaited exit route for investment funds now active in the market or a strategy for those planning to enter the domestic market.

Source: Media reports