A major investment platform focused on housing is making a significant push into the affordable and mid-income housing segment, with plans to invest more than $2 billion across India’s top property markets by the end of 2025 to help address supply-side constraints, according to a senior executive.

The platform — considered one of the world’s largest in the affordable housing space — is progressing toward its medium-term target of financing 1 million affordable homes in India through existing arrangements with leading developers.

The government recently announced support for 3 crore affordable houses, including 1 crore homes in urban areas. This represents a $500 billion business opportunity, requiring investments of at least $100 billion.

The housing fund aims to deploy at least $1 billion annually over the next two years in affordable and mid-income housing across the top 15 Indian cities, including major markets such as the Mumbai region, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad.

India is now entering a long period of demographic advantage expected to last around 30 years. Rising purchasing power is projected to trigger a consumption boom, with more than 200 million households expected to move into the upper middle-class and above income groups by 2030.

In the fund’s existing portfolio, unit prices start at ?12.5 lakh, and around 40% of the portfolio consists of homes priced below ?42 lakh. Investments have been made across over 175 projects, contributing to the development of more than 250,000 homes.

The long-term goal is to support the creation of one million affordable homes in India through a mix of innovative financing, partnerships, technology, and a strong emphasis on sustainability.

Total office leasing by Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in the first half of 2024 accounted for around 37% of overall office leasing in India, according to a recent report.
GCCs leased 11.9 million sq ft of office space during the January–June 2024 period.

Financial services and technology-related firms contributed about 45% of total GCC leasing during this period.

Bengaluru recorded the highest share of GCC leasing at 39%, followed by Pune at 20%, while Hyderabad and Chennai accounted for 17% and 11%, respectively, during January–June 2024.

At the national level, overall office leasing remained strong, with gross office leasing reaching 32.8 million sq ft in January–June 2024 — a 14% year-on-year increase across nine major cities. This marked the second-highest first-half leasing ever recorded.
The nine cities included Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kochi, Kolkata, and Ahmedabad.

Total new supply during January–June 2024 stood at 22.1 million sq ft.

Bengaluru led office space absorption, accounting for one-fourth of all leasing during January–June 2024, followed by Delhi-NCR at 16%, Chennai at 14%, and Pune and Hyderabad at 13% each.
Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai led new supply additions, contributing 69% of the total.

Technology companies accounted for 28% of overall leasing, followed by flexible workspace operators at 16%, financial services firms at 15%, engineering and manufacturing at 9%, and research/consulting/analytics at 8% during January–June 2024.

On a quarterly basis, office leasing during April–June 2024 stood at 18 million sq ft, a 27% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Bengaluru, Pune, and Chennai together accounted for about 57% of leasing activity during this quarter.

Development completions reached 13.2 million sq ft in April–June 2024, representing a 49% quarter-on-quarter increase and 11% year-on-year growth.

Technology companies held a 29% share in leasing during April–June 2024, up from 26% in January–March 2024.
Life sciences firms accounted for 9% of leasing during this period.

During April–June 2024, firms based in the U.S. led space absorption, accounting for around 39% of total leasing.

A  police registered an FIR on Tuesday against three former employees of a real estate service company for abruptly resigning from their positions in May and allegedly hacking into the company's system to steal valuable client data. The stolen information, worth over Rs 80 lakhs, has significantly impacted the firm, causing them to lose clients. The police are investigating the matter based on the complaint, which states that the three suspects have joined a Powai-based real estate company after stealing the data. the company claims that before their departure, the employees accessed and copied the firm's confidential client database, containing essential information about the company's customers and their preferences. In the FIR, stated that the theft of the client database has severely affected the company's business operations, as it heavily depends on this information to maintain client relationships and generate revenue. The loss of this data has left the company struggling to retain existing customers and attract new ones, resulting in substantial financial losses. The police have registered a case against the three former employees under the Indian Penal Code sections for criminal conspiracy and theft by servants. However, no arrests have been made yet, and the investigation is ongoing. 
 

Office demand across seven major cities reached an all-time high in the first half of the current calendar year, with gross leasing touching 33.54 million square feet, according to newly released data.

The report on office demand for the January–June period shows a 29% annual increase in gross leasing across seven key cities — Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune.

The study noted that the first half of 2024 recorded the strongest leasing activity ever, with 33.5 million sq ft, surpassing the previous first-half peak in 2019.

Gross office leasing stood at 26.01 million sq ft during January–June 2023. In the same period in 2019, gross leasing was 30.71 million sq ft, before dropping to 21.10 million sq ft in 2020 and 12.55 million sq ft in 2021 due to the pandemic-driven slowdown.

Demand rebounded after the pandemic, with 24.68 million sq ft of gross leasing recorded in the first half of 2022.

Gross leasing refers to all lease transactions completed during the period, including confirmed pre-commitments, but excludes renewals and deals still under discussion.

The report projects that 2024 will record gross leasing of 65–70 million sq ft, marking a historic milestone for the country’s commercial real estate market.

A global technology services company plans to set up a new state-of-the-art facility in the city, with a committed investment of ?1,000 crore over the next three years. Construction of the 5,000-seat facility, covering six lakh square feet, is scheduled for completion by April 2027.

The upcoming campus will promote a collaborative and engaging work environment, featuring advanced engineering labs, dedicated areas for customer experience centres, and other modern infrastructure.

The new development will incorporate advanced energy-efficient and water-efficient systems, use recycled materials, and implement rainwater-harvesting practices throughout the construction process.

The organisation also aims to nurture local talent and has pledged ?3 crore towards the development of nearby government-run schools.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, a government representative expressed appreciation for the launch of construction and anticipated further collaboration on future initiatives.

The campus will include wellness centres, town halls, gymnasiums, and cafeterias to support employee well-being and create a conducive working environment.

The company stated that this expansion reflects its long-term strategy, commitment to developing local talent, strengthening community welfare, and supporting broader economic growth efforts.

A large cement manufacturer is in advanced discussions with two international financial institutions to raise up to ?500 crore through bonds, with each institution expected to invest ?250 crore. The bonds are likely to carry an interest rate above 15% and will be used for working capital requirements and capital expenditure, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The company had previously appointed financial and advisory firms to arrange the funding from various lenders, including private credit funds.

The cement manufacturer, as well as the financial institutions involved, did not respond to requests for comment.

Separately, another major cement sector entity recently announced plans to purchase more than 70 million shares of the company at up to ?267 per share. This non-controlling investment represents around 23% of the company’s total equity.

A managed workspace provider has raised ?168 crore in its latest funding round this year. According to a press release, the investment comes from a group of investors that includes multiple investment firms, private funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

The promoters of the company continue to hold a majority stake after this funding. Several prominent global and domestic financial institutions and investment entities participated in the round, reflecting strong confidence in the company’s growth and position within the managed office and campus solutions sector.

A senior executive from one of the investing organisations highlighted that the partnership has been strategic and noted the company’s evolution into a leading managed workspace platform since their initial involvement.

In the 2023–24 financial year, the company expanded its presence by opening new centres across multiple major cities, adding several large office facilities to its portfolio.

Residental need not longer run from pillar to post for land boundary measurements, and  village maps. Now they are just a click away as the survey and settlement directorate has digitsed land record managemengt. Earlier the process was cumbersome for the buyers and seller, and requried a compulsory visit to the taluk office for patta transfer, requesting  a campulsory visit to the taluk office for patta transfer, requesting measurement of land and for all land record based services. Now the entire process is online cuts short the time required to get the documents and weeds out corruption to an extent. The automatic mutation or transfer of patta that does not involve subdivisions is one of the key outcomes of the integration. The title change in the patta is made within a minute after the buyer registers the the property he purchased without any subdivision.

A major commercial real estate investment trust has raised ?650 crore from an international financial institution through a sustainability-linked bond issuance.

The interest rate of the bond is tied to the issuer’s commitment to achieving specific environmental, social, and governance targets aimed at supporting a greener ecosystem. The bonds have a seven-year tenure and carry the highest stability rating from a domestic credit rating agency. Legal advisory support for the transaction was provided by an external law firm.

This collaboration supports the country’s long-term climate goals and highlights the growing role of climate-focused financing in the real estate sector. The assistance is intended to attract more diverse and long-term capital at a time when private investment is essential to building a more sustainable and resilient future.

The bond carries a fixed interest structure, with step-down benefits applied progressively as sustainability targets are met. The issuer has introduced its first sustainability-linked financing framework, allowing it and its subsidiaries to undertake further issuances of sustainability-linked financial instruments.

A leading cement company, aggressively pushing for expansion, has secured 24 new limestone mine leases, estimated to have a total resource of 587 million tonnes of limestone, as per the company's annual report. This acquisition adds to a previously secured 1 billion tonnes of reserves from another cement producer, acquired last November for an enterprise value of ?5,185 crore.

The group has set an ambitious target of reaching a production capacity of 140 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2028. With sufficient cash reserves, the company plans to achieve this goal through a combination of brownfield expansion and strategic acquisitions. Recently, the group also announced the acquisition of a Hyderabad-based cement company for an enterprise value of ?10,422 crore, which will add 14 MTPA to its growing capacity, taking the total to 89 MTPA.

The cement industry, now the second-largest producer globally, reached a total market size of 397 MTPA in FY 2022-2023, driven by growth in the housing sector and significant investments in infrastructure development. For the financial year ending March 31, 2024, the group's consolidated revenue from operations, including other subsidiaries, was ?33,159 crore.