Focus: The Saga Of Ramalinga Raju & Satyam Computers

A good employer and social do-gooder who turned seamlessly into s corporate fraudster, Satyam Raju's shady acts finally caught up with him.

Notwithstanding his constant exhortations that his employees adopt a global mindset in the shrinking world, Ramalinga Raju himself never followed this advice. In the end, it was his primeval lust for land that felled the IT czar and took him straight to jail.

When he confessed to inflating his accounts books in January 2009, Raju sat on at least 9,000 acres of prime land across a clutch of cities including Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Nagpur.

In Gujarat, Muslim Forced To Sell Houses In Hindu Locality!

Hindu right-wing groups forced a Muslim businessman to sell off his property and move out of a posh locality in Bhavnagar in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, media reports said.

The reports said the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) brokered the deal between a real estate firm and scrap dealer Aliasgar Zaveri for the sale of his bungalow on December 30, 2014.

Reality Boom Makes Happy On Financially Scared Andhra

In a welcome relief for the cashstrapped Andhra Pradesh government, revenue collections through land registrations and stamp duty has picked up in the state. Barring Anantapur, which registered a negative trend in 2014-15, the remaining 12 states generated revenue that was 20 to 100 per cent higher than the previous year.

Expectedly, Guntur and Krishna districts, in view of the hectic activity related to the construction of the new capital, and Visakhapatnam registered the highest growth.

Guntur's revenue has shot up to Rs 401.83 crore as compared to Rs 176.64 crore last year, a jump of a whopping 126 per cent.Krishna's revenue too shot up from Rs 262.06 crore last year to Rs 427.46 crore.

The Best And Profitable Option Is 'Investing In Real Estate'

Having a home or office space that one can call his “own” is utmost important, not only because it saves one from huge monthly rental bills, but also because it ensures a life of security and respect, a life devoid of constant vexation by the landlords.

For a common Indian man, investing in Indian real estate market is, thus, equivalent to securing a comfortable and respectable position for oneself and one’s family in the society and, so, the question of whether such investment will generate profits becomes secondary.

Godrej Properties To Develop Town Projects At Bengaluru

PRESS RELEASE: Realty firm Godrej Properties said it has entered into a new deal to develop a housing project at Bengaluru. The proposed project will offer about 79,000 square metres (0.85 million sq ft) of saleable area.

"Godrej Properties, the real estate development arm of the Godrej Group, has entered into a new deal to develop a residential project at Whitefield in Bengaluru," the Mumbai-based developer said in a statement.

Modular Kitchen Is A Rs.6000 Crore Plus Market In India

SPONSORED: Fisher & Paykel – the New Zealand-based premium kitchen appliances brand – stepped into the Indian market in the year 2012. Designed and engineered in New Zealand, its products are sold in 50 countries around the world. In an exclusive conversation, Sanjeev Wadhwa, Managing Director, Fisher & Paykel India highlights the journey of the brand so far. Edited excerpts during a formal interview with INNLIVE.

Political High Class Vs Honest Officers Vs Dreaded Mafia

The death of DK Ravi, an honest and courageous IAS officer, is a story that is often repeated in India. Officers who have stood up to the establishment based on principles have been a target -- harassed, transferred and a few killed. 

The worst is suffered by those who take on the real estate/mining/liquor lobbies. In fact, they operate like a mafia. One such case that I personally followed was in my state of Andhra Pradesh. A DIG at the anti-corruption bureau started sniffing out liquor syndicates, across the state.

How Private Enterprise Is Changing Non-Cricket Sports?

India Inc has entered the country's sporting arena, and is changing the way the nation plays.

There was a time, not too long ago, when it was taken for granted that an aspiring sportsperson in India would have to do any or all of the following: 

• Secure a job in a public sector company, or a large private sector one, for a regular income.
• Scramble for corporate sponsorship to be able to compete at international or even national tournaments.

Debt-Ridden Property Hangover Showers Discounts Galore

India's debt-laden property developers are turning to deep discounts, free parking spots and even gimmicks like gifts of gold coins and motorbikes as they struggle to sell billions of dollars worth of as-yet unfinished homes.

Now outstripping China as the world's fastest-growing major economy according to official data, India has a real estate market mired in debt piled up in a 2006-2007 construction boom that gave way to slowdown.

Rich Exodus: Indian Millionaires Are Fleeing The Country!

India’s millionaires do not want to live in India. In the last 10 years, some 27% of India’s 160,600 high net worth individuals (HNWIs) have left the country, according to a report(pdf) by property consultant Knight Frank. A high net worth individual is a person having investable wealth of more than $1 million (Rs6.28 crore).

That’s second only to China, where 76,200 HNWIs packed up and moved out between 2003 and 2013.

The 'Billion Dollar' Question: What Do 'Customers' Want?

“Honey let’s go shopping.” Four words that a man used to fear, a woman loved, and a retailer looked forward to. These are also four words that are fast fading from the current generation’s lexicon. 

With e-commerce portals becoming as all pervasive as the neighbourhood chai-stall, there is a greater focus on shopping as a personal, rather than a familial activity. Sales are also becoming the order of the day, rather than a once-in-a-blue moon occurrence, leading to further changes in buying patterns.

Savings And Investment - What Is The 'Big' Difference?

SPONSORED: Savings and investing are two terms that are often used interchangeably. However in reality, the terms are distinctly apart. When it comes to your money, it pays to understand the difference between the two. Should you be saving or investing? What really needs to be done?

Meaning of Savings
From the income that you make every month, you incur essential expenses and make payments towards house rent, food and leisure, school expenses, other provision bills etc…

Why Telangana Govt Out To Destroy Hyderabad Heritage?

Not long ago when then Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) was conducting the auction of prime lands in Jubilee Hills, then rising TRS youth leader and now Minister T. Harish Rao, led a demonstration accusing the “outsiders” with bartering away the assets of people of Telangana.

The articulate Rao is yet to react to the TRS government’s latest proposal to sell away not just the prime lands in and around Hyderabad but pull down landmark buildings that reflect Telangana’s rich built heritage of the city.

Naidu Offers Singapore Free Land As Barter For Expertise?

The cat is out of the bag now. After months of tom toming with high voltage publicity about his transparency and non-corrupt administration, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu's decision to hand over CRDA lands to private developers led by international consortiums with Indian partners has come out in open. 

The worst fears of People of Andhra Pradesh and those aired by Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan have come true at last. The Andhra Pradesh CM  disclosed that a group of Japanese investors would develop the capital city with participation on PPP basis from builders across the world as per the designs prepared by the Singapore companies - Surabana and Jurong.

'Modi Sarkar's Land Act Is A Grave Travesty': Anna Hazare

If Jan Lokpal was the rallying point for anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare’s epic agitation against the Congress and the UPA, the test of BJP government’s vulnerability to his wrath will be its amendment to the Land Acquisition Act.

It remains to be seen if Anna will be able to mobilise the same kind of crowds as he did for his Lokpal agitation because corruption was a sentiment that different classes of people in Delhi and across urban India shared with him. Land acquisition might be alien to them and hence may not motivate them to pour into the streets.

Budget 2015: Think Out Of Box To Fund 'Infra Building'

Ever thought of putting your money in building the half-finished flyover you wish should have come up by now, making your travel to office a bit more pleasant? 

It may sound crazy, but many infrastructure finance experts seriously think that is prudent. They believe it could be the most important source of funds for that flyover and also a host of similar infrastructure projects in the country. Why? 

Most infra projects need funding support for long term, and they start generating returns only after a while. And that sounds similar to what you expect from your retirement money.

India Real Estate Players’ Wishlist For India Budget 2015

Apart from industry status, real estate players are expecting Single window clearance, regulatory and bill faster approvals from the Union Budget 2015.

David Walker, Managing Director, SARE Homes says that the Modi Government’s first full year budget will give top priority to reduce the fiscal deficit in the medium term, which will further augment the case for interest rate reductions. “Key aspects to watch for on this are sale of state industries to the more efficient private sector and better targeting of subsidies to ensure more actually gets to those in need whilst cutting their overall cost.” 

Online Grocery Stores Makes A Hard Way For Aam Aadmi!

The buzz around online retail in India has reached a new high in the past few months, beginning with Amazon entering the fray in June 2013: There was the Rs 2,000 crore Flipkart-Myntra deal in May followed by the fresh infusion of funds ($2 billion for Amazon in India and $1 billion for Flipkart) in July, and Ratan Tata picking up an undisclosed stake in Snapdeal in August. The players are getting big, the money bigger. 

What is significant, however, is that most online retailers in India sell books, electronics, apparel and accessories whereas groceries—which form the bulk of traditional brick-and-mortar-retail, a giant 60 to 70 percent of it—form a miniscule part of the total online retail space, which is worth $2.3 billion. And, there’s good reason for it. 

OpEd: Modi Govt's Ordinance Raj Is A Recipe For Chaos

It’s arrogance, immaturity or a combination of both, take your pick. The BJP-led government’s approach to policy matters remain grooved in two firm convictions: one, whatever changes they are bringing in, whether through amendments to existing Acts or by way of new Acts, are irreversible; two, they will be in power for eternity, so they can go ahead with their agenda without bothering about any opposition from without and within. Either case reflects a poor understanding of the nature of the political environment they operate in.

Another U-turn From Kiran Bedi’s BJP As Decades Of Promises For Delhi Statehood Are Suddenly Forgotten

For two decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party has sought to give Delhi full statehood. The saffron party was the first to make the demand and confer partial statehood upon the capital in 1992. In 2003, the National Democratic Alliance even introduced a bill in Parliament that aimed to make Delhi a full state. As recently as 2013, the BJP’s election manifesto promised that the “BJP shall continue the struggle for full statehood to Delhi”.

On Tuesday, as the party released its Vision Document for Delhi in lieu of an actual manifesto, the quest for statehood was nowhere to be found.