Home Prices in India Take a Hot-Air Balloon Ride! 📈

Sunday, June 11^th 2023

Good Morning ☕

Well, it seems like India's real estate market is currently the hottest ticket in town. It's like an adrenaline-charged Bollywood movie where the action never stops! Kolkata, the superstar, steals the show with an 11% increase in housing prices, while Ahmedabad, the reliable sidekick, punches in with a 10.8% hike. Pune, our surprise guest star, pops up with a respectable 8.2%. They say the market is cooling down, but, like an endless Bollywood dance sequence, the price rise doesn't seem to stop. It seems like the housing market is on the rise, just like the excitement of finding a parking spot in Mumbai during rush hour.

1. Go Digit Life Insurance gets IRDAI nod to carry life insurance business in India

Go Digit Life Insurance Limited, backed by Canada-based Fairfax Group, has received permission from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to carry out life insurance business in India. The company is already in the general insurance business. With this approval, the number of insurers operating in the life insurance segment in India has increased to 26. Go Digit General Insurance is also proposing to come out with an IPO and has already filed papers with markets regulator SEBI.

2. Housing Prices Rise In 43 Cities In March Quarter Of FY23: NHB

According to the National Housing Bank (NHB), property prices in 43 cities out of 50 in India increased during the fourth quarter of FY23. All eight major metros, including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune, recorded an increase in housing prices. The rise in property prices was highest in Kolkata at 11%, followed by Ahmedabad at 10.8%, and Pune at 8.2%. The housing market may be cooling overall, but home prices in 70% of metros still increased, according to the National Association of Realtors’ new quarterly report.

3. External affairs minister S Jaishankar reaches Varanasi to host G20 development ministers meet

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will chair the G20 Development Ministers' Meeting in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh from June 11 to 13, 2023. The meeting is part of India's G20 Presidency and will also feature a special video address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government wants G20 to be a national celebration and not any "sarkari (government)" program, according to Jaishankar. Varanasi is one of the important venues for the G20 meetings, and the development ministers' meeting will be held there.

4. State-run SECL eyes 16% annual growth in coal production till FY26

State-run South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), a subsidiary of Coal India, aims to achieve a 16% annual growth in coal production until the fiscal year 2025-26. In the fiscal year 2022-23, SECL produced 167 million tonnes of coal and expects to produce 200 million tonnes by the end of the fiscal year. The company is also planning to invest in technology to improve coal production and reduce costs. The demand for coal is expected to increase in the coming years, especially in developing countries like India and Indonesia, which are experiencing fast-growing electricity demand.

5. Third party reporting helped in tax revenue buoyancy, says govt official

According to a government official, third-party reporting has helped in tax revenue buoyancy. The extent to which individual taxpayers accurately report their income is closely aligned with whether third parties report income information to these taxpayers and to the IRS. The official stated that third-party reporting has helped in improving compliance, especially related to self-employed individuals who represent the largest share of the individual underreporting tax gap. The United States has been collecting less tax revenue as a percentage of GDP than at most points in recent history, in part because of the significant amount of owed but uncollected taxes.

6. RBI aims to bring RuPay on par with global card rivals

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is aiming to bring RuPay, India's domestic payment network, on par with global card rivals. RuPay is a not-for-profit payment network operated by the National Payments Corporation of India, and its transaction costs are estimated to be 23% lower than those of Mastercard or Visa. RuPay has surpassed both Mastercard and Visa in the debit card segment and is making inroads in credit cards. The Indian government has backed RuPay to increase accessibility for the country's unbanked and marginalized low-earning citizens. Visa has complained to the US government that India's promotion of RuPay hurts the US giant in a key market.

7. J&K's Industrial Policy draws ₹2200 cr investment, 10,000 jobs in one year

Jammu and Kashmir's New Industrial Policy (NIP) 2021, which came into effect on April 1, 2022, has attracted over 5,300 investment proposals worth around Rs 66,000 crore. The policy has generated 10,000 jobs and Rs 2,200 crore investment in one year, making Jammu and Kashmir a top investment destination across India. The government has received a positive response from investors since the announcement of the new industrial policy. The investment projects worth Rs 10,000 crore are under execution, and proposals of around Rs 60,000 crore are being processed.

8. In nephew's presence, Sharad Pawar hands over Supriya Sule NCP's big role

Sharad Pawar, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo, has appointed Supriya Sule and Praful Patel as working presidents of the party. The announcement was made at the 25th anniversary of the party, founded by him and PA Sangma in 1999. The decision to appoint two working presidents is a big step for Pawar but it indicates that he has started working on a plan of succession. The announcement was made in the presence of Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar's nephew and a key player in the NCP.

9. Centre constitutes peace committee in violence-hit Manipur, Guv Anusuiya Uikey to head panel

The Indian government has formed a peace committee in Manipur to facilitate the peace-making process among various ethnic groups and initiate dialogue between conflicting parties. The committee is headed by the governor and includes the chief minister, a few ministers, MPs, MLAs, leaders from different political parties and civil society groups, former civil servants, educationists, litterateurs, artists, social workers, and representatives of different ethnic groups. This move comes amid violent clashes between the ethnic Meitei and Kuki communities, which have left at least 70 people dead and 35,000 displaced, and destroyed over 1,700 houses

10. Better.com CEO Vishal Garg announces fresh round of layoffs

Better.com, an online mortgage firm run by Indian-origin CEO Vishal Garg, has laid off its entire real estate team and shut down the unit. The company is shifting from an in-house agent model to a partnership agent model. There is no clarity yet on how many employees in the real estate team have lost their jobs. In May 2022, the company gave its employees in India the option to quit the firm voluntarily, and close to 920 resignations were accepted later. Overall, the number of employees who have been laid off from Better.com by Garg in India and the United States has crossed 4,000.

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