Real Estate
Investment of Rs 4800 crore will be made, demand for plots along the expressway increased
Noida: A new wave of record development is coming in the show-window of UP. A new phase of investment is going to start in Noida, where 18 new companies are planning to invest about Rs 4800 crore. This investment will not only contribute to the development of the region, but will also provide new employment opportunities to 16 thousand people. These companies will invest in industrial, institutional, commercial and residential sectors. To speed up this, Noida Authority has accelerated preparations.
The target was Rs 90 thousand crores
Noida Authority officials said that the government had given a target of investment of Rs 90 thousand crore for the ground breaking ceremony. So far, 315 projects have been prepared for the ground breaking ceremony, which are expected to attract an investment of Rs 78 thousand 563 crore. In this way, the authority has achieved the target of 87.29 percent. These 315 companies will provide direct and indirect employment to three lakh 64 thousand 763 people.
Companies ready to invest
Authority officials said that now five new companies are ready to bring their projects. Contracts have been signed with them. These companies will invest Rs 1517 crore. They will provide direct and indirect employment to 4240 people. Apart from this, 13 more new companies are ready to invest in Noida. These companies will invest Rs 3253 crore and provide employment to 11 thousand 770 people.
MOU signed for investment
Authority officials said that so far in the ground breaking ceremony, 159 companies related to industrial property have signed MoU for investment. Apart from these, there are 118 companies related to institutional property, 22 companies of commercial area and 16 companies of group housing. In this way, a total of 315 companies have signed MoU for investment.
Plots will be allotted along the expressway
Officials said that land has been allotted to all the companies. Production process will start in these companies in the coming few years which will provide employment to people. Plots are being allotted to new companies in Sectors 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167 etc. located near Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.
Real Estate
Land acquisition process begins for third and fourth phases of Noida International airport
Noida: The district administration has begun the process of securing farmers’s consent for the third and fourth phases of Noida International Airport. With 15,691 landowners involved, about 37% have given their consent so far. As per the Land Acquisition Act, approval from at least 70% of the affected farmers is required to proceed with the acquisition process.
A total of 2,053 hectares of land is to be acquired in these phases, of which 1,889 hectares belong to private farmers, while the rest consists of govt-owned land. This acquisition spans 14 villages, affecting thousands of families. Some of these villages-including Thora, Neemka Shahjahanpur, Kwajpur, Ramner, Kishorpur, Banwaribans, Parohi and Mukimpur Shivara – collectively hold vast tracts of land and are central to the airport
Thora, the largest among the affected villages, has 583 hectares of land marked for acquisition and 3,511 affected families. So far, only about 15% of the families have given their consent.
Neemka Shahjahanpur, with 301 hectares and 1,726 families, has seen even lower participation, with just 8% of landowners agreeing to part with their land so far. The situation in Kwajpur, which covers 272 hectares and has 1,826 affected families, is also challenging, as just over 12% of farmers have given their consent.
Ramner, with 213 hectares and 2,215 families, has performed better, with over 30% of landowners agreeing to the acquisition. Kishorpur, which spans 95 hectares and affects 2,084 families, is showing better progress, with over 48% of landowners giving their consent.
Banwaribans, Parohi and Mukimpur Shivara are also among the significant landholding villages where negotiations are ongoing, and officials are working to increase consent levels.
Several smaller villages, including Rohi, Bankapur and Dyantapur, have relatively less land and fewer affected families. While resistance varies across these villages, the administration is engaging with them through multiple channels to ensure smooth proceedings. To facilitate the consent process, a contact officer has been appointed for each village and dedicated teams are working on the ground to communicate with landowners.
In most villages, landowners are unwilling to part with their land outright. Many farmers insist on better rehabilitation packages, including increased compensation and alternative land arrangements, before agreeing to the acquisition. The primary points of contention include demands for 20% residential plots in exchange for land, higher compensation and the option of agricultural land instead of residential plots.
Notably, the state govt recently increased the compensation rates. The compensation was raised to Rs 4,300 per square metre, up from Rs 3,100 per square metre, which was offered during the second phase of land acquisition. The first phase of the Noida Airport project, which involved the acquisition of 1,334 hectares, is already underway, with a validation flight conducted recently. Commercial operations are slated to begin by April this year.
Real Estate
No construction: Warning boards soon on New Noida land
Noida: Noida Authority has initiated measures to curb illegal construction across 80 villages designated under the Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad-investment-region (DNGIR), commonly known as New-Noida.
During a meeting on Thursday, CEO Lokesh-M along with Bulandshahr district magistrate CP Singh and officials from the Noida and Bulandshahr development authorities, asked for the installation of boards that warned villagers of demolition of unauthorised structures.
The CEO had earlier clarified that any construction initiated after the New Noida master plan’s approval on Oct 18, 2024, would be deemed illegal, and enforcement action would be ordered against violators. Officials said that to raise awareness, warning advertisements would be placed at various locations of the 80 villages, 60 of whom are in Bulandshahr district. The warning boards will clarify that land purchases or constructions without approval in these zones are illegal.
Another crucial agenda discussed at Thursday’s meeting was land rates for direct purchases from farmers for the industrial city’s development, which will cover 209sqm (20,911 hectares) and be developed in four phases over the next two decades. While compensation rates were discussed, no final decision was reached.
The compensation for farmers will be influenced by circle rates in Bulandshahr and proximity to landmarks such as the Noida international airport in Jewar. Meetings are being held with village heads and affected families to address their concerns and finalise the framework.
The first phase is expected to impact around 16,000 farmer families across 15 villages. Land acquisition will prioritise areas near key infrastructure like the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and GT Road. Initial land acquisition surveys have started.
The project is in response to increasing investor demand, which was seen during the global investors summit last year, when numerous companies showed interest in establishing projects in New Noida. The development timeline includes completing 3,165 hectares by 2027, followed by 3,798 hectares (2027-2032), 5,908 hectares (2032-2037), and the remaining 8,230 hectares by 2041.
Real Estate
Luxury Flats, Corporates and Now Fancy Restaurants
Noida: With the Noida International Airport expected to be operational by April 2025 and several corporates opening up offices in Noida, not to mention hundreds of homebuyers settling down in the new housing hubs coming up along the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and Greater Noida West, restaurant brands popular in Noida and Delhi are cashing in on the opportunity by expanding to multiple locations to cater to the taste buds of the growing population.
Noida’s homegrown brands, such as Desi Vibes, which opened shop in the centrally located Sector 18 market 20 years ago, are now expanding to Sector 75 and Greater Noida West. That’s not all. Last year, Noida saw the opening of a restaurant called Chica Loca at Gulshan One 29 in Sector 129 by Bollywood star Sunny Leone with Sahil Baweja of Singing Bowls Hospitality. Virat Kohli’s One8 Commune also opened in Noida’s Sector 94.
Several new spots offering various eating-out options have opened at the commercial complexes in Sectors along the expressway, such as Sectors 92, 142, 137, 129, and 104 in Noida and new malls in Greater Noida West’s Sector 4.
Real estate experts say that Noida’s food scene is looking up primarily for three reasons: residential projects delivered after a hiatus of 10 to 12 years and several corporates setting up shop in the micro market. Restauranters are trying to take advantage of the comparatively low rentals and more extensive floor space availability in newly built commercial and retail buildings, offering adequate parking space and facilities. They aim to capture the market before the new airport leads to rents hitting the roof.
Developers offering ‘bouquet deals’, spending on capex to encourage restaurant brands to expand into multiple locations
There’s also a new trend wherein developers offer incentives to popular retail brands to encourage them to set up branches in their new complexes. This could be in the form of capex (capital expenditure) or even a ‘bouquet’ deal to open a restaurant in multiple properties launched by the developer.
Restaurants cater to homebuyers settling down in new housing hubs
According to Manish Aggarwal, senior managing director at JLL India Leasing, Capital Markets, Strategic Consulting, and Sales, several food and beverage brands are setting up branches in different sectors of Noida due to the increase in habitation.
“Habitation has increased manifold in these micro-markets as several corporates have set up offices in Noida. Lower rentals and the promise of assured footfalls drive these well-known food and beverage brands to set up shop in emerging markets such as Sectors 137 and 150 along the Noida Expressway, in Sector 75 and Greater Noida West. With the Noida International Airport expected to become operational next year, this activity is bound to increase,” he said.
The food licensing department has also increased the number of new licenses it has issued for medium—to large-sized restaurants in the last four years. In 2021, around 2000 licences were issued. This increased to around 2200 licenses in 2022, 3100 in 2023, and 2700 until November.
“The increase in the number of food licenses from 400 to more than 2200 now shows almost fivefold growth in the Noida market, which is perhaps one of the fastest-growing markets in terms of restaurants in India,” said Varun Khera, president of the National Restaurants Association of India (NRAI), Noida chapter.
Also, with the Noida International Airport coming up, he said everyone from Delhi, Gurugram, and even central Noida wants a piece of the Noida restaurant scene.
“With several new housing hubs mushrooming in Noida, Greater Noida, not to mention the corporates that have opened up offices along the Noida Expressway, these new markets offer immense potential to restaurateurs looking to open businesses in these areas to cater to a new customer base. As more of these corporate professionals settle in these twin cities, new opportunities are getting created for restaurateurs,” he said.
Khera has been running a fine-dining restaurant, Desi Vibes, and a cafe, Kaffiaa, in the Sector 18 market for almost two decades, said that Noida and Greater Noida also offer lower rentals than Delhi and Gurugram.
Asked if sops such as capex or bouquet deals offered by developers to restaurants are a key deciding factor in opening multiple outlets, he argues that a restauranteur from Delhi may not enter the Greater Noida market if he is not confident about the footfalls. Ultimately, it concerns demand, supply, and the assured footfalls from a particular micro market.
He agrees that while a few developers may offer support in terms of civil or brickwork to help a restaurant establish itself, it often gets factored into the rentals. Also, a restauranteur may not want to open multiple outlets with the same developer, making the brand ‘generic’. Also, every retail destination or mall has a different catchment that needs to be catered to.
To test the demand in new localities, Khera’s company started with its smaller brand K se Kulcha, in markets such as Haldwani, Kanpur, Lucknow, Pune, and Bengaluru. If the response is good, it intends to scale up with the larger brand Desi Vibes. With the focus now moving to the Yamuna Expressway, the company has also recently signed up with an outlet in Agra, a relatively virgin market when it comes to restaurants, and will launch Desi Vibes there.
Quality real estate pushing demand for fancy dining options
Deepak Kapoor, director of Gulshan Homz, which has a commercial property along the Expressway in Sector 129 called Gulshan129, said that Noida had only one commercial district in Sector 18 for a long time. To meet the growing population’s demand settling in new sectors, realtors are developing modern infrastructure to cater to these restaurant brands wanting to expand to multiple locations.
“Gone are the days when the focus was on centralisation of restaurants. People would flock to Connaught Place in Delhi or Sector 18 in Noida because the restaurant only had one outlet. With traffic increasing multifold, people are looking at convenience. They want the brand to walk to their doorstep literally, and the proliferation of malls across NCR has led to this phenomenon. A sizeable population has settled into these new sectors, and restaurant owners are trying to cash in on the demand. They are assured of adequate footfalls as the people residing in that catchment have the propensity to spend,” he explained.
He agreed that in some cases, the developer may even decide to bear the capex if he wishes to bring a well-known brand to a new property to attract consumers.
Samir Srivastava, director of leasing Bhutani Group, which has commercial projects located in prime sectors Sector 90, Sector 140 A, Sector 133, Sector 150 and Sector 127, believes that a developer may choose to invest in capex only if the property is far off. Having said that, a few developers may try to rationalise rentals by 12 to 15% for brands wanting to expand to newer locations rather than spend on capex.
He believes that offering a discount may not always help; ultimately, it is the location that ensures the longevity of the brand and the customers it is catering to.
“We also want restaurant brands to set up shop in our other properties for which we have offered bouquet deals under which they get a rental benefit. The demand for established restaurant brands is rising in Noida because there are enough developers launching quality luxury projects, which was not the case earlier. The buyer that invests in these premium properties also has the disposable income to spend. Besides, several corporate campuses such as Infosys and HCL present along the expressway have all helped bring in the desired footfalls. The airport is also expected to have a cascading effect,” he added.
Real Estate
NCLAT appoints NBCC as PMC for completion of 16 Supertech projects
New Delhi: National Company Law Appellate Tribunal(NCLAT)- New Delhi has appointed NBCC (India) as project management consultant (PMC) for completion of 16 projects of Supertech. The company will complete 16 projects with about 49,748 houses in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Karnakata.The tentative construction cost of the project is approximately Rs 9,445 crore including 3% contingency. The PMC fees fixed as 8% including 1% marketing fee. It has been appointed as the PMC with no liability, and it will complete the Supertech projects within three years, NBCC said in two separate regulatory filings.
The NBCC shall start process of award of work as per Condition-IV, prior to March 31, 2025 and complete the award of contract within one month thereafter and construction shall commence with effect from May 01, 2025, said the court in its order.
The home buyers/ commercial unit holders, who have already been allotted units by the corporate debtor, which allotments are subsisting, will not be subjected to any escalation of cost, except the dues which are required to be paid by them as per builder buyers agreements.
Rejecting demands to carve out profitable projects for private developers, the NCLAT has entrusted all 16 projects to NBCC. The tribunal underscored that surplus funds from cash-positive projects would be used to finance those in deficit, ensuring the completion of all stalled developments.
Repayment of land authorities, banks and financial institutions will simultaneously begin as per the date and manner decided by apex court committee. The balance amount in a project apart from 70% amount which is to be used for construction, may be used for repayment. The payment for land cost can also be debited from 70% amount as per Section 4(2)(D) of RERA Act and as per the decision of the Apex Court Committee.
NCLAT directed constitution of an apex court committee and project-wise court committee for each project. NBCC (I) will nominate one member in each project-wise court committee.
A separate account, in the name of “NBCC (I)- Supertech Unfinished Project” will be opened and operated by NBCC through its authorised signatories with joint signature of IRP. All funding and finance received by the NBCC/ Apex Court Committee for completion of the project will be credited in the above designated account.
Supertech was admitted to insolvency on March 25, 2022, after Union Bank of India filed a petition under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), citing defaults on loans extended for projects such as Eco Village-II in Greater Noida. Following the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) order, an Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) was appointed to oversee the company’s operations and facilitate the resolution process.
The NCLAT intervened in April 2022, directing that construction on non-Eco Village-II projects should continue under IRP supervision while creditors considered the resolution plan for Eco Village-II.
In subsequent appeals, the Supreme Court upheld the continuation of this approach, allowing some projects to proceed while keeping final decisions on Eco Village-II, one of the developer’s key projects, pending further orders.
During the proceedings, the NCLAT adopted a project-wise resolution approach to address the complexities arising from Supertech’s extensive portfolio. Each project’s financial and operational status was evaluated separately, and stakeholders, including creditors, homebuyers, and authorities, were consulted.
Real Estate
UP’s lower tax on jet fuel to give a boost to Delhi-NCR’s second airport
Noida: The Delhi-National Capital Region’s second airport in Jewar, Uttar Pradesh is expected to benefit from significantly lower value-added tax on aviation fuel, according to industry executives and experts.
The existing airport catering to Delhi-NCR, in Gurugram, Haryana, charges a value added tax of 25% on aviation turbine fuel, while the tax at the new airport will be about 1%. Airlines spend 35-40% of their total expenditure on fuel.
“One of the things we do have to offer is lower VAT on ATF. That is important to carriers. Fuel is by far the largest in an airline’s profit and loss statement,” Christoph Schnellmann, chief executive officer, Noida International Airport Ltd.
“If it is something that we can do, or the government can do to lower some of those costs, it will ultimately bring down the cost of travel for passengers. Air travel is price sensitive everywhere,” Schnellmann said.
Noida International Airport Ltd operates the Jewar airport.
The VAT on aviation turbine fuel ranges between 1% and 30% for various airports. The civil aviation ministry has been actively asking state governments to reduce VAT on aviation fuel, and so far 19 states and union territories have reduced the tax in their respective territories.
The Uttar Pradesh government reduced the VAT on ATF in the state to 1% from 21% in 2022.
The first phase of the Noida International Airport is expected to be operational by the end of 2024, with one runway, and one terminal having the capacity to handle traffic of 12 million passengers annually.
The airport is about 72 km from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, 52 km from Noida, and 130 km from Agra.
The airport is already seeing strong interest from domestic as well as international airlines. India’s largest airline, IndiGo, will be the launch carrier for the airport. Recently, Akasa Air announced it will base its aircraft at Jewar for domestic and international flights.
Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of Air India, is also looking at Jewar airport.
“We will be looking at where the demand is. Certainly, Jewar is a big catchment area. It will serve a specific market and certainly we would like to be there,” said Aloke Singh, managing director, Air India Express.
“Certainly, demand comes first. I am saying that (lower VAT) is the icing on the cake,” Singh added.
Airlines feel a lower VAT would also mean lower fares for passengers. “Any such benefits in terms of cost will be transferred to passengers, which means lower fares for passengers flying out of Jewar airport,” said the chief executive officer of a low-cost airline, declining to be identified.
Analysts also predict a huge benefit for Jewar airport over Delhi.
“In the case of Delhi airport, 25% is quite high VAT on ATF. I feel the day Noida airport at Jewar is commissioned, Delhi government may be forced to reduce (the tax); otherwise this will be one of the reasons for moving lot of traffic to Jewar,” Vijai Agrawal, former chairman of the Airports Authority of India, said during a webinar conducted by aviation consultancy firm CAPA India.