Archive: August 9, 2022

Envisioning Indian Real Estate’s ‘Amrit Kaal’

By Anuj Puri, Chairman – ANAROCK Group

In Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman’s words, India stands on the threshold of Amrit Kaal, or the ‘Era of Elixir’. Regarding the country’s real estate sector, we can be a little more restrained with such definitions. Still, there is little doubt that the industry has made remarkable progress since it attained independence 75 years ago. Real estate has not been left behind – quite the contrary.

This once hugely beleaguered sector has made history-defying forward strides, especially in the last 8-10 years.

Today, massive transformation across sectors and industries has assured India a recognizable position in the new world order. The real estate sector features prominently in this revitalized avatar of a country on the move. Let’s reflect on what has transpired over the years and take a look at what lies ahead for the sector.

The Winds of Change

As India’s population grew over time, cities expanded to create habitable localities and industries for its economic upliftment. Chandigarh was the first planned city of independent India – one of the successful trials of urban planning and modern architecture. To address the ever-increasing need for housing, the government set up institutions like the Housing and Urban Development Company (HUDCO), City Industrial and Development Corporation (CIDCO), and the National Housing Bank (NHB).

The liberalization of policies in the 1990s facilitated significant changes in the real estate sector. Many international companies jostled to establish businesses in India, triggering a consistently increasing demand for commercial and residential real estate.

The rapid growth of the IT-ITeS sector resulted in the expansion of new urban centres across major cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, MMR, NCR, and Pune. These cities were the first to witness changing skylines and rapid vertical development.

At the turn of the century, the sector was further invigorated when foreign direct investments allowed the entry of global investors. This catalysed the development of malls and other organized retail spaces across the country.

• PMAY: With the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) program, the social housing sector – mainly aimed at the economically weaker sections – has gathered momentum over the last decade. PMAY was launched with a specific and ambitious target to provide Housing for All by 2022. In the country’s urban areas, the development has been tangible.

(Source: PMAY – Urban, compiled by ANAROCK Research)

• CLSS: To provide momentum to affordable housing and generate demand for it, the government has provided for subsidized interest to be paid to financial institutions lending to borrowers in this housing category. The cost of ownership became easier on prospective buyers and empowered women with the social security of having their own homes – a significant sea-change in a once highly patriarchal society.

• Smart Cities Mission: The Smart Cities mission aims to develop 100 cities that are technology-enabled to drive economic growth and offer significantly improved quality of life to citizens. Currently, there are 5,151 projects under this mission across the identified cities, with investments to the tune of INR 2,05,018 crores.

Critical Reforms

Various reforms and structural changes implemented in the government have been instrumental in altering the real estate sector. Today, we use terms such as governance, transparency, and accountability, and stakeholders are evaluated on these parameters.

Many corporate business houses have also ventured into the sector. Prominent and listed real estate players are successfully gaining market share and helping the industry consolidate – a much-needed process that steadily eliminates unwholesome elements and the shenanigans for which they were known.

Some of the significant reforms in recent times and their effects:

• GST: This taxation reform was conceived and implemented to enable a uniform tax code across the country. Completed real estate projects are exempted from GST, and affordable housing projects are levied with GST of only 1% to keep the momentum of demand high.

• REITs: Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have emerged as another option for Indian investors to add real estate to their portfolios for better diversification and risk mitigation. The REITs operational in India today are mainly in the commercial office segment. The total market cap of these REITs is estimated at INR 60,584 crores.

• RERA: Perhaps the most significant post-independence reform to impact the Indian real estate sector was implementing the Real Estate Regulation Act. This Act aims to safeguard the interests of homebuyers and investors and make developers accountable for their projects. The Act makes all relevant project details, including the approvals and permissions, available at homebuyers’ fingertips and provides a mechanism for redressing complaints and grievances.

RERA establishes specific standards for the construction and development of real estate that aim to improve transparency in real estate transactions. It has given homebuyers several rights and has set forth specific laws and regulations that all developers must observe.

In the five years of its existence, 87,124 projects and 65,500 agents have been registered across the country. The regulator has successfully disposed of 97,404 complaints, paving the way for a stronger and more resilient real estate sector.

RERA is in many ways still a work-in-progress, with loopholes and lacunae getting addressed along the way. However, it is safe to say that it is the one regulatory reform that has genuinely empowered real estate end-users and investors.

The ‘Amrit Kaal’ Way Forward

As the nation progresses rapidly and requirements evolve, real estate products, services, and assets will grow too. Many new-age real estate asset classes such as senior living and student housing are already gaining momentum. Data centres, warehousing, and industrial parks are the new buzzwords in the sector. They will gain further traction as the incumbent government focuses on its visions of Atmanirbhar Bharat and India becoming a USD 5 trillion economy.

Not a Home Run Yet

As these sectors and economic activities rev up, housing for the workers they employ will pose a significant challenge. The government has already laid the framework for affordable rental housing and invites private participation, but there is still a lack of clarity. ARHCs (Affordable Rental Housing Complexes) are now among the most urgent needs in post-Independence India – and the government’s Housing for All vision.

RERA needs to evolve because there is still many a slip between the cup and the lip. Judgments need to be backed by firm enforcement, and the Act needs to have a more uniform impact across the nation. Just as the Indian Penal Code cannot have state-specific interpretations and financial benefits by the government do not vary between geographies, RERA must ultimately provide Indian homebuyers with a seamless protective and remedial umbrella, regardless of where they live in the country.

This will be no mean task to achieve, and will doubtlessly take time and considerable political will to bring about.

Finally, investments will be crucial to scaling up operations for the aspired economic growth. The prevailing global turmoil and economic conflicts make a conducive, incentivized environment for investments a critical fulcrum for the real estate sector of a country that has, in most other aspects, completely reinvented itself after gaining its independence 3/4th of a century ago.

OrangeSlates Signs MoU with Rahul Education for Teacher Excellence

Tuesday, 9th August 2022: Teacher upskilling platform OrangeSlates have signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Rahul Education in Mumbai, a pioneer in education for over 55 years. The board of Rahul Education (also known as RCOE) has joined hands with OrangeSlates to bring a quantifiable difference and impact on educators. Using the OrangeSlates platform, educators such as Teachers, Principals, HoDs, Tutors, Counselors, have received high-quality training through the program and certification courses.

The platform will run multiple short- and long-term courses for both pre-service & in-service teachers such as – Design Thinking, Augmented Reality, National Education Policy in Action, Creating Digital Courses, Technology in Classrooms among many more. OrangeSlates aims to up-skill around 10,000 teachers every year from these centers of excellence.

The educator-focused startup uses a unique 4C model (Creative, Challenging, Contextual, Collaborative) to build a community of educators that share & monetize their experiences in the form of application-oriented training & resources. This model has powered more than 400 programs, 25000+ educators & over 1100+ institutions.

The teacher skilling platform is planning to build centers of excellence across the country for pre-service & in-service teachers that will operate in a hybrid format and bring courses & programs to help teachers & other educators learn the latest strategies, pedagogies and technology integration in their classrooms.

Mr. Pradeep Pillai, CEO & Co-Founder, OrangeSlates, says, “It is now the time for our country’s educators to receive the right and valuable training. The education sector is pivoting towards the latest technology, and it will not be a long wait to witness the implementation and effects of the changing trends. We are honored to partner with Rahul Education, a conglomerate that imparts knowledge in so many different disciplines. We are confident that with the pool of educators at RCOE, we will be in a position to train and make our educators completely future-ready.”

“It is a glorious milestone for Rahul Education to have partnered with OrangeSlates, a research-based and purpose-driven organization working for educators’ upskilling and, therefore, growth in their respective careers. We are looking forward to seeing how these targeted training programs will contribute to the growth of our teachers. In addition, the highly flexible and customized training sessions will allow teachers to comfortably accommodate these sessions along with their teaching schedule.” says, Mr. Utsav Tiwari, COO – Rahul Education.

Bangalore based health-tech startup Clinikk expands footprints into newer markets

Bengaluru, August 09, 2022: Clinikk, a Bengaluru-based health-tech start-up launches its path-breaking, all-inclusive health subscriptions that will bring down medical costs to zero by integrating health insurance with its high-quality, comprehensive outpatient care delivery model. Clinikk is on a mission to transform healthcare and create health equity for the 600 million Indians who are without proper access to quality primary healthcare in today’s day and age.

With this one-of-a-kind subscription model, Clinikk subscribers can, walk into any of Clinikk’s 18 primary care centers called Clinikk Health Hubs in Bengaluru (16) and Hyderabad (2 inaugural, more coming soon) and avail unlimited, high-quality medical care with ease. Clinikk network locations have been mapped to ensure that care is reachable within 15 minutes.

As an industry first, Clinikk offers an all-inclusive plan that offers families unlimited access to out-patient care (OPD) care as well as INR 5 lakh cashless hospitalization insurance cover, for a monthly subscription fee of just INR 500. The insurance cover has been curated specially for Clinikk members by an insurance partner. The subscription also offers Clinikk’s subscribers and their families, round-the-clock support of their family doctors either virtually or through Clinikk’s tech-enabled care centers. Additionally, the subscribers are also eligible for free diagnostics and medicines prescribed by the doctors.

Clinikk focuses on the “missing middle”- over 600 Million Indians who can neither afford private insurance nor are covered by a corporate plan but aspire for quality private care. Without access to an outcome-focused primary care model as well as adequate health protection, this segment falls under the high-risk category, staring at catastrophic medical expenses. Currently, Health insurance options offer limited protection, mostly for hospitalizations alone, putting an inordinate amount of burden on out-of-pocket expenses for out-patient care, forming the major chunk of health expenditure.

“Health protection in India is a product side problem because it only focuses on catastrophic medical expenses arising from hospitalization but not on recurring day-to-day medical expenses like consulting with a doctor, or getting blood work done,” said Bhavjot Kaur, co-founder and CEO, Clinikk. “Recurring medical expenses are equally impoverishing and therefore a holistic health plan needs to provide financial protection for both catastrophic as well as recurring health problems,” she added.

Clinikk’s one-of-a-kind technology platform assists its Doctors with automated clinical decision support that are embedded into their workflows and ensures that patients get safe, effective, and protocol-based care. A tech-enabled Care Team model also allows Clinikk to deliver essential promotive and preventive care at scale and efficiently.

Further, capitalizing on the national Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) infrastructure, Clinikk will also be able to integrate care data from multiple providers to design personalized care plans for its members to keep them healthy, engaged, and help them avoid medical emergencies. This helps improve outcomes and save costs to patients, insurers, and the health ecosystem at large.

Clinikk has raised $6.4 Million so far from marquee investors such as MassMutual Ventures, 500 Startups, Times Internet and prominent angels like Kunal Shah, Rohit MA, Rajan Anandan, etc. Clinikk is on a mission to build India’s largest, valued-based managed care organization. It is on track to set new standards of healthcare experience by delivering quality primary care and expanding to all major Indian cities by 2023

CABT Logistics to invest $ 8 Million to set up micro-fulfilment centres PAN India

9th August 2022, New Delhi: CABT Logistics, India’s leading intracity logistics brand gears up to meet the demand of big billion days and the upcoming festive season by investing $ 8 million to build about 120 micro-fulfilment centres across India. This investment in micro-warehouses comes in the wake of the E-commerce and Q-commerce boom, especially in a post-covid world.

Logistics plays a crucial part in operational optimization, especially for D2C brands. The investment will ensure that CABT Logistics is equipped to help businesses scale up by furnishing orders in a timely and cost-effective fashion. The first phase of expansion will witness the setting up of 75-80 micro fulfilment centres in tier 1 cities. Setting up micro-warehouses in delivery strategic places will not only shorten the distance that the rider has to cover but also reduces last-mile problems by a significant margin. The D2C brands will be able to cater to the Q-commerce market and offer same-day deliveries to their consumers thus catapulting business growth.

The second phase will include expansion in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The pandemic ushered in the digital era and brought remote regions into its fold as well. Micro-warehouses in tier 2 and tier 3 cities will aid CABT Logistics’ clients in shaving off minutes and help speed up the delivery process.

Sustainability has always been of paramount importance to CABT Logistics. The substantial investment of $ 8 Million will not only help D2C brands scale up but will also help lessen the carbon footprint. Logistics as a sector uses substantial energy and resources. This investment to set up micro-warehouses in strategic places all over India will help reduce the usage of air-fuel consumption for the first mile. Thus, reducing emissions by a significant margin.

The current gap in logistics impacts SLA and leads to increased RTO and cancellation. The micro-fulfilment centres aim to help small, medium and big enterprises to store their inventory at CABT Logistics warehouses and avail superlative order fulfilment services be it inter-city or intra-city for a wholesome, fuss-free experience and solution.

“The key for us lies in automation. We are planning the complete automation of our order processing. We process approximately, 10 lakh shipments in a day which in turn means each hub processes approximately 3000 orders in a day. We are trying to reduce the order processing time by automating and setting up fully automated micro-warehouses for our clients and this investment is to aid the same. One of our major agendas going forward is to build maximum resilience for businesses. Approximately 70% of our processes in the next 8 months will be automated to increase our SLA from 50 % to 90% accuracy in terms of delivery and the conversion rate.”, shared Shailesh Kumar, Founder of CABT Logistics.

CABT Logistics caters to retail behemoths such as Tata 1MG, Flipkart, Bigbasket and Snapdeal. The investment of $ 8 million will help their clients stay ahead of the curve.

Genovis AB Allances with evitria AG for fast LC-MS analysis of recombinant antibodies

Genovis AB and evitria AG signed a service agreement to offer evitria’s customers fast LC-MS characterization of recombinant antibodies using Genovis’ proprietary enzyme technologies. evitria AG is a world leading service provider for recombinant antibody expression in CHO cells, with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

With this new service agreement, Genovis expands into a new business area that combines the ease of use of the SmartEnzymes with the competence and experience in the Genovis team to make advanced LC-MS analytics of recombinant antibodies available to a broader market. The new service agreement is expected to generate approximately 200,000 EUR in revenue for Genovis during the first 12 months initial startup phase. The agreement is a starting point for Genovis ambitions to offer advanced automated LC-MS analytical services to biopharma customers, and additional growth from this business is expected going forward.

“Our transient expression service is designed to provide the highest quality material within the shortest timeframe possible. The SmartEnzymes workflow from Genovis perfectly complements this approach by providing valuable insights from LC-MS analysis with rapid turnaround times. We cannot wait to offer this to the market, and empower researchers with the combination of our technologies”, says Christian Eberle, CEO at evitria. 

“By offering the SmartEnzymes workflow as a service to antibody developers, we demonstrate our fast and robust sample preparation technologies that allow for easy interpretation of advanced LC-MS antibody characterization data. The quality and speed of the automated recombinant antibody services provided by evitria makes them a perfect partner for us to expand our service offering, and we are excited to team up with one of the leaders in this field”, says Fredrik Olsson, CEO at Genovis. 

Magnesium Chloride Market To Register Growth At 4.3% CAGR During The Assessment Period Between 2021 And 2031

The Global Magnesium Chloride Market is anticipated to expand at a steady 4.3% CAGR over the forecast period between 2021 and 2031, finds Future Market Insights (FMI) in a recent market analysis. Growing demand for deicing services is boosting demand for magnesium chloride.

Owing to the increasing demand from deicing and chemicals & derivatives sector is expected to remarkably contribute towards the expansion of the magnesium chloride market.

Surging demand for magnesium chloride from the specific regions with extreme cold weather conditions is driving the market. Magnesium chloride is hygroscopic in nature and quickly absorbs the moisture from the environment which makes it suitable for the various industries such as construction, dust suppressants. Growing construction and mining industry is expected to boost the demand for the magnesium chloride owing to its extensive usage to minimize the dust at industrial area.

Magnesium chloride is widely used across various industries for diverse applications, including deicing, dust suppressants, chemicals & derivatives, building materials, pharmaceuticals, food & feed & others. Magnesium chloride is widely used in the construction industry along with the pharmaceutical sector which is expected to boost the market in the forecast period.

According to the report, the global magnesium chloride market is expected to reach more than US$ 580.3 Mn by the end of 2031, at a compound annual growth rate of 4.3% during the assessment period.

Geographically, the market is predicted to be dominated by East Asia, which is expected to continue in the future evaluation period. Backed by the aforementioned factors, the global magnesium chloride market is projected to top US$ 580.3Mn by 2031.

Key Takeaways:

· By grade, demand for industrial Magnesium Chloride is expected to surge at a 4.1 % CAGR over the forecast period.

· The food & pharmaceutical grade Magnesium Chloride segment is projected to hold approximately 27% of the total market share in 2021.

· Deicing segment of Magnesium Chloride market is anticipated to grow at 4.5 % CAGR through 2031.

· Magnesium Chloride Market in the U.S. is anticipated to reach US$ 105.8 Mn by year in 2031.

· China will emerge as an attractive Magnesium Chloride market, with sales growing at a 6.1 % CAGR in 2021.

· Liquid form of Magnesium Chloride is expected to account for over 26.9% of the East Asia Magnesium Chloride market share in 2021.

· Japan and South Korea will collectively account for 7% of the total Magnesium Chloride market share through 2021.

Competitive Landscape: 

Key participants in the global magnesium chloride market elaborated in the report includes Israel Chemicals Ltd., K+S Aktiengesellschaft, Compass Minerals International, Inc., Shandong Haihua Group Co. Ltd., Huitai Investment Group Co., Ltd, Intrepid Potash, Inc., Tianjin Changlu Haijing Group Co., Ltd, DEUSA international GmbH, Nedmag B.V, Nikomag OJSC and others.

Leading players are focusing on collaborations, mergers, and acquisitions to expand their production facilities and distribution channels.

For instance: 

K+S Aktiengesellschaft decided to provide heavy investment to a new salt brine field in the Netherlands. The new brine field is expected to be developed for directional drilling by 2019 and operational by 2021 end. It will further improve the company’s production capacity by 25% and bring the production level to 1.2 million tpa.

These insights are based on a report on Global Magnesium Chloride Market by Future Market Insights

BOBCAPS & Maybank Securities Singapore Alliance for FIIs

8th August 2022, Chennai. BOB Capital Markets Ltd (BOBCAPS) and Maybank Securities Pte. Ltd. Singapore, part of Maybank Investment Banking Group (Maybank IBG) have entered into an Agreement to strengthen their India offering to clients in ASEAN and the rest of the world.

Combining the extensive network of Maybank IBG and excellence of BOBCAPS’ research, this alliance enables Maybank to enhance its product coverage to global institutional clients, while allowing BOBCAPS to expand its reach outside India. This relationship further augments Maybank’s capabilities in serving clients in ASEAN and key global markets while empowering them with bespoke, on-ground and in-depth research insights. The association shall extend across research, corporate access and roadshows to elevate interest in India equity products.

Sanjiv Saraff, Joint Managing Director of BOBCAPS said, “We are extremely pleased and excited about this Alliance. This is a great opportunity for us to leverage the existing global clientele of Maybank to significantly improve our distribution reach and to provide them with insightful India-Equity Research.” 

Dato’ Ami Moris, CEO of Maybank IBG said, “As our client franchise grows, we continue our focus on delivering value, and strengthening our platform and thought leadership. India is now the world’ fifth largest stock exchange and is a consistent outperformer versus other emerging markets. The investment case for India remains sound, and is supported by strong economic growth. Maybank IBG has over recent years successfully constructed a significant strategic partnership portfolio in Asia Pacific, and our alliance with BOBCAPS finally adds India, a most critical target market, to our comprehensive product offering. We expect to unlock more ASEAN plus global capital flows into India through this combined service.”