Post appraisal: Tips to help you assess your assessment

(Economic Times, May 15, 2011)

After an appraisal cycle, the office becomes bipolar. There are two distinct groups: the haves and the have-nots. Or the happy and the disgruntled. Whispered voices fill office aisles and new allegiances are formed based on the annual rating ritual.

Aditya Rajput, project manager with Wipro, is part of the unhappy gang. The 30-year-old executive feels his appraisal was botched by a biased supervisor. Assessed favourably for the last three cycles, he says his manager’s obvious prejudice towards people from the South worked against him. For now, he’s feeling cheated. Such reactions are common in the month after the appraisal cycle. Team leaders and supervisors become super-villains or super-heroes. Company practices are lauded or lambasted. After a few weeks, the chatter dies down. And life goes on as usual.

But this is not how it should be. This is the time for an objective analysis of your assessment. You must sit with your manager and discuss the implications of your evaluation. If you have bagged a big raise or a promotion, you need to chart the course for the next year.

If you think the company has been unfair, compare notes to understand why there was a mismatch in judgement. Here are a few tips to help you with the post-mortem. There is more that you can do apart from accusing your boss of being unfair. Many companies have grievance handling mechanisms to address such complaints.

“Even if there is no formal mechanism, employees can approach the boss’ boss,” says NS Rajan, partner and global leader (people and organisation), Ernst & Young. You can also take the HR route and meet your line HR manager.

What do you say in such meetings? First, ask the super-boss to decode your rating. In which areas have you not met expectations? At times there is a mismatch between perception and actual work. If so, approach your supervisor armed with data about your work. Once you understand the areas where you need to work harder, seek help to make a detailed road map for the year to come. Break-up your goals for each quarter to assess progress. Remember, bosses like to know that you are interested in improving your performance.

One caveat: follow protocol. Fix up a formal time mentioning that you need to discuss and clarify expectations. Give the manager time to prepare for the conversation. “Be polite and don’t get worked up,” says Manish Kumar, head, human resources, Kotak Securities.

Also, desist from comparing your evaluation with that of other team members. End the meeting on a positive note but with clarity on what you expect from your manager and what the company expects of you. Jappreet Sethi, Vice President – Human Resources at Jones Lang LaSalle India, has another tip: “Don’t talk a lot about the appraisal with your colleagues. They can only offer emotional support.”

By all means pop the bubbly. You worked hard for a year and it’s time to reap the dividends. But don’t sit on your laurels. “Employees with a positive appraisal must discuss the way forward with their supervisor,” says Sanjay Gupta, global head of HR, EXL Service.

Jappreet Sethi advises that you write a note of appreciation to your manager or the HR. Then get down to business. If you have been promoted, now is the time to discuss what the new role means. Will it involve more executive functions or different projects? Will people report to you?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/8331089.cms

The Rush For Retail Space Begins

(Businessworld, May 2011)

Remember those malls and shopping centres with those “space available” signs? Well, the signs have disappeared. In the first quarter of this year, Reliance Retail leased 78,000 sq. ft for a hypermarket in Kurla in Mumbai; Pantaloons India has just leased 20,000 sq. ft in Bangalore. It is not just the available space that’s disappearing: rentals are going up, too.

“Yes, last year there were places available and rentals were low, but the base effect seems to have caught up,” says Devangshu Dutta, CEO of Third Eyesight in Delhi. After a slow 2009, better salaries and wages have brought shoppers back to the malls; and developers are moving quickly to add retail space.

But not quickly enough, it seems. In cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, rentals are rising due to shortage of available space and the demand for location. That could stretch the economics of retail a little bit, but store owners seem confident that the customers will continue the shopping spree. Rents for anchor stores — which take up a significant chunk in a single mall (Pantaloon, for instance) — would be stable, since they bring large footfalls. The smaller stores may find it a tad difficult, but expect booming sales to take care of that.

According to real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle India, rental values in south Mumbai grew marginally during the quarter in line with rising interest in prime retail properties; retail rentals averaged Rs 225 a sq. ft per month, and in north Mumbai, they were Rs 135 a sq. ft.

Compare that to the rentals in the suburbs where rentals are Rs 85 a sq. ft. The prime south and prime north micro-markets recorded average rents of Rs 225 and Rs 135 per sq. ft per month, respectively. Mumbai is expected to witness 4.8 million sq. ft of new mall space being added by end-2011 and 6.9 million sq. ft by 2013: think expansions at Infinity Mall at Malad, Viva City Mall at Thane, R-City Mall Phase II at Ghatkopar, and Magnet Mall at Bhandup.

In Delhi, retailers have restricted their expansion, and rents haven’t stopped climbing. Even after six malls were completed in Delhi’s suburbs, rent per sq. ft went up by about 7 per cent. In prime locations, rent rose 25 per cent.

“With limited future supply in the prime micro-markets, rents are expected to rise in the near term,” says Abhishek Kiran Gupta, Head — Research & REIS at Jones Lang LaSalle India. “Suburban markets will also see rental values appreciate over the coming quarters, though perhaps limited to certain quality assets.”

How well should stores do? For 1,000 sq. ft, rent, wages and utilities can’t exceed 20 per cent of total charges to break even. Average sales for a store of this size should be Rs 1,500-2,000 per sq. ft. “Malls sign in anchors at good rates and then the anchors are the pitch for the mall owners to bring in other retailers at higher rentals,” says Sanjay Badhe, an independent retail consultant and former CEO of Trexa, the mall management company of Tata Group’s retail arm Trent.

Retailers are looking beyond the metros to Tier-II towns such as Coimbatore, Indore, Siliguri and Raipur. “Consumption is rising in smaller cities,” says Govind Shrikhande, managing director of Shoppers Stop in Mumbai. And guess what? Rents in those cities are not so high.

http://www.businessworld.in/bw/2011_04_30_The_Rush_For_Space_Begins.html

Powai and Panvel emerge as Mumbai’s housing hotspots

(Indian Express, April 29, 2011)

Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle India

The city of Mumbai houses around 14 million people, which makes it India’s most populous city and the world’s second-most populous city, according to the 2010 census. It is also India’s richest city because it has the highest GDP.

Unfortunately, it also has an extremely complicated and lopsided real estate market. Properties in the island city are notorious for being the most expensive real estate in India. This has caused the city to grow far into the mainland in the north and east directions, and this has resulted in the working population having to commute at least two hours to and from work every day.

To compound it all, there is a massive annual inward migration of aspiring job seekers into Mumbai. The city has been bursting at the seams for quite a while now, and its infrastructure is rocking and reeling.

The point I am making is that ‘destination development’ in the Mumbai context is a tricky and very non-typical concept. I do not see destination development in this city in terms of projects, but in terms of locations. This is because a well-conceived and executed residential project in Mumbai is still only as good as the infrastructure that makes its location accessible and capable of providing a certain level of comfort and lifestyle.

The inner city certainly does not offer much by ways of available land parcels anymore, and those that are available are hamstrung by infrastructure challenges. To my thinking, Mumbai’s residential property destinations of the future will be those that are seeing sufficient infrastructure development.

So, rather than singling out any project, I would like to stress on the fact that destination development and infrastructure development are joined at the hip in Mumbai. To make a destination project viable, it has to provide accessibility, open spaces and social conveniences such as shopping facilities, schools and hospitals.

• Powai stands out as a clear candidate for excellent destination development location because the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road offers good connectivity between the western and central suburbs. It is one the prime examples of destination development projects in the country, which has been positioned with the right mix of asset classes, fabulous architecture and the vision of a developer.
• In terms of accessibility, the Western Express Highway, S. V. Road and Linking Road along the western line have made Mumbai’s western suburbs very attractive to upper mid-income homebuyers who are seeking a better lifestyle. In fact, the direct road connectivity offered by the Western Express Highway has caused Thane’s Ghodbunder Road to emerge as an extended western suburban destination.
• In the Western Suburbs, Malad and Goregoan have been the examples of destination development in the past where developers like Raheja and Oberoi have created a cluster of excellent commercial office, retail and residential projects.
• Similarly, the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro will make locations along its route very lucrative for both commercial and residential space developers.
• Navi Mumbai and Kalyan-Dombivali real estate is also going to hit some new high notes with the coming of the new International airport. The highest focus will be on Panvel and its immediately adjoining areas, since Panvel is Navi Mumbai’s last node and also the ingress for the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. A speedier focus on the development of physical and social infrastructure in the region will ensure that this region maintains its attractiveness as a destination on the Mumbai real estate map.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/powai-and-panvel-emerge-as-mumbais-housing-hotspots/780051/0

Retail real estate rentals inching up in NCR

(Businessline, April 29, 2011)

With low footfall becoming a thing of the past, retailers in Delhi NCR region are embarking on an expansion drive and the region is witnessing a pickup in retail rentals. The trend – an increase in tenant queries and lease transactions by retailers – is expected to continue in the next 12 months.

Many retailers Business Line spoke to said retail rentals were headed north. “Though it has not reached the peak of 2008, it is climbing steadily,” a retailer said, adding that landlords were pressing for price revisions. He said his company, however, was not renegotiating its contracts despite the rentals showing an upward trend.

According to Mr Abhishek Kiran Gupta, Head – Research & REIS at Jones Lang LaSalle India, “Caution is still the buzzword as retailers have strategically restricted their expansion to only key popular retail projects or new ones, limited to those that offer good design, branding and the potential for a higher footfall to sales conversion ratio.”

He said that the vacancy rate across all micro-markets rose to 29.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2011 up from 26.1 per cent in fourth quarter 2010. Net absorption recorded in the NCR retail market was 622,001 sq ft compared to 201,576 sq ft observed in the previous quarter.

The level of absorption rose appreciably as one of a total of six completions recorded this quarter became operational with a nearly 90 per cent occupancy level.

The Delhi NCR retail market witnessed six mall completions in first quarter 2011. Also, new malls became operational with occupancy levels in the range of 7-10 per cent.

RENTAL INCREASE

Jones Lang Lasalle India said that the overall rents rose slightly to reach Rs 128 a sq ft a month in 1Q11 from Rs 127 a sq ft a month in 4Q10. The Prime South micro-market witnessed rise in rental values this quarter mainly due to high occupancy in good quality assets where landlords have started to test the price elasticity. Prime Delhi rents moved up and ranged between Rs 210 and Rs 260 a sq ft a month.

According to the findings of CB Richard Ellis India’s report titled “Indian Retail view” for H2, 2010 India witnessed the addition of more than 5 million sq ft of organised retail mall space in the country across various primary and secondary locations of top 7 cities in the year 2010. The supply is concentrated largely in the National Capital Region, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

In Delhi and NCR, rental values increased compared with first half of 2010 by almost 9-11 per cent in the high street location of Khan Market, while remaining stable in locations such as Connaught Place and Basant Lok. In the organised segment, retail rentals appreciated by almost 15 – 20 per cent in Saket District Centre and by almost 10-15 per cent in Vasant Kunj.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/marketing/article1978236.ece

Why Prague is a better deal than Pali Hills

(Mint, April 29, 2011)

Like their counterparts from developed nations, affluent Indians too dream of owning a second or a third property beside the sea or scenic hills around the world. Over the past two decades, demand for a second home in a foreign land by wealthy Indian buyers has been a central driver of residential price growth in Europe, the Caribbean region and North America, says The Wealth Report by Knight Frank and CitiBank.

Real estate markets across the world have shrunk in the past few years, owing to the global meltdown. As a result, there are few domestic buyers and property prices are lower. And that can be seen as an investing opportunity.

However, prices can’t be the only factor to be considered when investing in a foreign property that you may not be able to track at all. There are risks of fraud and misuse of your premises in your absence. But the good news is there are various other factors that make the proposition more attractive for you. Here is why some of them may work for you, how to make your deal risk-free and how to go about it.

Jones Lang LaSalle’s transparency index, which ranks 81 countries according to transparency in real estate transactions, has Australia on top. Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Ireland and Netherlands are among the top 10 most transparent markets in the world.

Indian tier I cities rank 41 on this index and comes in the semi-transparent category. The survey was first conducted in 1999 and is updated every two years. The survey considers factors such as performance measurement, market fundamentals, regulatory and legal environment and transaction process.

http://www.livemint.com/2011/04/28204753/Why-Prague-is-a-better-deal-th.html?h=B

Realtors find help on pruning clearances

(DNA, April 29, 2011)

Union minister for urban development Kamal Nath on Thursday said the number of approvals a developer has to get will have to be cut down for faster and more efficient property development in the country.

Speaking at the inaugural session of Credai’s (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India) 11th Natcon (National Convention) summit here, he welcomed the apex body’s new initiative, ‘Mission Transparency’, which among other things calls for a single window clearance for real estate projects.

Nath said his ministry would extend the requisite support to bring together all the state governments and developers from across the country to push forward the mandate of transparency and responsible growth.

Lalit Kumar Jain, president, Credai, said developers will now mention the carpet area of a property in all sale documents. He said developers were victims of corruption rather than beneficiaries. He said a developer has to get as many as 40 approvals to get a project off the ground. “Real estate is considered the breeding ground of black money. But we are just victims. We have to deal with as many as 150 people from the central and state governments and even the municipal corporations. It takes 26-48 months to get all the clearances and there is a huge risk of stoppage of work,” he said.

Other realtors, too, alluded to the huge share of approval and tax costs in the price of a property. Pradeep Jain, chairman, Credai, said there are five key costs in a project. “They would be land, raw materials, labour, approvals and taxes. Approvals and taxes alone account for 70-80% of the project cost,” he said.

Niranjan Hiranandani, co-founder and managing director, Hiranandani Group, said with such a cost structure, affordable housing will not be sustainable.

Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle India, said that by 2012 India’s cities will be short of 26 million dwelling units. “We are adding only 50,000 units every quarter in the top 7 cities,” he said, calling 2011 the best ever year for commercial realty. “In 2009, the demand for office space was 20 million square feet and in 2011 it has doubled.” The value of investment grade real estate in India was $100 billion as of June 2010, according to him.

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_realtors-find-help-on-pruning-clearances_1537241

India Property: Beyond luxury

(Financial Chronicle, April 28, 2011)

• Super-luxury homes are more like plush hotels – and they are the flavour of the times. What makes them so exclusive?
• An exquisite villa on an island off the coast of Mumbai, with an exclusive speedboat to pick up your guests from the mainland
• A home located around a nine-hole golf course designed by world famous architect Graham Cooke

Welcome to the world of super-luxury living. Following the bounce back from the recession, ‘super luxury’ has become the buzzword in India. Be it cars or homes, the focus has moved to exclusive offerings that would make ‘luxury’ pale in comparison. India has over 85,000 Ultra High Net worth Individuals (UHNIs) and their numbers are swelling at a fast clip. They seek exclusivity that goes beyond luxury to suit their brand value. What better way than a home that pampers you and wows everyone? Super-luxury residences are the flavour of the times, catering to the needs of a niche consumer group for whom a few extra crores don’t matter.

So, how does one define super-luxury living? Going by what developers and architects have to say, there are a host of contributing factors, ranging from design, size and facilities to the location of the property.

Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle India, says anything above Rs 10 crore ($2.5 million) will fall in the super-luxury category, while Rohtas Goel, CMD of Omaxe, puts the figure at Rs 5 crore onwards.

Says Anuj Puri, “There is a lot more confidence in the market, so there has been a definite resurgence in property demand. It is, however, largely limited to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.” He says. “These homes come with facilities such as sports complex, pools for individual houses, spa, café, concert halls and the like. In fact, super-luxury homes are more like a hotel than a house.”

Location is a key factor. Almost all luxury properties claim to insulate you from the hustle and bustle of city life. But, as Anuj Puri explains, the ideal location would be within the heart of the city, not on its periphery. “Customers want their homes to be located within the city, but the moment they step into the compound, they should be transported away from it. The view, the calm ambiance—that’s the thing.”

He clarifies that both condominiums and villas can come within the super-luxury bracket, depending on their specifications and the city where they are located. “In Delhi and NCR, you will find villas, so also in Bangalore which has a lot of available space to construct sprawling homes. But in Mumbai, with its space constraints, condominiums are also super-luxury. For instance, the condos that were constructed on the land where liquor baron Vijay Mallya had his house cost more than Rs 10 crore each,” he said.

http://www.mydigitalfc.com/leisure-writing/beyond-luxury-301

Scrapping teaser loans may not impact affordability for home buyers, experts say

(Moneylife, April 28, 2011)

There is a feeling that replacing the very popular special loan scheme with floating rate schemes will not make much of a difference. Experts think that the move by the State Bank of India (SBI) to scrap teaser home loans will have no impact on prospective home buyers.

SBI, the country’s largest lender, has finally fallen in line with the diktat of the Reserve Bank of India to discontinue teaser loans, and announced last week that it was replacing the special home loan scheme with floating interest rate schemes from 1 May 2011. Several other banks have already stopped the teaser loans scheme.

Some sector commentators think that discontinuation of this popular scheme would impact the decision of new home buyers, but there are others who believe that it will have little or no impact on customers.

“From the affordability angle, there will be no impact”, says Mrunal Duggar, Vice President – Residential Services at Jones Lang LaSalle India. “The loans were misleading and lured customers into a false sense of security by offering lower interest rates for the initial years. Sensible buyers would not opt for such loans anyway, so it will not impact their purchase decisions.”

The teaser scheme offered an interest rate of 8-8.5% during the first three years, after which, the borrower had to pay according to floating rates. The scheme did attract a large number of borrowers, which is probably also why SBI’s former chairman OP Bhatt continued with it, despite misgivings by the RBI. The RBI said the scheme resembled the US sub-prime scheme which precipitated the financial crisis in 2008.

The discontinuation of the scheme would result in higher interest rates for customers, but that would level out over the long term. Mrunal Duggar says, “The teaser scheme would charge the borrower a higher rate after three years, which would come as a shock anyway. Home loan repayment being a long-term process, a concession during the initial years will not have helped customers anyway.”

It has been reported that fewer people are opting for home loans recently, and preferring rented accommodation instead, on account of exorbitant property prices. This is indicated by sales and sales registration figures in Mumbai that have dropped since last year.

Despite an increase in the home loan limit in the Union Budget this year and various discounts offered by developers, buyers are staying away from making new purchases as prices have gone through the roof and beyond the budget of the average salaried people. In this situation, the discontinuation of the teaser loans is unlikely to make a noticeable impact.

The market also welcomed the announcement by SBI, as investors believed teaser home loans had an adverse impact on the bank’s margins. Edelweiss noted that “the bank had continued with its special schemes, despite RBI’s notification for higher provisioning, stating that special loans did not fall under the ‘teaser’ category.” Now, Pratip Chaudhuri, who took charge as chairman of SBI this month, says that the increase in deposit rates had forced the bank to take this decision.

Other home loan providers like HDFC and ICICI also provided teaser loans initially and later withdrew them. They will be relieved now, as SBI’s decision will put them on a level playing field. Although SBI could still offer lower rates by doing away with the pre-payment penalty and discounting processing fees.

http://moneylife.in/article/scrapping-teaser-loans-may-not-impact-affordability-for-home-buyers-experts-say/15912.html

Worry strongly impacts workplace performance

(DNA, April 28, 2011)

Jappreet Sethi, Vice President – Human Resources at Jones Lang LaSalle India, explains ways to tackle financial stress:

Financial stress can adversely affect a persons’ psychological state. This negative psychological state has a tendency to percolate down to the affected person’s workplace and – in fact – into all social interactions. Surveys have shown that financial stress is among the root causes of decreased performance at work and a steady decline in physical and mental wellbeing.

Causes of financial stress

The sources of financial stress are varied. In India, one of main causes is worry about the adequacy of retirement savings. Debt is yet another significant causative factor, as is worry about one’s ability to pay regular bills and housing loan installments. Most middle-class people in India are also under considerable stress related to their children’s education.

Almost 90% of all survey subjects indicated that they experience stress over the rate of inflation and the resultant changes in interest rate, and the fact that their pay packets are not keeping pace with it. An adjunct is stress created by joblessness or the fear of losing one’s job – which would create a financial deficit. A smaller segment of the Indian population experiences stress because they fear losing wealth that they have accumulated. Lack of objectivity with the use of credit card can also cause stressful situations. A credit card purchase does not entail immediate payment and this can lead to a false sense of security. The roots of most finance-related stress disorders are two-fold – lack of proper planning and a disconnection with the of one’s true financial position and future prospects.

Detriments of financial stress

Is financial stress itself a serious matter? If we consider that 80-90% of all ailments derive from stress, it certainly is. It has been proved that worrying excessively about one’s finances leads to heart disease, high blood pressure and in some cases alcohol and drug abuse. Depression related to haywire finances is almost a national mantra in India now.

Financial stress also has peripheral bad effects, meaning that it causes absenteeism and reduces am employee’s productivity.

Tacking financial stress

One of the baseline commandments in financial stress management is – get help. Finances are a serious matter and no single person can have perfect oversight. Moreover, we tend to become stuck in false belief systems about money. For instance, we may believe that a certain investment scheme is the best only because we have no knowledge of other schemes. Effective financial management calls for inside information into market dynamics and changing laws.

Complacency about deteriorating finances is a known ‘killer’. We tend to ignore the increasing seriousness of a situation, allowing it to build up until it is unmanageable. Regardless of how serious a financial situation is, it is never too late to get organized. Organization is they primary key for sorting out complicated finances. Call for inputs from others and, when required, from experts.

Bringing down financial stress

If one is already under stress from financial problems, planning is an extremely important factor. Often, one is tempted to throw good money after bad in hope of a quick-fix solution. When one is faced with financial stress, there are certain ground rules to follow:

• Consult a professional financial advisor – A professional will know of ways and means that you are not aware of
• Curtail spending until the crisis is resolved – This is no time for impulse buying as a stress-busting measure
• If in debt, talk to your creditors and explain your situation frankly – Perfect transparency in such situation is a far better tool than evasion

Objectivity: the ultimate stress-buster

We tend to run away from money-related problems rather than facing up to them. This is not even a temporary solution. The minute we accept such a situation squarely, we reduce stress because we are no longer trying to escape.

Getting proactive about tackling financial problems means one develops a ‘game plan’. This means positive action rather than negative inaction. To develop a game plan, we involve the help and advice of others. In other words, we are no longer alone in the stress-inducing situation and are strengthened.

http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_worry-strongly-impacts-workplace-performance_1536917

Rentals in Bangalore go through the roof

(DNA, April 27, 2011)

Is it cheaper to buy a home in Bangalore than rent it? According to a report brought out by a real estate portal, the answer is ‘yes’.

The report on property rentals, brought out by real estate portal 99acres.com, shows how rentals have skyrocketed in the city, so much so that real estate experts recommend that it would be cheaper to buy a home in the city than rent it.

According to the study, Bangalore saw the steepest rise in rentals during the January-March quarter at 13%. It was higher than Mumbai, Pune and Delhi.

As per the latest survey, conducted by Makaan.com, JP Nagar has seen the highest appreciation with rentals moving up by 30%. Marathahalli and Whitefield witnessed 24% and 9% rise in rent real respectively. Indiranagar’s rental value remained steady.

Neville M Vaswani, MD, Vaswani Group, said: “Bangalore has a lower rental rate base compared to Mumbai, and so the 13% rise looks magnified. Considering rental prices were not high to start off with, a 13% increase is actually becomes conspicuous,” he said.

Offering a contradictory view, Ashutosh Limaye, Local Director — Strategic Consulting at Jones Lang Lasalle India, said: “In such situations, capital values appreciate, making it unaffordable for people to shift from renting to buying a property. It is a question of increasing your budget by a few thousand rupees (for renting) as compared to a few lakhs rupees (for buying). People have no choice but to rent.”

http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_rentals-in-bangalore-go-through-the-roof_1536594