TUESDAY, 31 AUGUST 2021 03 LIVEMINT.COM CORPORATE NEW DELHI

Biz activity Big builders tap demand for Adopting crypto now above assets as currency pre-covid level: report plotted projects after covid is a risky bet: IMF

PTI Staff writer [email protected] [email protected] Preference for own homes over apartments is prompting builders to redraw their strategies NEW DELHI usiness resumption activity continued its he International Mone- B northward journey and Madhurima Nandy tary Fund (IMF) has said reached a new high, much [email protected] T that direct adoption of above the pre-pandemic levels BENGALURU crypto assets, such as bitcoin, for the week ended 29 August, as a national currency could according to the Nomura op property developers are impact a country’s macroeco- Business Resumption Index planning launches of plots nomic stability. (Nibri). Nibri rose to 102.7 for close to major cities as they IMF’s warning comes days the week ending 29 August seek to exploit a surge in before El Salvador adopts the from 101.3 in the prior week, as demand in this segment dur- most popular decentralized per the brokerage. Ting the pandemic. digital currency, bitcoin, as a The index, which compared The plots will be offered either as legal tender on 7 September. business activity with the pre- standalone properties or as part of a In a historic move on 9 June, pandemic levels of March larger township or residential project, the central American nation IMF’s warning comes days 2020, had fallen steeply during said industry executives. had become the first country before El Salvador adopts the two waves of infections, Developers so far have sold plots to pass a legislation to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender. ISTOCK which were accompanied by mainly for early monetization of their bitcoin as a legal tender. lockdowns. assets, lower investments and to make “Privately issued crypto-as- services were priced in both a Nomura said the index faster exit from projects. But the shift in sets like bitcoin come with real currency and a crypto-as- increased by 5.6 percentage demand during the pandemic, which substantial risks. Making set, people would spend sig- points (pp) in August 2021, after saw many people preferring their own them equivalent to a national nificant time and resources to 17.1 pp in July and 15 pp in June. homes over apartments, is prompting currency is an inadvisable decide which money to hold For the week ended 29 developers to redraw their strategies. shortcut,” IMF said in a tweet. instead of engaging in pro- August, Google retail and rec- While developers in Bengaluru have In a blog, Crypto assets as ductive activities. “Similarly, reation and Apple driving indi- seen growing demand for plots in National Currency? A Step Too government revenues would ces increased by 0.6 pp and 10 recent times, plotted projects are also The plots will be offered either as standalone properties or as part of a larger township or residential project. MINT Far, which was be exposed to pp, respectively, although being launched across major metros. shared with the Households and exchange rate workplace mobility surpris- Real estate firm House of Abhinan- favour among individuals seeking to Prestige Group and Shriram Properties and Coimbatore. tweet, IMF said: businesses would risks if taxes were ingly fell by 3.7 pp. dan Lodha, which currently sells only own an asset, either as an investment or Ltd are gearing up to launch plotted “In the plotted segment, a majority of “Some countries have little q u o t e d i n Power demand rose by 0.1%, plots, sold roughly 1,300 plots in for future use. projects in Bengaluru this year. DLF the players today are still unorganized may be tempted incentive to price advance in a compared to the previous Dapoli, Maharashtra, in the past year. It “We are in the process of delivering Ltd has planned launches in Indore, and the quality is average. On the by a shortcut: or save in a crypto asset week, while the labour partici- is now planning to launch more plotted a plotted project in Indore. Plotted lay- Lucknow and Panchkula. demand side, it is a mix of both inves- adopting crypto- while expendi- pation rate inched up to 40.8% projects in relatively untapped loca- outs are seeing traction in tier-2 and 3 Puravankara Ltd, which created a tor-driven and end-users where some assets as national parallel crypto tures remained from 40%. tions in the state. cities and people want to develop these separate arm called Purva Land for people will build homes on the land. currencies. Many asset, said IMF mostly in the There is, however, a mixed “These are branded land invest- With land being limited and as den- a r e i n d e e d local currency, or set of news on new infections, it ment schemes where plots were HOT PROPERTY sity in cities grow, people see sig- secure, easy to vice versa.” said, pointing out that the 7-day sold virtually. It simplifies land nificant value in buying land. access, and cheap to transact. Banks and other financial moving average (MA) of cases buying and is a platform which cre- ANALYSTS said PRESTIGE Group is PURAVANKARA has PEOPLE seeking to Which is why we are seeing large, We believe, however, that in institutions could also be rose by 9,200 from last week to ates a class of customers who will demand for plots among developers a launch pipeline of own an asset, either branded developers entering this most cases risks and costs out- exposed to the massive fluctu- in southern India planning to launch 3.15 mn sq. ft of such as an investment 41,000, although this deterio- continuously engage with us. has exceeded that plotted projects in projects in Bengaluru, or for future use, space,” said Abhishek Kapoor, chief weigh potential benefits.” ations in crypto-asset prices. ration was led by Kerala. It There is a desire to own land and of other regions Bengaluru this year , Coimbatore are going for plots operating officer, Puravankara. According to IMF, house- However, IMF said digital warned that a potential third we are working with other develop- Bengaluru-based real estate firm holds and businesses would money, such as cryptocurren- wave “cannot be ruled out” ers too in different cities for Salarpuria Sattva Group is launch- have little incentive to price cies, have the potential to pro- given the impending festivals. branded plotted projects,” said Vikas projects due to the demand,” said Rajan plotted projects, launched its first ing a couple of plotted projects at Nel- or save in a parallel crypto vide cheaper and faster pay- On the other hand, the vacci- Chaturvedi, chief executive officer, Gupta, vice-president, business devel- development, Provident Woodfield, in amangala and Mandya in asset, such as bitcoin, even if it ments, enhance financial nation pace has risen to 7.1 mil- Xanadu Realty, which handles sales opment and corporate strategy at New Bengaluru last year. Following robust where the plots will be priced between were given legal tender or inclusion, improve resilience lion doses per day, adding that and marketing for these projects. Delhi-based Ltd. sales, the firm is planning a series of ₹50 lakh and ₹1 crore, said managing currency status. “Their value and competition among pay- if this pace sustains, India Similar to the sharp recovery seen in Property analysts said demand for similar projects across cities. Over the director Bijay Agarwal. is just too volatile and unre- ment providers, and facilitate would be on track to fully vacci- sales of residential properties during plots in southern India has exceeded next year, the company has a launch “There is good demand, of which lated to the real economy,” it cross-border transfers. “But nate roughly 50% of the popu- the pandemic, plotted projects, which that of other regions in the country. pipeline of 3.15 million sq. ft of plotted about 80% is from actual users,” he added. doing so is not straightfor- lation by end-2021. are relatively risk-free, are finding Bengaluru-based developers such as developments in Bengaluru, Chennai said. The IMF said if goods and ward,” it added.