• India’s live data centre capacity has already crossed 1.6 GW as of June 2026 — about 5 times the 2019 level.
• JLL projects capacity will jump to 6 GW by 2029, adding 4.4 GW in three years.
• The build-out needs USD 110 billion across the value chain and 49 million sq ft of real estate.
• Split of that capital: $4 bn for construction, $18 bn for MEP (power, cooling, plumbing), $88 bn for IT equipment.
• H1 2026 absorption was 101 MW, more than 20% above the three-year H1 average; vacancy is a record-low 2.8%.
• Mumbai is slated for 35% of the 4.4 GW pipeline; Hyderabad 24%, Visakhapatnam 14%, Chennai 9%.
• Hyperscalers may self-build 1.4 GW by 2029. A 20-year tax holiday till 31 March 2047 has pulled in over $50 bn of foreign commitments.

India’s data centre market is no longer a niche industrial story. It is turning into one of the largest real estate and infrastructure build-outs of this decade.

A new JLL assessment says capacity will surge from 1.6 GW in June 2026 to 6 GW by 2029, making India Asia’s fastest-growing digital infrastructure market. The trigger is not just cloud storage. It is AI workloads — high-density computing that needs more power, more cooling, more land and far more capital than a conventional office park.

For developers sitting on large land parcels, for investors hunting yield beyond housing and malls, and for homebuyers watching how industrial demand reshapes city fringes, this is the number that matters: 49 million sq ft of new real estate and USD 110 billion across construction, plant and IT kit.

“India’s data centre landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation unprecedented in scale and ambition. The convergence of landmark tax incentives with massive hyperscale investments for AI-driven infrastructure requirements positions India as a strategic global hub for digital innovation,” said Rachit Mohan, Managing Director, Data Centre Leasing, APAC, JLL. “With 4.4 GW of new capacity requiring USD 110 billion in capital by 2030, we are witnessing the creation of an entirely new digital infrastructure ecosystem that will reshape India’s technology landscape and drive economic growth for decades to come.”

From 1.6 GW to 6 GW: what the leap actually means

JLL’s mid-2026 stock of 1.6 GW is already five times the 2019 base. The next jump is steeper. 4.4 GW of new capacity is expected by 2029.

That is not incremental warehouse-style growth. AI racks draw far more power per square foot than traditional servers. Operators therefore want large, power-ready campuses, not scattered floors in IT parks. That is why the sector is pulling land on city outskirts, industrial corridors and coastal nodes rather than competing only for CBD office space.

H1 2026: demand is running ahead of supply

The first half of 2026 showed how tight the market already is:

• 101 MW absorbed in January–June — more than 20% above the three-year H1 average.
• 85 MW delivered, mostly in Mumbai and Chennai.
• Vacancy down to 2.8%, a record low, because a large share of new supply is pre-committed rather than built on speculation.

JLL’s mid-year note also flags that pre-committed hyperscale capacity made up a very large share of absorption, driven by high-density AI computing. For landlords, that means lease-up risk is lower than in conventional commercial real estate — if the site has power, fibre and approvals.

The $110 billion stack — and the 49 million sq ft realty piece

JLL breaks the capital need as follows:

• USD 4 billion — real estate construction (the shell, land development, campus works).
• USD 18 billion — mechanical, electrical and plumbing: transformers, switchgear, chillers, liquid cooling, diesel/backup, water systems.
• USD 88 billion — IT equipment: servers, racks, networking.

The $4 billion construction line is the part that directly hits developers, contractors, steel-cement suppliers and landowners. The $18 billion MEP line is where specialised industrial contractors and power-equipment makers come in. The $88 billion IT line is largely imported or assembled kit — but it still needs buildings that can take the load.

49 million sq ft is the built-up real estate JLL attaches to this cycle. That is not 49 million sq ft of luxury towers. It is powered shells, technical buildings, substations, admin blocks and support facilities on large plots. For context, that is several times the annual Grade-A office delivery of a single metro — concentrated in a handful of hubs.

Hyperscalers will build a lot of it themselves

Global cloud and AI players are not only leasing from Indian operators. JLL says they will self-build nearly 30% of new capacity.

By 2029, hyperscale self-build is expected to deliver 1.4 GW. That changes the real estate model:

• Some campuses will be build-to-suit on land sold or leased by developers.
• Some will be powered-shell deals — the developer delivers land, structure and basic utilities; the hyperscaler fits out the hall.
• Established markets such as Mumbai and Chennai stay core. Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam are being talked about as gigawatt-scale hubs, not just secondary cities.

Self-build also means longer land-banking, heavier power reservations and fewer small plot deals. Investors looking at this sector need to think in 50–200 acre campus logic, not 2-acre IT building logic.

Policy tailwind: 20-year tax holiday till 2047

JLL points to the Union Budget 2026-27 incentive: a 20-year tax holiday for foreign cloud service providers, running till 31 March 2047.

The consultancy says this has already pulled in over USD 50 billion in foreign capital commitments. The policy pitch is simple: India becomes a routing and processing hub for global AI and cloud traffic, while long-horizon capital gets a clearer tax path.

For real estate, tax holidays do not create FSI. They do something else — they make 15–20 year campus investments bankable. That is when developers can justify buying raw land, waiting for transmission lines, and signing 10–15 year leases.

Mumbai remains the commercial and connectivity anchor — financial capital, dense fibre, subsea cable access, and the deepest operator ecosystem. That is why MMR industrial belts, Navi Mumbai, and large township/industrial land banks keep showing up in data-centre conversations.

Hyderabad is the cost-and-policy challenger: large parcels, state facilitation, and mixed self-build plus colo.

Visakhapatnam is the coastal dark horse — land, ports, and planned international connectivity.

Chennai holds its gateway role with subsea cables and a mature operator base.

JLL’s broader hub list also flags Pune as an AI compute node and Delhi NCR for sovereign cloud — useful for investors who do not want a single-city bet.

Power is the real bottleneck — nuclear and SMRs are now part of the story

A data centre without assured megawatts is just an empty shed. JLL links the next wave to:

• State efforts to strengthen grid transmission.
• Renewable energy offtake and green-tariff incentives.
• India’s nuclear target of 22.38 GW by 2031-32 and 100 GW by 2047, as baseload for always-on AI halls.
• Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) by 2033, which JLL flags as a future option for off-grid or campus-scale power.

Cooling is changing too. Liquid cooling, higher renewable mix and lower Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) are becoming design defaults, not CSR slides. That raises capex per MW but is what hyperscalers now underwrite.

For landowners near substations, upcoming transmission corridors or renewable parks, this is the new “location, location, location.” A plot without a power story will struggle to enter this pipeline.

DPDP rules: compliance becomes a demand driver

The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) framework, with full compliance required by May 2027, is another demand layer.

JLL says the rules — breach reporting, tighter security, and more localised processing — will push sovereign / compliant capacity, especially in BFSI, healthcare and technology. That favours operators who can prove Indian-soil processing, audit trails and physical security — not just cheap racks.

For the real estate side, that means more demand for facilities that can be certified, segregated and contractually ring-fenced, rather than generic multi-tenant halls.

What this means for developers, investors and homebuyers

Developers
This is not a substitute for housing. It is a parallel industrial-commercial vertical: large land, heavy power, long leases, specialised MEP. Players who already control industrial land, township leftovers, or logistics parks near fibre and grid nodes are best placed to sell, JV or build powered shells. Execution risk is high — environment, transmission, water and construction quality can stall a campus for years.

Investors
The $110 billion headline is not all real-estate IRR. Most of it is servers. The investable realty slice is the $4 billion construction plus land value and the long-lease income on colo campuses. Yields can look attractive versus vacant Grade-A offices, but the tenant universe is small and power risk is real. Treat this as infrastructure, not as another mall cycle.

Homebuyers and housing societies
Data centres rarely sit inside a residential society. They do, however, bid for the same fringe land, water and power that townships want. In MMR, Hyderabad and Chennai peripheries, expect more industrial-zoning pressure, higher values on large plots, and political fights over power allocation. The upside for nearby housing is jobs and infrastructure; the downside is strain on local utilities if planning is sloppy.

Broader economy
JLL notes ripple effects in power generation, telecom, manufacturing and skilled technical hiring. That is the public-policy case states are selling when they clear land and transmission for GW-scale parks.

Bottom line

JLL’s message is blunt: AI has turned Indian data centres from a 1.6 GW niche into a 6 GW, $110 billion, 49-million-sq-ft build-out by 2029. Mumbai still leads on share. Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam are the new scale bets. Tax holidays and DPDP rules are pulling foreign capital. Power, not just land, will decide who actually delivers.

For India’s real estate audience, the story is no longer “IT parks and SEZs.” It is who owns the next power-ready campus — and who is left holding land that cannot get a megawatt.

Also Read: Lodha Eyes Rs 30 Crore Per Acre Land Sales in Palava Data Center Park Amid AI Boom

The post AI Boom to Make India a 6 GW Data Centre Hub by 2029, Need $110 Bn appeared first on Square Feat India.

• BMC issued a circular on 2 September 2026 mandating new undertakings from Architects/Licensed Surveyors and Developers for IOD and Amended Plan approvals
• The undertaking makes them personally responsible for non-compliance with any stop-work notice tied to air pollution mitigation measures
• Consequences include suspension of license, revocation of development permission under Regulation 12 of DCPR 2034
• Unauthorized work after a stop-work notice attracts a penalty of 100% of premium rates, with no relief even where regulatory concessions apply
• The move follows Bombay High Court directions in Suo Moto PIL No. 3 of 2023 and recommendations of the High Power Committee (HPC) monitoring Mumbai’s air pollution mitigation compliance

The Circular and Its Background

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s Chief Engineer (Development Planning) issued Circular No. CHE/DP/14598 on 2 September 2026, directing all zonal staff to build new conditions into the approval process for Intimation of Disapproval (IOD) and Amended Plans across the city.

The circular traces its origin to the Bombay High Court’s order in Suo Moto PIL No. 3 of 2023, which led to the constitution of a High Power Committee tasked with monitoring compliance of air pollution prevention and control directions across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The committee, chaired by judges of the Bombay High Court, has held multiple meetings since early 2026, with the fourth and fifth sessions taking place in March and April this year. Those meetings, the circular notes, focused particular attention on construction and demolition activity as a driver of air pollution and flagged continuing negligence among project proponents on mitigation compliance.

Approval for the new conditions was granted by the Municipal Commissioner in two stages, on 18 August 2026 and again on 31 August 2026, before the circular was formally issued to zonal offices.

What the New Conditions Require

The circular introduces two nearly identical conditions, one applicable at the IOD stage and one at the Amended Plans stage, requiring a registered undertaking from the Architect or Licensed Surveyor and the Developer.

Under the condition for Amended Plans, the undertaking must state that the signatory shall be held responsible for non-compliance of any stop-work notice issued due to failure to implement air pollution mitigation measures, and shall be liable for any action including suspension of license and revocation of development permission as per Regulation 12 of DCPR 2034. It further states that unauthorized work carried out after issuance of a stop-work notice will be liable for penalty at 100% of premium rates, irrespective of any concession in regulation under which the development is proposed.

The condition listed for IOD approvals in the circular carries language stating the undertaking “shall not be submitted and not adhered to,” which runs contrary to both the evident intent of the circular and the parallel wording used for Amended Plans. This may be a drafting error in the document as issued, and project proponents and professionals would be well advised to seek written clarification from BMC’s Development Planning department on the applicable requirement before relying on either version.

Who It Applies To and What’s at Stake

The directive is addressed to all zonal offices, including Deputy Chief Engineers (Building Proposals) for City, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs I and II, and the Special Cell, meaning it applies uniformly across Mumbai’s building permission zones rather than being restricted to any one area.

By requiring a personally signed undertaking rather than a general corporate compliance clause, BMC has shifted individual professional and financial exposure directly onto Architects, Licensed Surveyors, and Developers. A license suspension or revocation of development permission would have direct consequences for a professional’s ability to practice or a project’s ability to proceed, while the 100% premium rate penalty for unauthorized post-notice work represents a significant cost exposure that explicitly cannot be offset by any concession the project might otherwise enjoy under applicable regulations.

Why This Matters for the Sector

The circular signals that court-driven oversight of construction-related air pollution is now being built directly into BMC’s plan-approval pipeline rather than functioning only as a post-facto enforcement mechanism. For developers and construction professionals across Mumbai, this means air pollution mitigation compliance will need to be treated as a precondition tied to personal liability at the paperwork stage, not merely a site-level obligation to be managed after approvals are secured.

Given the scale of the penalties involved and the potential impact on licenses and development permissions, industry stakeholders will likely be watching closely for further clarificatory circulars from BMC, particularly on the apparent inconsistency in the IOD-stage condition.

Also Read: CREDAI-MCHI and MAHAPREIT Sign MoU to Drive Decarbonization and Address Air Emissions in the Construction Sector

The post BMC Makes Architects, Developers Personally Liable for Air Pollution Lapses appeared first on Square Feat India.

The minister’s remarks come at a time when Mumbai and the wider Mumbai Metropolitan Region are witnessing rapid redevelopment, high-rise construction and increasing urban density, making fire prevention, evacuation preparedness and functioning safety systems critical to the resilience of buildings and public spaces.

The FSIE 2026 is being held from September 3 to 5 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and brings together stakeholders from the fire protection, life safety, security and building automation sectors.

Development and Safety Must Go Hand in Hand

Addressing the inaugural session, Dr Pankaj Bhoyar, Minister of State, Government of Maharashtra, stressed that India’s infrastructure and urban development must be accompanied by stronger safety preparedness.

“Development and safety must always go hand in hand,” Bhoyar said, emphasising that buildings, workplaces and public spaces must be designed with the safety and security of citizens as a priority.

He also called for greater investment in indigenous fire and security technologies. According to Bhoyar, India should move beyond simply adopting technologies developed elsewhere and build solutions domestically that can eventually be exported to global markets.

He urged entrepreneurs, manufacturers, startups and technology companies to invest and manufacture in Maharashtra, linking fire-safety innovation with the broader Make in India and Startup India initiatives.

Fire NOC Cannot Be the End of the Safety Process

A key message from the event was that obtaining a Fire NOC should not be treated as the final measure of a building’s fire-safety preparedness.

Madhuri Misal, Minister of State for Urban Development, Government of Maharashtra, said fire safety must be incorporated from the design and construction stage itself rather than being treated as a post-construction compliance exercise.

Her approach covers several aspects of a building, including structural design, electrical and water systems, evacuation planning, firefighting installations and the regular testing and maintenance of safety equipment.

Misal called for a shift from a “certificate-based” approach to one based on continuous safety and preparedness. In practical terms, this means that fire-safety systems need to remain operational throughout the life of a building rather than simply being compliant when an approval or certificate is obtained.

“Fire safety cannot be limited to installing fire extinguishers or obtaining a fire NOC,” Misal said, stressing the importance of regular inspection, testing, maintenance and compliance.

Why Continuous Fire Safety Matters for Mumbai

For Mumbai, the issue has particular relevance because the city is undergoing extensive redevelopment while simultaneously adding new high-rise residential and commercial buildings.

As older structures are replaced and development becomes increasingly vertical, fire-safety planning has to account not only for firefighting equipment but also for evacuation routes, access for emergency services, electrical infrastructure, water availability and the continued functioning of installed systems.

The Maharashtra Fire & Emergency Services itself provides dedicated guidance covering high-rise residential buildings, malls, schools and industrial premises, while the state has a statutory framework under the Maharashtra Fire Prevention and Life Safety Measures legislation.

This makes the emphasis on ongoing maintenance particularly significant for housing societies, commercial establishments, developers and building managers.

From Reactive Response to Proactive Prevention

The broader objective emerging from FSIE 2026 is to move the fire-safety ecosystem from responding to incidents towards preventing them and ensuring that buildings remain prepared to deal with emergencies.

Rakhi Deepak, National President of the Fire & Security Association of India (FSAI), described safety as a collective responsibility involving government, industry, professionals and technology providers.

The expo is showcasing technologies covering fire protection, life safety, security, surveillance, building automation and emergency response. AI, IoT, smart sensors, advanced fire detection and integrated command-and-control systems are among the technologies being highlighted.

Such technologies can potentially improve the speed at which fires are detected and emergency responses are initiated, but the effectiveness of these systems ultimately depends on proper installation, regular testing, maintenance and trained personnel.

Push for Maharashtra-Made Safety Technology

Bhoyar also used the platform to push for a stronger domestic fire and security technology ecosystem.

He said Maharashtra should become a base for manufacturing and innovation in the sector, with locally developed safety solutions being taken to international markets.

The emphasis is significant as India’s urbanisation creates a growing requirement for fire detection, emergency response, surveillance, building automation and integrated safety systems.

The minister’s message was therefore not limited to regulatory compliance. It also linked urban growth with technology, manufacturing, skilled professionals and preparedness.

FSIE 2026 Brings Industry and Government Together

The ninth edition of FSIE 2026 features more than 240 exhibiting brands and over 70 speakers, bringing together government representatives, architects, engineers, consultants, manufacturers, technology companies and other industry stakeholders.

The event is supported by the Government of Maharashtra and its Urban Development Department, highlighting the focus on fire prevention, emergency preparedness and safer built environments.

For Mumbai’s increasingly dense urban landscape, the central takeaway from the event is clear: fire safety cannot end with a certificate.

Buildings need systems that work when they are required, evacuation plans that can actually be implemented, trained personnel who know how to respond, and regular inspections and maintenance to ensure that safety infrastructure remains functional throughout the building’s life.

The shift from obtaining a Fire NOC to maintaining continuous preparedness could therefore become an increasingly important part of how Mumbai approaches the safety of its existing and rapidly expanding building stock.

Also Read: Rising Fire Incidents & the Need for a Right Combating Tool

The post Mumbai Buildings Need Continuous Fire Safety, Not Just NOCs: Min Bhoyar appeared first on Square Feat India.

• Tenure: 28 months (1 August 2026 to 30 November 2028)
• License / rent commencement: 1 August 2026
• Opening monthly license fee: ₹8,26,875 + GST
• Escalation: 5% every 12 months
• Lock-in: 12 months from commencement
• Security deposit: ₹30,00,000 (interest-free)
• CAM and property tax: included in the license fee
• Car parks: 2 reserved stilt parks
• Premises: Offices 803 and 804, 8th floor, Lotus Grandeur, Veera Desai Road Ext., Andheri West

Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Private Limited has given offices 803 and 804 on the 8th floor of Lotus Grandeur, Andheri West, on a 28-month leave and licence to Rhea and Dia Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., according to the registered agreement provided by CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm. The instrument was executed in Mumbai on 1 September 2026 and registered as MB113-19693-2026 at the Joint Sub-Registrar, Mumbai-13. Stamp duty of ₹64,000 and registration fee of ₹1,000 (total ₹65,000; GRN MH009391334202627P) were paid by the licensor; document handling charges of ₹2,080 were paid the same day.

The licensor is Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (CIN U92100MH2005PTC152918; PAN AACCN0909J), registered at the 17th floor of the same Lotus Grandeur building, Off Veera Desai Road, Andheri West. It signed through authorised signatory Nusrat Javed Khan under a board resolution dated 27 July 2026. The licensee is Rhea and Dia Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. (CIN U55101MH2026PTC468475), registered at Office C/210, 2nd Floor, Crystal Plaza, New Link Road, Oshiwara, Andheri West, signed through Sagar Prakash Bhosle under a board resolution of the same date.

The premises

The licensed units are offices 803 and 804 on the 8th floor of Lotus Grandeur, standing on CTS No. 737/9/12/C-D, Village Oshiwara, Taluka Andheri, Veera Desai Road Extension, Andheri West, Mumbai 400053, together with two reserved stilt-level car parks. The licence is for commercial office use, on an as-is-where-is basis, and is expressed as a personal permission that does not create tenancy.

Period and fee

The licence runs 28 months from 1 August 2026 to 30 November 2028. Occupation and fee both start on 1 August 2026 — a month before the deed was signed. There is no rent-free period.

Monthly licence fee, plus GST, is:

The step-up is 5% after every 12 months from commencement. Fee is payable in advance on or before the 7th of each month, against post-dated cheques listed in Annexure D. Delayed payment after the cure period attracts 12% interest. Building maintenance and property tax are built into the fee and stay with the licensor. Electricity, internet, telephone and other utilities are paid by the licensee at actuals.

Deposit and lock-in

An interest-free security deposit of ₹30 lakh has been placed: ₹20 lakh by RTGS/NEFT on 28 August 2026 and ₹10 lakh by post-dated Kotak Mahindra Bank cheque dated 7 September 2026. On exit, the licensor may hold back ₹5 lakh for one month pending clearance of dues and restoration (fair wear and tear excepted).

Neither side may terminate during the first 12 months. If the licensee walks during lock-in, the balance lock-in fee plus the licensor’s costs are payable. After 12 months, either party may terminate; non-payment of fee, if not cured within 30 days of notice, lets the licensor end the licence even during lock-in.

Lotus Grandeur on the Veera Desai / Oshiwara belt is a familiar mid-rise office address for film and services firms. A 28-month take of two 8th-floor units from Nadiadwala’s production company, CAM bundled into rent, 5% annual escalation and a one-year mutual lock-in is now on the public registration record circulated by CRE Matrix.

Also Read: India’s Real Estate Market Shows Resilience in 2025 Despite Global Headwinds

The post Nadiadwala Lets Andheri Offices 803-804 to Rhea & Dia at ₹8.27 Lakh/Month appeared first on Square Feat India.

The change does not mean metros have become irrelevant. On value, the Top 8 cities still account for roughly 52% of home-loan originations. Bigger tickets, higher property prices and premium housing still sit in the metros. What has changed is who is borrowing and where the volume is coming from. Smaller cities are generating the larger share of loan accounts. Gujarat’s FY25 pattern is a useful illustration: disbursals rose even as the number of borrowers fell by nearly 35%, pointing to larger average tickets and rising property values even as account growth cooled.

That mix — more loans in smaller towns, still-heavier rupee value in metros — is the real story of India’s housing finance market in 2025–26.

The numbers behind the shift

Outstanding individual housing loans have grown about four times in a decade, from around ₹10 lakh crore in FY15 to more than ₹37 lakh crore in FY25 and ₹44.4 lakh crore by March 2026. Housing loans as a share of GDP have moved from about 8% to 11–12%. That is still far below the United States (around 50%) and the United Kingdom (60%+). India remains underpenetrated. The growth that is happening is no longer confined to the usual urban cores.

State-wise books still show the old hierarchy. Maharashtra remains the largest home-loan market at about ₹9.8 lakh crore outstanding, followed by Karnataka, Telangana, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. But the report is clear: incremental credit is becoming pan-India. Emerging markets are adding meaningful new borrowers even if they do not yet match metro ticket sizes.

Originations in FY26 reached ₹11.81 lakh crore, up 12.3% year-on-year, with a strong rebound in the last quarter. The ₹75 lakh-and-above segment now accounts for 41% of origination value. Volume, however, is still driven by smaller and mid-sized loans. About 24% of disbursements are below ₹25 lakh. Affordable housing is linked to roughly 34% of portfolios. The ₹25–40 lakh band is among the fastest-growing pockets.

Who is taking the loan now

The borrower is changing as much as the geography.

As of September 2024, Economically Weaker Section and Lower Income Group borrowers together made up about 39% of outstanding housing loans. The Middle Income Group accounted for about 44%. High-income borrowers were only about 17%. First-time homebuyers, self-employed people, informal-income households and thin-file customers — groups that traditional salaried underwriting often struggled to serve — are now central to the next phase of growth.

This is why the 64% volume share of Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities matters. These are not only “smaller versions of Mumbai.” They are markets where a first home is still within reach, where land prices have risen sharply in several emerging locations (the report cites a ~65% rise in some markets as of 2024), and where about 44% of land acquisitions have already shifted away from the biggest cities.

Why smaller cities are pulling ahead on volume

Several forces are working together.

Improved highways, metros, airports and local job markets have made Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns more livable. Manufacturing clusters, MSMEs and a limited shift of work away from only the largest metros have created local housing demand. High prices in prime city locations have pushed many buyers to peripheral and non-metro markets. Government housing programmes such as PMAY-Urban 2.0 and the older credit-linked subsidy architecture have kept affordable ownership on the policy agenda. Digital public infrastructure — Aadhaar, UPI, Account Aggregator and video KYC — has made it easier for lenders to underwrite borrowers who do not have a neat salary slip.

Housing Finance Companies focused on low- and middle-income customers have built dense branch networks in these towns. Platforms that match borrowers to lenders have reduced the old dependence on a single local bank branch. The result is not that metros have stopped growing. It is that the count of new home loans is now heavier outside them.

What this means for the real estate industry

For developers, the shift is a product and land story as much as a finance story.

If most loans by number are being taken in smaller cities, demand is tilting toward mid-ticket and affordable inventory, not only luxury towers in a few coastal or IT corridors. Land banks in emerging cities become more valuable. Project mix has to follow the borrower: ticket sizes around ₹25–40 lakh and the affordable band will matter more for volume absorption than they did when metro premium housing dominated the conversation.

It also changes the builder–lender relationship. Co-lending, specialist affordable HFCs, and digital origination platforms sit between the buyer and the bank. Speed of sanction, document friction and on-ground verification in smaller towns become as important as brand and location. Delayed projects and weak title or approval trails will still kill a loan file — perhaps faster in markets where lenders are expanding but local legal and technical capacity is thinner.

For housing societies and existing owners in metros, the implication is different. Metro value growth and larger tickets can continue. But the national “housing boom” narrative is no longer only a Mumbai–NCR–Bengaluru story. Inventory that does not match local incomes in smaller cities will struggle even if national loan books look healthy.

What it means for the country

A home loan in a smaller city is often a first formal, long-duration credit relationship. That has inclusion effects: EWS, LIG and MIG households building an asset, entering the documented financial system, and tying their repayment behaviour to a house rather than a short-term personal loan.

It also spreads urbanisation. If credit follows the buyer into emerging cities, construction, allied jobs and municipal demand follow too. The report frames housing finance as a stable retail asset class — large tickets, collateral, long tenors, relatively low delinquency — that can compound without the volatility of unsecured credit. Expanding that book outside metros is how India can raise housing loan-to-GDP from 11–12% toward the higher teens without relying only on already expensive city land.

The risk sits on the other side of the same coin. Field-heavy verification, partner fragmentation (DSAs, valuers, lawyers, builders), uneven digitisation and one-size underwriting still slow files. A loan that looks “digital” at application can still stall on physical documents and local checks. Transparency for the borrower — knowing where the file is stuck — remains weak in many journeys. Technology is catching up; execution has not fully caught up.

What lies next

The SGA PR outlook to 2030 is straightforward. Housing loan-to-GDP could move toward about 18%. Digital sourcing could cross 70%, with aggregators, assisted-digital journeys and marketplaces taking a larger share from pure branch origination. Account Aggregator data could become a core underwriting layer for self-employed and informal-income borrowers. Affordable housing and emerging-city demand are expected to drive most incremental growth. AI-assisted income assessment, fraud checks and portfolio monitoring are likely to become standard rather than experimental.

None of that is guaranteed. It depends on asset quality holding as lenders go deeper into thinner files, on cities delivering infrastructure and approvals, and on borrowers in smaller towns getting a process that is as clear as the marketing. For now, the fact pattern is already visible: more home loans, by volume, are being taken away from the old metro core. That is the phenomenon the housing industry has to plan around — not a future scenario, but the present map.

Also Read:

The post Smaller Cities Now Drive 64% of Home Loans as India Moves Beyond Metros appeared first on Square Feat India.

• Property: Flat D/9, 3rd floor, Samtadeep CHSL, 25th Road, TPS-III, Bandra West
• Area: 180 sq ft carpet / 216 sq ft built-up (1 RK)
• Consideration: ₹63,00,000
• Ready-reckoner value: about ₹59.19 lakh
• Deed date / registration: 1 September 2026
• Stamp duty: ₹3,15,000 | Registration fee: ₹30,000 | Handling: ₹1,400
• Society shares: 5 shares of ₹50 each (Share Certificate No. 18)
• Possession: vacant possession on full payment

Actor Khushi Kapoor has bought a 1-room-kitchen flat at Samtadeep Co-operative Housing Society on 25th Road, Bandra West, for ₹63 lakh, according to the registered deed of transfer provided by CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm. The deed was executed in Mumbai on 1 September 2026 and registered as document MBI11-19120-2026. Stamp duty of ₹3,15,000 and registration fee of ₹30,000 (total ₹3,45,000; GRN MH009274543202627N) were paid by the buyer; document handling charges of ₹1,400 were paid the same day.

The transferor is Farooq Chagla, son of Mohammed Ayub, 53, who was himself living at the same flat. The transferee is Khushi Kapoor, 26, residing at B-101, Kubelisque, Pali Hill Road, Khar. The seller had acquired the flat from Laxman Hari Kamble under an agreement for sale dated 29 March 2005, registered at Bandra as BDR-01/02742/2005, and the society shares were transferred in his favour on 30 April 2005.

The flat and society

Flat No. D/9 on the 3rd floor of Samtadeep (also spelled Samatadeep in the deed) admeasures about 180 sq ft carpet / 216 sq ft built-up and is described as a one-room-kitchen. The building stands on City Survey No. F/816, 25th Road, Town Planning Scheme III, Bandra West, Mumbai 400050, near Stomach Restaurant. Membership of Samtadeep Co-operative Housing Society Ltd (registration No. BOM/WHW/HSG/TC/9503/96-97) travels with the flat: five fully paid-up shares of ₹50 each, numbered 106 to 110, under Share Certificate No. 18 dated 12 January 1999.

The official valuation extract dated 31 August 2026 puts the ready-reckoner value of the built-up premises at about ₹59,19,426. The agreed consideration of ₹63 lakh is above that guideline figure. Stamp duty has been levied at 5% on the consideration.

How the ₹63 lakh was paid

The receipt attached to the deed records the following:

The transferor has acknowledged receipt of the full consideration and has covenanted a clear, marketable, unencumbered title, with all taxes and society outgoings paid up to the date of the deed. Vacant, peaceful possession was to be handed over on execution. The buyer is to pay the society’s transfer fee and take membership. The seller has undertaken to furnish the society NOC, original title papers and the share certificate.

On 180 sq ft carpet, ₹63 lakh works out to ₹35,000 per sq ft — a compact 1RK ticket in a mid-rise Bandra West society off 25th Road, now on the public registration record first circulated by CRE Matrix.

Also Read: Hrithik Roshan Buys ₹28-Crore Office Space in Juhu’s Premium Yura Project

The post Khushi Kapoor Buys 180 Sq Ft Bandra West 1RK for ₹63 Lakh appeared first on Square Feat India.

• How MREAT ordered the Mahalaxmi Tower project to revert from commercial to residential use
• The full sequence of allegations and counter statements
• What the MahaRERA deregistration warning on the project’s page means for buyers
• Why this is one of the rarest of rare orders in Indian real estate history
• The homebuyers’ fight and what they won
• DB Realty’s Shahid Balwa’s response in full, unedited
• Why Prestige Estates’ Irfan Razack chose silence
• What comes next as the matter heads to the Bombay High Court

There are judgements that lawyers discuss. And then there are judgements that make homebuyers cry with relief. The Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal’s order in the matter of Mahalaxmi Tower is the second kind. After years of waiting, of legal battles, of watching a project they had booked as residential apartments transform into something else entirely without their consent, a group of homebuyers have been told by a statutory tribunal that they were right all along, and that the developer must go back to what was promised.

A residential project promised to homebuyers in 2007 cannot be converted into a commercial tower simply because the commercial plan works for the developer.

That is the central message emerging from a landmark order of the Maharashtra Real Estate Appellate Tribunal (MREAT), which has delivered a major setback to DB Realty and Prestige Estates Projects over the Turf View project at Mahalaxmi, Mumbai.

In a judgment pronounced on August 25, 2026, the Tribunal allowed appeals filed by three sets of homebuyers who had booked flats nearly two decades ago and paid approximately half the consideration. The Tribunal has now ordered the project to return to its original residential character.

The ruling not only overturns a chain of decisions taken by MahaRERA and the promoters, but also raises serious questions about the attempt to move from residential development to commercial construction while existing homebuyers were still waiting for the flats they had booked.

What readers need to know

• The Tribunal has ordered the project to revert to its original residential plan.
• The change of promoter approved by MahaRERA in 2021 has been set aside.
• The project’s deregistration in 2022 has been quashed.
• The termination of the three homebuyers’ allotments has been held illegal.
• The promoters have been directed to execute registered agreements for sale within one month.
• The project must be updated on the MahaRERA portal, with the three appellants shown as allottees.
• A penalty equivalent to two percent of the project cost has been imposed under Section 61 of RERA.
• The Tribunal found that the promoter relied on the consent of buyers who had already exited the project.
• MahaRERA’s website continues to display a warning that the project is deregistered and that buyers should not purchase or transact in it.
• DB Realty has said it will challenge the order before the Bombay High Court.

A 2007 promise left unfinished

The dispute began in 2007, when buyers booked apartments of approximately 3,000 square feet each in the proposed Orchid Turf View residential project at Dr. E. Moses Road, Mahalaxmi.

The three sets of appellants paid around 50 percent of the total consideration. According to the judgment, the payments made for the flats were:

Yet, despite receiving substantial payments, the original promoter did not execute and register agreements for sale.

The project was subsequently registered with MahaRERA as an ongoing residential project under registration number P51900003617. Its completion date, originally fixed for December 2020, was later extended to June 2026. At the time of the Tribunal’s judgment, however, the project remained incomplete, and possession had not been given to the appellants.

For the buyers, this was not merely a delayed possession dispute. They had paid crores in 2007, waited for years, repeatedly asked for formal agreements and were then confronted with a plan to change the nature of the project altogether.

The sequence of allegations

The Tribunal’s findings followed a series of events spanning more than a decade.

1. Agreements were never registered

The promoters accepted more than the permissible advance amount without executing registered agreements for sale. The Tribunal held that this violated Section 4 of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act and Section 13 of RERA.

The buyers had sent repeated reminders seeking execution and registration of the agreements. According to the judgment, those requests were not acted upon.

2. The first termination was withdrawn

In October 2016, the promoters attempted to cancel the allotments and claimed that the sale consideration had been adjusted against an unrelated group project.

The buyers objected. The termination was later revoked in 2017, but the underlying agreements still remained unexecuted.

3. The project was sought to be transferred

In July 2021, the original promoter applied under Section 15 of RERA to transfer the project to Turf Estate Joint Venture LLP.

The promoter represented to MahaRERA that the required two-thirds consent had been obtained from the allottees. It also represented that the allottees had consented to changing the project from residential to residential-cum-commercial.

MahaRERA approved the change of promoter in October 2021 and communicated the decision in November 2021.

4. The consent count was challenged

The homebuyers argued that the consent relied upon by the promoter was not valid because most of the persons whose consent letters were used had already exited the project and accepted refunds before the application was filed.

The Tribunal examined the dates and found that 13 of the 14 consents relied upon by the promoter came from people who were no longer allottees when the application for change of promoter was filed on July 26, 2021.

The Tribunal held that the promoter had used old consent letters to represent that it had the consent of the required majority at the relevant time.

It described the representation as misleading and deceitful, and held that the consent could not support either the change of promoter or the proposed change in the project.

5. Residential became commercial

The original project was registered as residential. The consent relied upon by the promoters, even on their own case, was for a residential-cum-commercial project.

The Tribunal found that the project was subsequently pursued as a purely commercial development. It held that the promoters could not use the consent for a residential-cum-commercial change to justify an outright commercial project.

The judgment records that commercial permissions and construction-related steps were pursued even while the Tribunal’s stay concerning deregistration remained operative.

The Tribunal treated this as a serious breach and held that the project was being altered for the promoters’ own benefit, at the expense of the homebuyers who had purchased residential flats.

6. The bookings were terminated

In January 2022, the promoters terminated the appellants’ allotments and offered to refund the money with interest.

They relied on a clause in the allotment letters that allowed the developer, at its sole discretion and without assigning any reason, to revoke a booking and refund the money.

The Tribunal found the clause to be one-sided, unfair and oppressive. It held that the buyers had not defaulted and that there was no demonstrated impossibility or financial infeasibility preventing completion of the project.

The termination was therefore set aside.

7. The project was deregistered

After terminating the bookings, the promoters applied to MahaRERA to deregister the project.

The argument was that there were no allottees left and, therefore, no continuing project requiring RERA registration.

MahaRERA accepted the application and ordered deregistration in September 2022.

The Tribunal rejected that reasoning. Since the termination of the three appellants’ allotments was illegal, they continued to be allottees in law. The promoters could not first terminate their bookings unlawfully and then rely on that termination to claim that no allottees remained.

The Tribunal also relied on MahaRERA’s deregistration guidelines, which require either zero allottees or the necessary consent where the rights of existing allottees are affected.

What the homebuyers argued

The appellants’ case was that the promoters were attempting to escape their contractual and statutory obligations through a series of connected steps.

They argued that:

• They had paid approximately half the consideration for residential flats.
• The promoters had failed to execute registered agreements for sale.
• Their allotments were terminated without any buyer default.
• The project was being converted from residential to commercial without their consent.
• The promoter-change application relied on consents given by people who had already exited.
• Deregistration was being used to remove the project from MahaRERA’s jurisdiction.
• Keeping their money in fixed deposits did not compensate them for losing the flats or the appreciation in Mumbai property prices.
• The project should continue as a residential development, as originally promised.

The Tribunal accepted the central substance of these arguments.

It also noted that deregistration could deprive the buyers of remedies before MahaRERA and that they had suffered significant opportunity loss after waiting since 2007.

What the developers argued

The promoters took a different position.

They argued that most allottees had voluntarily settled their claims, accepted refunds with interest and exited the project. The remaining buyers, they said, could not hold the entire project hostage.

The promoters also contended that:

• The required two-thirds consent for the change of promoter had been obtained.
• The same majority had consented to the change in project plans.
• The buyers’ allotments had been validly terminated under the allotment clause.
• The refund amounts had been kept in fixed deposits after the buyers refused to accept them.
• There were no allottees left after the terminations.
• The project no longer required RERA registration because the number of apartments had fallen below the statutory threshold.
• MahaRERA could not force a commercial entity to continue a project that was allegedly no longer financially or otherwise viable.
• The buyers’ financial interests had been protected through the refund and fixed-deposit arrangement.

The Tribunal rejected these submissions. It held that the promoters had not established that the project was financially unviable and could not use an unlawful termination to create the basis for deregistration.

The Tribunal’s key findings

The Tribunal answered every major issue against the promoters.

It held that:

1. The termination of the allotment letters was not legally sustainable.
2. The approval for the change of promoter was not sustainable.
3. The deregistration order was not sustainable.
4. The orders rejecting the homebuyers’ complaints were not sustainable.
5. The impugned orders required interference.

The Tribunal also held that the allotment letters executed in 2007 remained valid and binding contracts.

Although the allotments predated RERA, the Tribunal relied on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Newtech Promoters and Developers Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Uttar Pradesh to hold that RERA applies to ongoing projects and protects the rights of stakeholders in those projects.

It further relied on Supreme Court precedents concerning unfair builder-buyer clauses and the principle that fraud or misrepresentation cannot sustain an order obtained from a competent authority.

Orders passed against the promoters

The Tribunal has directed the promoters to:

• Execute and register agreements for sale with the appellants within one month.
• Restore the appellants’ status as allottees.
• Update the MahaRERA portal.
• Continue the project as a residential development.
• Follow the original residential plan represented to the buyers.
• Pay costs of Rs 50,000 to the appellants in each connected appeal.
• Deposit a penalty equivalent to two percent of the project cost within 30 days.

This is an extraordinary outcome in a real estate dispute. Instead of permitting the promoter to exit, terminate the buyers and proceed with a new commercial plan, the Tribunal has effectively required the project to go back to its original starting point.

That is why the case stands out. Developers are often able to restructure projects, change entities, renegotiate plans or offer refunds when a project becomes difficult. Here, the Tribunal has said that the original promise to the buyers cannot be erased through a chain of later transactions and regulatory applications.

The MahaRERA warning remains

Despite the Tribunal’s order, the MahaRERA registration page for project number P51900003617 continues to display the project as deregistered.

A warning on the page cautions visitors not to buy or make transactions in the project.

This creates an important practical warning for anyone considering an investment, booking, agreement, funding arrangement or joint venture connected with Turf View. Until the portal is formally updated in accordance with the Tribunal’s order, prospective buyers and investors should not proceed with any transaction without taking independent legal advice and verifying the project’s current regulatory status.

The Tribunal has directed the promoters to update the portal and restore the project’s position. The continued warning therefore underscores the gap between the legal order and the project’s present online status.

A blow to Prestige’s Mahalaxmi plans

Prestige Estates Projects entered the structure through arrangements involving Pandora Projects and Turf Estate LLP.

The judgment records that Pandora had raised approximately Rs 525 crore through the issuance of non-convertible debentures to a fund managed by Kotak Special Situations. Those financing arrangements, along with conveyance deeds and the commercial construction plan, were linked to the development structure that the Tribunal has now invalidated.

The order does not merely affect the original promoter. It puts the wider commercial development structure under pressure, including the plans involving Prestige.

Prestige is a major developer, and that makes the judgment especially significant. The ruling demonstrates that even a high-value project involving institutional finance and a prominent development partner cannot move ahead on a commercial basis if the rights of existing residential allottees have not been lawfully dealt with.

The Tribunal’s order is therefore a major setback for the developers. It sends a clear message that a change in project strategy cannot extinguish the rights of buyers who entered into binding contracts years earlier.

Balwa responds; Razack does not

Queries were sent to Shahid Balwa of DB Realty and Irfan Razack of Prestige Estates Projects.

Razack did not respond.

Balwa replied:

“Every allottee in this project, barring three, accepted a full refund with interest years ago and moved on. I may also add that out of the 5 flats purchased by the same family 2 flat refunds were taken. The booking clearly says that this entire group of 5 flats is to be taken as 1 booking more particularly now in the context of RERA.

Having taken the refund for 2 flats, The refund due to these three has been lying in fixed deposit ever since. What this order does is permit three holdouts to dictate the fate of an entire project, its lenders and hundreds of crores of invested capital. This obviously is not the intent of the Law. The Hon’ble Supreme Courts recent judgements in this regards clear the direction of the law.

The order respectfully is bad in law and more so without jurisdiction. The tribunal has adjudicated subject not within its remit and not within the law. That is not consumer protection — it is the oppression of the majority by a minority, and the Hon’ble High Court will now decide it.

The appeal is being filed before the Hon’ble Bombay High Court. We are confident of the outcome and will say nothing further while the matter is sub judice.”

The statement has been reproduced in full and without alteration.

The challenge before the Bombay High Court will now determine whether the Tribunal’s order stands, is modified or is stayed. Until then, the dispute remains sub judice.

A rare reversal

This is among the rarest of cases in which a developer has been directed to go back rather than move forward.

The project had travelled from a residential promise to a proposed commercial development. The promoter structure had changed. The original bookings had been terminated. The project had been deregistered. A substantial financing arrangement had been put in place.

The Tribunal has now reversed that chain of events.

For the three homebuyers, the decision is a remarkable victory after nearly 20 years of waiting. For other homebuyers, it is a reminder that patience does not mean surrender—and that a promoter cannot necessarily defeat a buyer’s rights by changing the project, changing the promoter, terminating the allotment and then removing the project from the RERA framework.

The final legal chapter will now be written by the Bombay High Court. But for the moment, the message from the Tribunal is unmistakable: Turf View was sold as residential, and it must return to being residential.

Also Read: MahaRERA Asks Builder to Submit Completion Milestones to Homebuyers While Granting Extension

The post Big Setback for Prestige and DB Realty: Mahalaxmi Tower Reverts to Residential appeared first on Square Feat India.

The Peg: A Rupee at 94.45 Changes the Arithmetic for Every Developer With a Construction Pipeline

The rupee’s move to 94.45 is not just a currency number. For India’s real estate sector, it is a cost number, an inflation number, and a demand number — all simultaneously.

At 94.45, the rupee is approximately 100 paise stronger than the 95.47 level it had reached during Monday’s worst session of the week. That 100-paise strengthening means that India’s crude oil import bill — which is paid in dollars and felt in rupees — has become materially cheaper in local currency terms within five trading days. Cheaper crude imports in rupee terms means lower diesel costs for construction equipment, lower transportation costs for cement and steel deliveries, and lower energy input costs across the entire supply chain that listed developers depend on. For a sector that had been watching its Q2 FY27 margin assumptions come under pressure every time the rupee weakened and crude rose, a rupee at 94.45 is the clearest domestic signal that those pressures are easing.

The rate fear component of Friday’s positive is equally India-specific in its consequences. The hawkish global signal that had been weighing on market sentiment earlier in the week has been balanced by a dovish global signal overnight — that rate hikes may not materialise if inflation does not surprise upward. For the RBI, which has been carefully monitoring both the rupee and crude oil in its inflation calculus, a stronger rupee and easing rate anxiety from abroad reduces the pressure on the Monetary Policy Committee to shift away from its current neutral stance. A neutral RBI — rather than one being forced toward tightening — means home loan rates remain stable, buyer affordability remains intact, and developer pre-sales momentum continues without demand-side disruption.

How the Realty Sector Is Opening

The Nifty Realty index opens Friday at approximately 860–875 — having fallen through four sessions as macro headwinds compressed prices across the sector’s ten constituents. Friday’s open is the first session this week where the rupee, global rate sentiment, and broader market breadth are simultaneously positive.

The banking sector is the morning’s most important companion signal for the realty sector. Nifty Bank had jumped over 600 points in the final minutes of Thursday’s trade — an extraordinary late-session surge that reversed much of the day’s earlier weakness. ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, and HDFC Bank are all opening Friday with positive intent. For the realty sector, a recovering Bank Nifty is not just a market sentiment signal — it is a direct positive for the home loan disbursement channel. Every rupee of home loans that ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, and HDFC Bank disburse to qualified homebuyers flows directly into the presales pipelines of Lodha Developers, Godrej Properties, Prestige Estates, Sobha, and Brigade Enterprises. A banking sector that is buying rather than selling on Friday morning is the realty sector’s most important structural demand-side confirmation.

Godrej Properties — whose ₹27,000 crore FY27 presales target and ₹2 lakh crore gross development value pipeline remain the sector’s most ambitious growth story — opens Friday with buyers who can point to both the rupee’s two-month high and the banking sector’s recovery as simultaneous positives that improve the stock’s near-term trajectory. The company’s Q1 FY27 PAT decline of 41.66%, which had been the headline concern earlier this month, is a revenue recognition timing issue that institutional investors are increasingly setting aside in favour of the forward presales pipeline — and Friday’s macro improvement strengthens the case for doing so.

Lodha Developers, whose record ₹5,620 crore Q1 FY27 presales have been the sector’s most powerful fundamental anchor through every week of September’s volatility, opens Friday with the combined positive of a stronger rupee, easing rate anxiety, and a banking sector that is signalling credit market stability. At approximately ₹1,230, Lodha enters Friday as the sector’s most fundamentally anchored name — and one where institutional buyers have been most consistently present on every macro-driven dip.

Prestige Estates Projects opens Friday with conviction buying on the back of its largest-ever launch pipeline across Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Mumbai. The company’s Bengaluru and Hyderabad exposure — cities where the IT sector provides the primary residential demand engine — makes Friday’s relative IT sector stabilisation an additional positive. Sobha’s premium Bengaluru residential focus similarly benefits from any easing of the IT sector sentiment headwind that has been a secondary drag on the sector through the past two weeks.

Phoenix Mills, Brigade Enterprises, Anant Raj, Aditya Birla Real Estate, and Oberoi Realty all open Friday with a positive bias — the sector’s most uniform positive opening since the week of August 24 when the Iran-Oman Hormuz joint statement had driven a broad-based advance.

India VIX — which had risen to 11.19 during Thursday’s session — is expected to ease further on Friday given the positive overnight developments and the week’s final-session nature. A falling VIX on a Friday signals that institutional investors are unwinding defensive hedges rather than extending them into the weekend — the most bullish possible positioning signal for a sector that has been oversold on macro grounds.

What Is Working

The rupee at 94.45 is Friday’s most realty-relevant domestic positive. Its strengthening from 95.47 at Monday’s worst level represents a 102-paise recovery in five trading days — driven by the combined effect of Trump’s Iran de-escalation signal on Thursday and the global rate anxiety easing overnight. For India’s listed developers, every paise of rupee strengthening translates into measurably lower effective crude costs, lower inflationary pressure, and a stronger RBI argument for maintaining its current neutral policy stance.

The Nifty Bank’s 600-point Thursday surge is the credit market signal that most directly validates the realty sector’s demand-side story. India’s home loan market has been one of the most resilient segments of the financial sector through the Iran conflict period — growing at double-digit rates in advances even as equity markets gyrated. Thursday’s Bank Nifty surge confirms that institutional investors are treating that resilience as structural rather than coincidental.

FIIs having bought ₹6,688.37 crore worth of equities on Tuesday September 1 — alongside DIIs buying ₹2,812.98 crore on the same day — established the week’s most important institutional flow signal. The combination of large-scale FII and DII buying on a session when the broader market was in selloff mode is the most reliable indicator of institutional conviction in India’s medium-term story. Friday’s positive open is the market beginning to price in what those Tuesday flows had already signalled.

The MoHUA force majeure RERA extension — providing a four-month blanket protection to all RERA-registered projects impacted by the West Asia conflict — continues to be the domestic regulatory floor that insulates listed developers from the most damaging operational consequences of the Iran war. That protection is unchanged by any daily market move, and it is the structural safety net that keeps the sector’s recovery thesis intact through every macro headwind.

The sector’s Q1 FY27 presales season has delivered the strongest bookings in the industry’s history. Lodha’s ₹5,620 crore, Oberoi Realty’s ₹8,109 crore Gurugram debut, Godrej Properties’ ₹27,000 crore FY27 target, Sobha’s 11% growth to ₹2,079 crore, and Prestige Estates’ largest-ever launch pipeline collectively tell a demand story that no single week of macro volatility can invalidate.

What Isn’t Working

The IT sector’s continued underperformance — extending through its third consecutive week of losses — remains the realty sector’s most stubborn secondary headwind even on a positive Friday morning. IT stocks declining means that residential demand sentiment in tech-heavy cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune faces a continuing overhang of slower hiring and cautious pay sentiment. Until IT stocks stabilise into a genuine recovery rather than a series of brief recoveries followed by resumed selling, the demand signals from these cities remain mixed for listed developers with heavy exposures there.

Brigade Enterprises’ Q1 FY27 presales remain the sector’s most anticipated undisclosed data point. Every peer has now reported. Brigade’s silence — through the entire presales disclosure season — is the one information gap that prevents institutional investors from completing their sector-wide Q1 FY27 assessment. Friday is another session in which that disclosure could arrive — and another session in which its absence will continue to weigh on the stock relative to its peers.

The Nifty50 at 23,910.90 in pre-open remains below the 24,000 psychological mark that the market has been trying to reclaim since Wednesday’s decline took it below that threshold. A Friday close above 24,000 would be the clearest weekly-close positive the sector could receive — confirming that the week’s volatility has found its floor and that the recovery into the following week starts from a position of restored technical stability.

What to Watch Through the Day

The rupee sustaining its strengthening through 3:30 PM is the domestic variable that most directly validates Friday’s positive open as durable rather than ephemeral. A rupee that holds at or strengthens from 94.45 through the session confirms that the combined Trump de-escalation and easing rate fear signals are being priced as lasting. A rupee that weakens back toward 95.00 by session close would raise questions about the durability of the week’s two positive catalysts.

The Nifty50’s close above or below 24,000 is Friday’s most important technical outcome for the week. A weekly close above 24,000 restores the market’s psychological foundation and sets up a constructive start for the week of September 7. A close below 23,900 would extend the technical deterioration and make the following week’s recovery harder to build.

Brigade Enterprises’ Q1 FY27 presales disclosure — if it arrives today — would be the sector’s most powerful company-specific catalyst of the week. A strong Brigade presales number on a morning when the macro environment has measurably improved would give the sector its most complete positive signal of the month — fundamental confirmation combining with macro alignment on the same day.

Crude oil’s Friday direction is the real-time barometer for how durably the week’s geopolitical de-escalation is being priced in energy markets. Brent holding below $87 through the session would confirm the Hormuz framework and the Trump de-escalation signal are both being treated as genuine by energy traders. Any crude spike above $89 would signal fresh escalation risk that could reverse the week’s positive close.

Friday September 4 ends a week that tested the realty sector in every dimension simultaneously — geopolitical, monetary, regulatory, and technical. The sector’s fundamental story survived every one of those tests without a single presales booking being cancelled, a single RERA registration being revoked, or a single homebuyer withdrawing demand. The rupee at 94.45, the banking sector recovering, rate fears easing, and the broader market advancing are the week’s closing arguments that the macro environment is beginning to converge with the fundamental story the sector has been telling all quarter. September is just beginning. The direction, on Friday’s evidence, is improving.

Also Read: Realty Stocks Back in the Red as Markets Stay Rangebound

The post Realty Stocks Open Higher on Friday as Rupee Strengthens and Rate Fears Ease appeared first on Square Feat India.

The common judgment was reserved on 30 June 2026 and pronounced on 31 August 2026 by Chairperson Justice S. S. Shinde and Member (Administrative) Dr. Rajagopal Devara. The judgment was authored by Dr. Devara. The appeals were heard by video conference.

The two appeals are AT006000000134063 of 2022 arising from complaint CC006000000192464, and AT006000000134074 of 2022 arising from complaint CC006000000192380.

Who is fighting whom

Appellants / allottees

• Vikas Bhauwala, 403/404, Building-J, Palm Court Complex, Link Road, Malad (West), Mumbai 400064. He booked about 1,000 sq ft. Total consideration: ₹92,23,500. Amount paid: ₹20,00,000. Allotment letter dated 12 October 2010.
• Shushil Rajpal, D1/16, Flat No. 402, Yamuna Nagar, Link Road, Andheri (West), Mumbai 400053. He booked about 1,001 sq ft. Total consideration: ₹57,20,000. Amount paid: ₹19,30,500. Allotment letter dated 15 December 2007.

Respondents / promoters

• Respondent No. 1: Sahyog Homes Limited, 321 Morya Estate, New Link Road, opposite Infinity Mall, Andheri West, Mumbai 400053.
• Respondent No. 2: Sankalp Siddhi Developers Private Limited, A-3 Rajpipla, opposite Standard Chartered Bank, Linking Road, Santacruz (West), Mumbai 400054. Respondent No. 2 was proceeded against ex parte.

Advocate Sanjeev R. Singh appeared for both allottees. Advocate Makarand Raut appeared for Sahyog Homes.

The registered project cited in the complaints is Verona, MahaRERA registration P51800003040, on land at Village Oshiwara, Andheri / Jogeshwari West — the Andheri–Versova–Oshiwara belt.

How the bookings began

In 2006 the promoters obtained a Slum Rehabilitation Authority letter of intent dated 8 December 2006 for development of a large slum-rehab-cum-sale layout on CTS parcels at Village Oshiwara.

Rajpal booked in December 2007. Bhauwala booked in October 2010. Both allotment letters described the building as BBJ Roma. The letters said an Agreement for Sale would be executed later, after a title certificate and commencement certificate. No date of possession was written.

The buyers paid more than 20 per cent of the price. No registered agreement followed.

Through 2008–2011 they kept asking about progress. The promoters’ representatives, the buyers told the Tribunal, kept assuring them that permissions were in place and work would resume shortly.

A commencement certificate dated 11 March 2011 is on record for the same Oshiwara land. On 9 July 2012, Sahyog Homes and Sankalp Siddhi executed a development agreement covering sale buildings described as S1 to S4 on that layout.

Cancellation letters, then a legal notice

On 26 July 2017 and 27 July 2017, the promoters wrote to the buyers saying it was difficult to proceed because slum dwellers still occupied the plot, and they sought to cancel the allotment letters.

The buyers’ case is that this explanation was false. Construction of sale buildings had already started on the same land under other names — BBJ Verona, BBJ Lamor and Sahyog Oshi.

On 24 July 2018 the buyers issued a legal notice seeking the likely date of possession. Sahyog Homes replied through its advocate on 24 September 2018: permissions for “BBJ Roma” had not come through, the plot was occupied, there was no likelihood of vacation soon, and the allotment letters should stand cancelled.

The buyers then approached MahaRERA. They asked for registered Agreements for Sale for 3 BHK flats of about 1,000 sq ft, on the strength of the old allotment letters, in any of the buildings then under construction on that land — Verona, Lamor or Sahyog Oshi — and for related relief under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

They filed the complaints against the Verona registration number, P51800003040.

What MahaRERA did in 2022

By a common order dated 29 August 2022, Member-1 of MahaRERA dismissed both complaints as not maintainable.

The Authority’s reasoning was that BBJ Roma was never registered, Verona was a different registered project, and the complainants were not allottees of Verona. It granted liberty to approach MahaRERA again if BBJ Roma was registered in future.

That is the order the buyers challenged.

Sahyog Homes defended the dismissal. It argued that Roma, Verona, Sahyog Oshi, Ahuja and Lamor were separate sale buildings with separate registrations; that Roma had no RERA number because the mandatory papers under Section 4 of the Act were not in place; and that filing under Verona’s number was misconceived.

The allottees pointed to an earlier MahaRERA matter, CC006000000057433, Viloo Keki Italia vs M/s. Sahyog Homes Ltd. & 18 Ors., where the Authority had treated complainants as allottees of BBJ Roma. They also relied on an Authority order dated 5 December 2019, extracted in the 2022 order, recording that SRA’s sanctioned layout showed the same project with sale buildings marked S2, S4 and so on.

The Tribunal’s peg: look at the land, not the name

The Appellate Tribunal compared three sets of papers:

• the land description in the 2007 and 2010 allotment letters for BBJ Roma
• the commencement certificate of 2011
• the project land recorded in Verona’s MahaRERA registration certificate, P51800003040

It held they describe the same parcels.

“Registration of a real estate project is linked to the project land and not merely to the name of the building,” the Tribunal said. Merely because the building is later called Verona instead of BBJ Roma, the underlying land does not change. Changing the name cannot defeat rights that flowed from the allotment letters and from RERA.

On that finding it answered the first issue in the buyers’ favour: they are allottees of Verona.

Allotment letters treated as concluded contracts

The letters named the project, the land, the flat area, the price and the payment terms. Money was accepted and receipts issued. The Tribunal held that this met the Contract Act tests of proposal and acceptance, and the RERA definitions of “allottee” and “agreement for sale”.

The letters pre-date RERA. That did not matter. Relying on the Supreme Court in M/s. Newtech Promoters and Developers Pvt. Ltd. vs State of U.P., the Tribunal repeated that RERA is retroactive for ongoing projects that had no completion certificate when the Act came into force. Verona was registered as an ongoing project. The old letters are therefore enforceable under RERA.

Because no possession date was written, the Tribunal applied the Supreme Court’s three-year rule in Fortune Infrastructure vs Trevor D’Lima. Deemed due dates:

• Rajpal: 15 December 2010
• Bhauwala: 12 October 2013

It also recorded statutory breaches. More than 20 per cent was taken without a registered agreement, contrary to Section 4 of the Maharashtra Ownership Flats Act, 1963, and more than 10 per cent without a registered agreement, contrary to Section 13 of RERA. MOFA also required a possession date in the agreement. None was given.

Why the Tribunal did not send the case back

The buyers had mainly asked the Tribunal to set aside the 2022 order and remand the complaints to MahaRERA for a hearing on merits.

The Tribunal refused to stop there. It invoked Order 41 Rules 24 and 33 of the Code of Civil Procedure: if the record is enough, the appellate court can decide the dispute finally and pass the decree that ought to have been passed. Sending the parties back, it said, would only prolong litigation after the Authority had already had the papers but dismissed the complaints only on maintainability.

It cited the Supreme Court’s 2026 ruling in Mahendra Prasad Agarwal vs Arvind Kumar Singh on the need to grant relief when the claim is made out, instead of “throwing the ball out of the court”.

Points 1, 2 and 3 were all answered in the affirmative. The 29 August 2022 MahaRERA order was held unsustainable.

What the Tribunal finally directed

1. Both appeals are partly allowed.
2. The MahaRERA order dated 29 August 2022 is set aside.
3. The two allottees must pay the remaining balance consideration within 90 days of the judgment. If they fail, they will pay the promoter interest on the unpaid balance at SBI MCLR + 2% per annum.
4. Within 30 days of receiving that balance, Sahyog Homes must execute and register Agreements for Sale in favour of the two buyers.
5. Sahyog Homes must pay the buyers interest on the amounts already paid, from 15 December 2010 (Rajpal) and 12 October 2013 (Bhauwala) until actual possession, at SBI MCLR + 2% per annum.
6. A copy of the order is to go to MahaRERA and the parties under Section 44(4) of RERA.

The order does not hand over ready flats tomorrow. It first makes the buyers pay the large unpaid price, then forces a registered agreement, and runs delay interest from dates that are now 13 to 16 years old until the keys are actually given.

Why the name-change defence mattered

On large SRA layouts, promoters often float several sale buildings, register some, leave others unregistered, and argue that early allottees belong only to the unregistered name. MahaRERA accepted that split in 2022.

The Appellate Tribunal closed that door on these facts. If the CTS numbers, commencement certificate and RERA land schedule match, the allottee of “Roma” is an allottee of “Verona”. The brochure name is not a firewall against Section 13, delay interest, or the duty to execute a registered agreement.

That is the news in this judgment: the builder’s attempt to keep pre-RERA allotment-letter holders outside the registered project was examined against the RERA website record of the land and thrown out.

Also Read: Homebuyer Paid to Director of Real Estate Firm, Director Died, Surviving Directors Claimed Ignorance — MahaRERA Steps In to Deliver Justice

The post Same land, different name: Tribunal throws out builder’s plea that early allotments are outside RERA appeared first on Square Feat India.

• Tenure: 60 months (5 years)
• Rent escalation: 5% annually
• License commencement date: September 5, 2026
• Rent commencement date: September 5, 2026
• Monthly license fee (Year 1): ₹7,30,000
• Usable carpet area: 2,727 sq ft + 3 basement car parks
• Interest-free security deposit: ₹43,80,000
• Licensee lock-in: 36 months
• Licensor lock-in: full 60-month term
• Property tax / water / CAM: paid by licensor
• GST on license fee: extra, payable by licensee

Actor Hrithik Rakesh Nagrath, better known as Hrithik Roshan, has given his 14th-floor office at Lotus Corporate Park, Goregaon (East), on a 60-month leave and licence to QuantumX Global Private Limited, according to the registered agreement provided by CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm. Stamp duty of ₹1,26,700 and registration fee of ₹1,000 were paid on 26 August 2026 at the office of the Joint Sub-Registrar, Mumbai-8 (GRN MH009041392202627E). Document handling charges of ₹2,000 were paid separately the same day. The instrument was executed on 27 August 2026.

The licensor is described as an Indian inhabitant residing at the 9th floor of Ghumman Villa (now Palazzo), 12th N.S. Road, JVPD Scheme, Juhu. The licensee, QuantumX Global Private Limited (formerly Spiraea Digital (India) Private Limited; CIN U72200MH2022PTC386679), has its registered office at 6th Floor, Wing A, Let’s Work, Corporate Centre, J.B. Nagar, Chakala, Andheri East. The company is stated to be engaged in financial services. Its board authorised signatories include Saurav Mody and Aksh Shetye.

The premises

Office No. 1402 on the 14th floor of E-Wing, Lotus Corporate Park, Graham Firth Steel Compound, Western Express Highway, Goregaon (E), Mumbai 400063, admeasures 2,727 sq ft of usable carpet area. Three car parking spaces, Nos. 47, 48 and 49 in Basement-2, go with the office. Furniture and fixtures listed in Annexure A form part of the licensed premises. QuantumX is permitted to use identified group entities — Matrix Moon Private Limited, Digitech Learning Assembly Private Limited, Matrix Moon Investments Private Limited, Geminox Private Limited, Axtroid LLP and Viaana Foundation — subject to the licensor’s approval, which is not to be unreasonably withheld.

Licence period and fee

The licence runs for 60 months from 5 September 2026 to 4 September 2031 (both days inclusive). Licence fee and occupation start on the same date; there is no rent-free period.

The starting monthly licence fee is ₹7,30,000, payable in advance on or before the 15th of each calendar month, after TDS. GST is extra and is to be paid by the licensee against the licensor’s invoice. The fee rises 5% every year on the last paid amount:

On 2,727 sq ft usable carpet, the Year-1 fee works out to about ₹268 per sq ft per month.

Deposit, lock-in and outgoings

An interest-free refundable security deposit of ₹43,80,000 — six months of the opening fee — has been placed with the licensor. It is to be returned within seven days of handover, after documented deductions for unpaid dues or damage (fair wear and tear excluded). The licensor may hold back ₹3,50,000 for up to 30 days pending final clearance.

The licensor cannot terminate for convenience during the full 60-month term. The licensee is locked in for the first 36 months; an early exit in that window requires payment of licence fee for the unexpired lock-in. After 36 months, either side may terminate with three months’ written notice. Consecutive default of three months’ fee, if not cured within 45 days of notice, can end the licence even during lock-in, with 12% interest on overdue sums. A fall in the licensee’s net worth below ₹1 crore also triggers automatic termination; the company has represented a net worth of ₹23 crore and covenanted to keep it at least ₹1 crore from 20 August 2026.

MCGM property tax, water charges and building maintenance are the licensor’s burden. Electricity, telephone and telecom bills from the commencement date are the licensee’s. Temporary non-structural fit-out is allowed. Stamp duty and registration costs are to be shared equally. Disputes go first to negotiation, then to Mumbai-seated arbitration under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, with courts at Mumbai retaining jurisdiction.

Lotus Corporate Park on the Western Express Highway is a known Grade-A office address in Goregaon East. A 60-month, no-rent-free licence at ₹7.30 lakh a month, with CAM and property tax on the owner and a three-year tenant lock-in, is a firm commercial letting of a celebrity-owned floor plate — now on the public registration record circulated by CRE Matrix.

Also Read: Hrithik Roshan Buys ₹28-Crore Office Space in Juhu’s Premium Yura Project

The post Hrithik Roshan Licenses Goregaon Office to QuantumX Global for 60 Months appeared first on Square Feat India.