Indian employers most optimistic

Thu, 10 Jun Pre-Open

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Unemployment right now is raging high in the US. But prospects in India seem a lot brighter. In fact, it is expected that the country's job market is likely to return to pre-slowdown days in the third quarter of this fiscal. Demand for goods and services has been increasing due to the rise in consumer spending. And so employers are gearing up to hire more talent to capitalise on this optimism. According to a survey conducted by Manpower Inc. Indian employers report the most optimistic forecast among all 36 countries participating in the survey.

Further, the hiring is expected to be strongest in the mining and construction industry. Manufacturing is also all geared up to recruit in a big way. But sectors at the receiving end will be finance, insurance and real estate. The employment outlook here is still expected to remain weak. Overall, India has already been recording a strong growth in GDP. This trend is expected to continue in the coming months as well. Little wonder then that the optimism in the jobs market remains buoyant.

Mumbai to see another landmark high rise

Just about a fortnight ago Mumbai witnessed one of the biggest land deals involving Lodha developers which sent shock waves across the real estate industry. However, the company may not be done just yet. In a separate development, the company has now announced to build one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world in Lower Parel, Mumbai. The company plans to invest Rs 20 bn in the ambitious 117 storey tower project. The base price of the apartment will be Rs 75 m.

Now, one wonders whether the city of Mumbai - which faces acute land shortage - requires such iconic structures or its need will be better served through affordable housing for its gigantic population. The answer is certainly low cost housing. However, taking into consideration the recent surge in home prices, developers are capitalizing on the euphoria by launching ambitious projects rather than affordable housing. This has flooded the markets with high value projects.

Lastly, the company says that it will fund the project through internal accruals, pre-launch sales and PE investments. However, the big question that comes to our mind is - Will such high apartment prices enable pre-selling? PE funding can also be a difficult task due to falling investor appetite for the real estate sector as a whole. Thus, only time will tell whether the company manages to pull off such an ambitious project or not.