Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) Aligning with the ongoing bullish trend in residential property sales across the country, sales of luxury homes costing Rs 10 crore and above in Mumbai clocked the highest-ever, half-yearly sales at Rs 12,300 crore, a report showed on Thursday.

This is an 8 per cent growth compared to the Rs 11,400 crore sales in the first half of 2023, according to the report by India Sotheby’s ‘International Realty and CRE Matrix’.

More than half of homebuyers in the more than Rs 10 crore and above luxury market belonged to the 35-55 age category.

The primary luxury segment saw sales worth Rs 8,752 crore, the second-best half-yearly sales value in the past five years.

The secondary or resale market in the financial capital recorded its highest-ever sales at more than Rs 3,500 crore, with 37 per cent growth in H1 2024, said the report.

“Mumbai’s luxury housing market is surging and has touched unprecedented sales highs in H1 CY2024. Its strength underscores a growing demand for top-end luxury real estate, driven by India’s economic resilience and increasing affluence among the elite,” said Sudershan Sharma, Executive Director, India Sotheby’s International Realty.

The latest ‘Hurun Global Rich List’ highlights a 51 per cent increase in Indian billionaires, with 271 billionaires, a majority of who have a base in Mumbai.

“Unprecedented infrastructure development in the city has also opened new markets for luxury housing. We believe the country’s expanding wealth and aspirations for luxurious living will keep this segment buoyant,” Sharma added.

A total of 1,040 luxury units were sold in Mumbai over the past 12 months, the highest number ever recorded in any 12 month period.

The top 10 localities in the city contributed 80 per cent of the total luxury housing sales value, with Worli leading the charge, accounting for 37 per cent of the overall luxury sales value.

The 2,000 to 4,000 square feet size segment has emerged as the largest contributor.

“Mumbai has been witnessing around Rs 7,100 crore of luxury housing sales every half year since 2019,” said Abhishek Kiran Gupta, Co-founder and CEO of CRE Matrix.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The exploration and production (E&P) segment of India’s oil and gas sector will throw up an investment opportunity of at least $100 billion by 2030, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.

Addressing the ‘Urja Varta 2024’ at Bharat Mandapam here, he said, “Despite our progress much of our exploration and production potential still lies untapped within India’s 26 sedimentary basins. Despite the abundant geological resources available to us.”

“Our efforts in the past have been far short of what needs to be done in the E&P sector,” he added.

The minister also highlighted that, as of now, 10 per cent of the country’s sedimentary blocks are under exploration. Following the completion of the 10th Open Acreage Licensing Programme (OALP) round, 16 per cent would come under exploration, he added.

The Union Minister said that the government was able to control oil prices due to neutral policies.

The minister also referred to the increased purchases of oil from Russia that have helped India to keep fuel prices under control.

“There was a global turmoil. We could have followed what the West was advising us to do and not sourced oil from a particular country and then oil prices would have shot up,” the minister said.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The number of demat accounts increased to 162 million in June, jumping 4.2 million (month-on-month), a report showed on Thursday.

In the current fiscal, the average monthly demat accounts addition has been 3.4 million to date.

In June, the Central Depository Services Limited (CDSL) continued to gain market share in terms of the total number of demat accounts, according to the report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

On a year-on-year basis, the National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) lost 420 bp/620 bp market share in total/incremental demat accounts, the report mentioned.

The number of active clients on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) increased 3.1 per cent (on-month) to 44.2 million in June.

Currently, the top five discount brokers account for 64.4 per cent of total NSE active clients in comparison to 58.2 per cent in June 2022.

Online brokerage Zerodha reported a 2.1 per cent increase in its client base to 7.7 million (on-month), with a 20 basis point (bp) decline in market share to 17.3 per cent.

Groww reported a 5.4 per cent increase in its client count to 10.9 million, with a 55 bp rise in market share to 24.7 per cent. Angel One reported a 3.4 per cent increase, said the report.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) After the successful implementation of the e-Office platform in the Central Secretariat in 2019–2024, the government on Thursday said that it will be implementing e-Office in all attached, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies as part of the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances’ (DARPG) 100-day agenda.

About 133 attached, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies were identified for implementation following inter-ministerial consultations.

DARPG issued the guidelines for the adoption of e-Office in attached, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies on June 24.

In 2019–2024, the adoption of e-Office gained significant momentum in the Central Secretariat with 37 lakh files i.e., 94 per cent of files being handled as e-Files and 95 per cent of receipts being handled as e-receipts.

The government developed e-Office analytics to further deepen the initiative.

The onboarding roadmap and technical modalities were discussed in an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Secretary DARPG, V Srinivas and attended by officials of all Ministries/Departments and Senior Officers of 133 attached, subordinate offices and autonomous bodies.

–IANS

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Thiruvananthapuram, July 11 (IANS) Adani Group’s Vizhinjam Port, India’s first trans-shipment port near Kovalam Beach in Kerala, received its first mothership on Thursday.

‘San Fernando’, a vessel of the world’s second-largest shipping company Maersk, arrived at the port country with over 2,000 containers on it, thus creating history.

The giant vessel was given the traditional water salute following which it berthed successfully.

With the arrival of the first mother ship, Adani Group’s Vizhinjam Port has catapulted India into the world port business as globally this port will rank 6th or 7th.

Those present to receive the mothership included State Ports Minister V.N. Vasavan, officials from the Adani Port and senior state government officials.

The official function will take place on Friday. It will be attended by Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd (APSEZ) Managing Director Karan Adani.

Soon after the official inauguration, the mothership will move to its next destination at Colombo and after that many more ships are scheduled to arrive with cargo.

Friday will mark the official completion of the first phase of the port, which has a 3,000-metre breakwater and 800-metre container berth ready.

Of the 32 cranes required, all but one have come. A 1.7 km approach road for connectivity is almost complete, while the office building, security area and electric lines are all ready.

Another feature of this port is that it is the first semi-automated container terminal in the country and will also be a global bunkering hub, supplying clean and green fuels like hydrogen and ammonia. Full-fledged commercial operations in the port are slated to begin in a few months.

The second and third phase of the project is planned to be completed in 2028 and will be one of the greenest ports in the world.

The port is also strategically located as it is just 10 nautical miles from the International Shipping Route connecting Europe, the Persian Gulf and the Far East.

–IANS

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