IREO NEW PROJECT LUDHIANA

IREO Waterfront Plots Ludhiana

Like the green environment and blue water bodies? Now see in your mind's eye a living in an unlimited green space and wide water body as far as the eye can see. Come to IREO Waterfront luxury Plots, where harmony, greenery and luxury combine to shape the ideal home. Surrounded by with acres of green land, facing a quite 13 acres of manmade lake that creates a soothing micro environment of its own, Ireo waterfront is the place to be. Inspired by the overwhelming success of IREO New projects Gurgaon, IREO Waterfront residential Plots is a spectacular nature friendly lifestyle you could ever envisage. IREO Waterfront Plots Ludhiana are conveniently located off National Highway – 95, easily accessible from both the Sidhwan canal road, Ferozpur road & few minutes away from residential and commercial center of Ludhiana City makes shuttling from home to work much easier. 

Ireo Developers have enthusiastic eyes for feature and firm belief in optimizing things at very superior levels. At IREO Waterfront Plots Punjab every tiny aspect has been examined comprehensively so as to match your taste and style. Rest assured every plot at IREO new residential Projects comes with internationally acclaimed Ireo quality and your home is going to be one of the finest masterpieces from Ireo Developers.

Particularly designed for the few who are looking for something matchless and up to date for their family, Ireo waterfront has all the ingredients to give you an impressive standard of living and quality living at an exclusive address. 

Every common plot is unique from the other. Various options ranging from green landscapes to wide water body. The grand entrance garden is the crown jewel of the residential project IREO Waterfront. This garden holds a number of spaces for you to relax and rejuvenate. It has an extensive stretch of jogging and walking track which passes from the fresh and tranquil green and soothing water body are appealing to the eye. 

Features Of Project

• Waterfront Ludhiana is Ireo’s prestigious integrated township development spread over 500 acres of land.
• Designed by an international architect, this new age development shall comprise of multiple residential developments such as plots, group housing, row housing and villas.
• The Lifestyle of Waterfront residents will be supported by well conceived street architecture and social & recreational infrastructure.
• Such as retail, schools, healthcare, entertainment, green spaces and a signature lake complex spread over 13 acres.
• Apart from a large manmade lake, the lake complex shall have manicured landscapes along with a premium club to be managed by an international chain.
• The main approach of the township is on the Sidwan Canal Road which is one of the most promising growth vectors of Ludhiana.
• While the main entrance is on the Sidwan Canal Road, the township also enjoys an access from the Ferozepur Road.

For More Call @ +91-9971-83-7272

Astronomically close

CfA scientists say Earth-like planets are galactic neighbors

Earth-like planets potentially capable of supporting life may be right in our galactic neighborhood, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centerfor Astrophysics (CfA) and the California Institute of Technology said Wednesday.

“The nearest Earth-like planet is probably 13 light-years away; astronomically speaking, that’s just a stroll across the park,” said CourtneyDressing, a doctoral student in Harvard’s Astronomy Department and the lead author of a new analysis of data from the KeplerSpace Telescope, which since 2009 has been examining distant stars for signs of orbiting planets.

Dressing, together with Professor David Charbonneau of Harvard’s Astronomy Department and John Johnson, an assistant professor of astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, appeared at a news conference to discuss the work.

The new analysis focused on a category of stars smaller and dimmer than our own sun — “red dwarfs.”  Red dwarfs offer several advantages for hunters of exoplanets, as worlds circling stars outside our solar system are called. First, they are the most common stars in the Milky Way, making up some 75 percent of all. Second, because they’re so much dimmer than our sun, the “habitable zone” orbit within which life could exist is much closer to the star. A planet circling closer to its sun orbits more frequently, giving scientists more chances of detecting it crossing its star’s face.

Dressing found 95 planets or planet candidates around those stars. Of those, she identified three candidates that are the right size and temperature to be considered Earth-like. When several others close to their habitable zones or of nearly Earth-like size are considered, the researchers said it appears that approximately 6 percent of red dwarf stars should have an Earth-like planet. Because Kepler is examining distant stars, the three Earth-like planets they detected are quite far away, between 300 and 600 light-years from here.

Dressing found 95 planets or planet candidates around red dwarfs. Of those, she identified three candidates that are the right size and temperature to be considered Earth-like. The next step, according to Charbonneau, is to design instruments that can examine these relatively nearby stars.

The researchers then turned their analysis to the neighborhood of our own star, where there are 248 red dwarfs within 30 light-years. The analysis indicated that the most probable distance for a red dwarf with an Earth-like planet circling is 13 light-years.

“There should be a planet within 13 light-years,” Dressing said. “I really look forward to finding that first planet.”

The next step, according to Charbonneau, is to design instruments that can examine these relatively nearby stars.  New telescopes already planned, like the James Webb Space Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope, being constructed on a mountaintop in Chile, could be used in the hunt, he said.

Charbonneau, a pioneer in exoplanet research, said these planets are small enough to be rocky, like Earth, and warm enough to be friendly to life, but conditions on a planet around a red dwarf would otherwise be very unlike Earth.

The planet would orbit very close to its sun and be bombarded with ultraviolet radiation. Because red dwarfs are active, with numerous sunspots, the planet would face large variations in illumination. It could also be locked in an orbit like our moon is to Earth, with the same side always facing the planet. On a planet that has no atmosphere, one side could have furnace-like temperatures while the dark side froze. However, with an atmosphere and an ocean, a red dwarf’s planet could be buffered from the star’s radiation and heat distributed more evenly around it.

What that means for life is unclear, Charbonneau said. If exoplanet research has taught astronomers anything, it’s to be ready to be surprised. Astronomers have come to understand that the Milky Way not only contains billions of stars with planets around them, but also that the configuration of those alien solar systems strays widely from our own. There’s no reason, Charbonneau said, that life in those solar systems shouldn’t also stray widely from that on Earth.

If life does develop near a red dwarf, it might have billions more years to evolve than life on Earth. Unlike our sun, which will undergo changes that will extinguish life within a billion years, red dwarfs don’t show much change, Charbonneau said. In fact, if a red dwarf with an Earth-like planet was among the first stars in the universe, some 12 billion years ago, it’s probably still out there.

The only way to find out for sure, Charbonneau said, is to look. Charbonneau said he looks forward to starting “tomorrow” on the search for nearby Earth-like planets. Once found, astronomers can examine their atmospheres for the chemicals that are hallmarks of life on Earth, such as oxygen.

RBI’S CUT GOOD, INDUSTRY WANTS MORE

The RBI’s decision to ease liquidity in the system is a positive step but experts feel it is not sufficient to reduce interest rates to a level that will flood investment into the realty sector, which is sorely needed. PRABHAKAR SINHA writes

    The RBI’s decision in its credit policy to cut the short-term lending rates and infuse additional liquidity of Rs 18,000 crore into the banking system will help bring down the interest rates on home loans. Some banks like Punjab National Bank and IDBI Bank have already cut their interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point. Other banks are also likely to follow suit. 
    Developers and consultants feel that the measure will certainly help in reviving the sentiment in the real estate sector but differ on the extent to which this decision will act as balm. 
    Naredco, the developers’ association, said the decision will help in easing liquidity and boost real estate demand with improved investor sentiment. The realty body said that to revive housing industry, there is a need to bring down the high mortgage rates to improve the common man’s affordability, which had been hit in past because of high inflation and rocketing interest rates. It hoped that monetary and fiscal policies of 2013 will prove promising for both realtors as well as buyers. 
    Naredco said that as real estate growth is linked to around 300 affiliate industries, infusion of additional funds will trigger the business of these affiliates and lift the declining industrial production figures. It will also help in negating the rising menace of inflation and boost real estate demand with improved investor sentiment, it further said. 
    Welcoming the decision, Credai, another developers’ apex body, called for a special thrust in realty sector. “Though the RBI has made a good beginning, the repo rate cut by 25 basis points is just not enough,” Lalit Kumar Jain, Credai’s national president, said. “What we need is creation of a robust supply to curb inflation for which the RBI needs to continue to ease fund-supply position, month-on-month and quarter-on-quarter for the realty sector,” Jain further said. 
    Sanjay Dutt, the executive managing director (South Asia) of Cushman and Wakefield, said that RBI’s populist decision to reduce the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75% and also the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 0.25%, to 4%, is a step towards easing out financial stress in the financial markets and increasing their liquidity. 
Anshuman Magazine, the chairman and managing director of CBRE South Asia, a real estate consulting agency, also felt the same. He says that the RBI’s decision to ease liquidity in the system is a positive one but is not adequate. He says, “The industry expects more such steps to improve liquidity and reduce interest rates to increase investments.” 
    Shobhit Agarwal, the managing director of (capital markets) Jones Lang LaSalle, India, said that the RBI’s policy is definitely a key to boosting real estate market sentiment and sending out positive signals to global investors. The decision, he said, should help revive investment and growth in the economy, in the real estate sector in particular. Agarwal said that the RBI has shown commitment to improving liquidity in a cashstrapped economy by reducing the CRR further in this policy, which has been coupled with reduction in repo and bank rates. 
    Liquidity is expected to significantly improve in the economy on the back of the reduced repo rate, CRR and bank rate. Cut in CRR by a quarter of a percentage point alone will infuse Rs 18,000 crore into the banking system. Consequently, there should be a revival in investment and growth, including in the real estate. Industrial activity, which has been sluggish last year, should bounce back in the medium term, Agarwal said. 

    Sanjeev Srivastva, the managing director of Assotech Limited hoped that the muchawaited relief, although small in percentage, is going to decide the trend in the coming months. 
    Sanjeev Srivastva said the present decision would be a great sentiment booster. Manoj Gaur, the managing director of Gaursons, said the RBI’s decision will help boost the real estate industry and trigger new trends. Bhaskar Bagchi, the chief operating officer of India Homes, said the RBI’s latest cut would have a good impact on the overall buyers’ sentiment. Bagchi hoped that the RBI would continue to take periodic steps in this direction as long as inflation is not under check. 
    S Sridhar, adviser to RICS (South Asia), says that the RBI’s action was on expected lines. “The repo rate reduction will facilitate banks and housing finance companies to reduce home loan rates marginally, which will benefit consumers. 
    Of course, each lender will have to take a view based on their respective margins position. However, one is not sanguine of increased funds flow to the real estate companies as the issue is not merely one of liquidity but portfolio-quality related,” Sridhar says. Overall, he says that the RBI’s decision is a sentiment-lifter. 
    Developers and consultants also expressed concern over rising inflation, which has affected their profitability adversely. They hoped that the RBI’s decision would increase the activities in the construction sector. This will increase the supply of housing units and would help in containing the rise in prices, they felt.
    In the past, a representative of C&W said, the central bank has been keen on keeping inflationary conditions in control, which had led to stringent policy decisions from the RBI over the last eight quarters. Since the current decision by the RBI is estimated to release Rs 18,000 crore for deployment into various financial institutions, there is an expectation that economic activity will get some boost. 
    The RBI has also predicted that inflationary trend is expected to remain ‘range-bound’ and, therefore, moderate infusion of cash into the system would have a positive impact. This may also help in creating a positive outlook for India amongst global investors, who have been worried about depleting cash flows into the economy and, thus, may be setting the background for critical investment decisions in the forthcoming economic policies and the Union Budget. 
    In this backdrop, Shobhit Agarwal of JLL says: “Inflation should also see some easing with at least the supply side being addressed and cost-push pressures being mitigated. The RBI’s policy is definitely a key to boosting real estate market sentiment and sending out positive signals to global investors.” 

YouTube preparing to offer paid subscriptions this year: Report

SAN FRANCISCO: YouTube, the video website owned by Google Inc, plans to offer paid subscriptions to some of the content on its site later this year, according to a media report. 

YouTube has reached out to several video producers, asking them to submit applications to create for-pay "channels," according to a report in AdAge on Tuesday that cited anonymous sources. 

The first such channels could be available to consumers by the second quarter for between $1 a month and $5 a month, AdAge reported. 

YouTube, the world's No. 1 video website, has been moving to add professional-grade video programs to the vast archive of amateur, home-shot videos that made the site popular. The current crop of such channels is available to consumers for free and supported by advertising that appears alongside the videos. 

YouTube has hinted in the past that it was considering offering subscription-based paid content. YouTube boss Salar Kamangar told Reuters in June that there was strong demand among certain YouTube video producers, such as video game networks, to offer fee-based programs. 

"They have such a big audiences that they can start to segment their audiences into those that are willing to pay a higher amount" for things like new gaming tricks, Kamangar said at the time. 

He also said that cable channels with small audiences could potentially be offered to consumers through YouTube on an "a la carte" basis. 

• 30 Jan 2013
• Hindustan Times (Delhi)
• HT Correspondent letters@hindustantimes.com

Home loans to get cheaper after RBI cuts rates at last

MIXED BAG Markets shrug off first cut in 9 months, focus on weak growth forecast

If you’re planning to buy a home, there’s good news around the corner. On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a long-awaited cut to its main interest rate, goading banks into reducing the cost of housing loans.

In its first rate cut in nine months, the RBI said it would lend to banks at 7.75% instead of 8%, enabling them in turn to offer cheaper loans for home, auto and corporate borrowers.

But existing home loan borrowers on floating rates should not expect their monthly installment payments to fall immediately. Banks usually offer the lower interest rates to new customers.

What existing customers can do is to avail the option of prepaying their current loans by borrowing from another bank offering the new, lower interest rates.

The RBI also cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) — or the proportion of their deposits banks have to park with the central bank — by 0.25 percentage points to 4%. This will leave banks with an additional R18,000 crore to lend to customers, also potentially spurring the housing market.

Public sector lender IDBI Bank announced a 0.25 percentage point cut in its lowest lending rate or base rate, a rate usually offered to bulk corporate borrowers, to 10.25 % effective from February 1. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) became the first foreign bank to cut rates following the central bank move, shaving 0.75 percentage points off its rate to 9%.

Housing loan rates are usually 2 percentage points costlier than the base rate.

The flip side for retail savers could be a cut in the interest rates paid on fixed deposits, though banks were not forthcoming with their plans.

"We will keep a watch on the deposits side, but there will be cut on the lending side," said Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer, ICICI Bank. "One can expect a rate cut in about a week's time," said N Seshadri, executive director, Bank of India, referring to housing loans.

More rate cuts could be coming if prices continue to fall and RBI expects wholesale inflation to fall 6.8% by end-March from 7.18% in December.

"There is an increasing likelihood of inflation remaining rangebound around current levels going into 2013-2014," said RBI governor D Subbarao. "This provides space, albeit limited, for monetary policy to give greater emphasis to growth risks."

Stock markets, however, ignored the rate cut and reacted adversely to RBI's growth projections on the economy. The BSE benchmark Sensex ended lower by 112.45 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 19,990.90 after the RBI lowered India's GDP growth projection to 5.5% for 2012-13, down from its earlier forecast of 5.8%