#WeeklyRoundUp: Home Loans To Get Cheaper, Good News For Borrowers

After a massive inflow of deposits triggered by Modi's demonetization drive, country's largest lender the State Bank of India cut its marginal cost of funds-based lending rate or MCLR across all tenors by 90 basis points. MCLR is the benchmark lending rate at which a bank prices all its loans. Other public sector lenders such as Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, United Bank of India too, have brought down the benchmark interest rate.

To redevelop the periphery of Mumbai, the Maharashtra government has proposed an additional cess of Rs 5,000 per sq metre for construction over and above the permissible floor space index (FSI). This has been proposed in case of redevelopment of as many as 100 old and dilapidated buildings in the suburbs. The amount is to be used for developing off-site infrastructure and is to be paid during the construction period.

After getting a go-ahead from the high court to regularize illegal buildings in its cities, the state government is now planning to regularize private houses across rural Karnataka. These will include residential farmhouses and independent houses in small towns which have been built without converting land or taking necessary permission. The move is expected to benefit about 25 lakh households and generate a revenue of around Rs 1,000 crore.

Japan and India are set to ink a deal to jointly develop Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi as smart cities. During a meeting of Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu with Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, he said, Japan is "quite interested" in urban development initiatives of the Modi government and decided to be a partner, stated an official release.

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation will use satellite images to identify illegal construction in the city. The National Remote Sensing Centre is developing an app exclusively for the civic body to locate unauthorised structures.