India ranks 13th in the residential sector in terms of price rise for the fiscal 2009-10. Property consultancy firm Knight Frank, surveyed over 47 countries, and found that more than half (53 percent) had witnessed price increase in the residential segment. China topped this list. According to Knight Frank Head of Residential Research Liam Bailey, “Growth has been driven by a confluence of factors: low interest rates, first-time buyer concessions, strong population growth and a lagging supply response. However, with interest rates now rising, the government withdrawing stimulus and the supply response picking up, we expect house price growth to slow over the next six to nine months.”

India recorded a growth of 8.4 percent in 2009-10 when compared to the previous year. China topped the list with a growth of 68 percent. Bailey added that, “A recovery in the global housing market is undoubtedly underway. In Q1 2009, 33 per cent of the countries recorded positive annual growth. In Q1 2010, this figure was closer to 53 per cent but still some way off the figure of 90 per cent recorded in Q1 2006.”

Next to China, Hong Kong took the place with 30.6 percent growth, followed by Singapore (24.3 percent), Australia (20 percent) and Israel (15.9 percent). Asia-Pacific region saw the strongest growth, with prices increasing by 17.8 percent on an average. China, Hong Kong and Singapore registered an annual growth over 24 percent. The countries which saw a drop in price by more than 30 percent were Lithuania, Ukraine and Estonia.

An impressive 3.5 lakh people is estimated to be hired by Indian establishments in the June-ending quarter. This was revealed by a survey conducted by Ma Foi Randstad, a leading integrated HR service provider in the country. The survey goes on to forecast that ‘driven by India’s economic turnaround post downturn, hiring in the organized sector is set to pick up at a greater pace in the second quarter’.

The latest survey reveals that during January-March quarter, 1,53,564 jobs were created in India and predicts that during April-June quarter, 3,47,463 jobs will be created. The year 2010 may witness the creation of around one million jobs in the country.

The most promising development in the employment market revealed by the survey results is that the hiring spree is taking place across sectors and not limited to a few. Healthcare sector lead the show in new job creation during Jan-March quarter with a tally of 52, 752. Hospitality with 21,500 and Education, Training & Consultancy with 16,200 too came up with a good show.

Forecast for April-June quarter is again lead by healthcare sector with an estimated 96,248 new jobs. Real estate and construction sector with 52,115 jobs, hospitality with 49,000 jobs and IT & ITES sector with 34,000 jobs are also expected to contribute substantially. The jump in hiring is mostly in Real Estate and Construction, Media and Entertainment and Healthcare sectors.

The surveyed companies revealed their ‘wait and watch’ hiring strategy. Most firms said that the hiring would be spread across the year to avoid risk.

Ma Foi Randstad Employment Trends Survey is the country’s largest and most elaborate employment market study. The HR service provider has been conducting this survey since 2004. The latest survey results were based on the information gathered from 650 organizations spread over 13 industry sectors in top-eight cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

Relying on homegrown professionals to lead its entry into the telecom sector is what RIL; one of the India’s largest private sector companies is contemplating. It is said that Jyotindra Thacker, who is the head of RIL’s information technology systems might be chosen to lead the refinery to retail major’s entry into the telecom sector with the newly acquired Infotel Broadband Services, which is a broadband services company. However there has been no confirmation in this regards from the Reliance spokesperson.

Mr. Jyotindra Thaker was pivotal in driving the equipment operations and procurement during the nascent stages of the Reliance Communications which was earlier known as Reliance Infocom. With is knowledge and expertise he has emerge as the likely candidate of choice to head RIL’s foray into the telecom sector.

The rolling out of operations for Reliance Communication was effectively handled by Mr. Thacker, which has used the fiber optic communication methods, that has resulted in cheaper traffis to its consumers. It is said that Thacker and Lieutenant Major Modi who are Mukesh Ambani’s trusted aides were the ones who were dealing with the negotiations with suppliers like Qualcomm and Nortel on behalf of Reliance Communications. An ex employee of Reliance Infocomm has also stated “Of course, they managed to bring down costs from companies like Nortel.”  Mr. Modia and Mr. Thacker are close relatives too.

Infotel has bagged the broadband spectrum for 22 circles and is busy drawing up plans to implement the procurement of the required equipment and rolling out of operations.  An executive from the telecom industry who has earlier worked with Mr. Thacker has stated “This is where Thacker’s expertise will come handy”.  Analysts have mentioned that the new company is most likely to start with the area that they were comfortable in, that is offering wireless broadband services. As of now, even tough there are 9 million subscribers in the retail broadband segment, only eight people in every thousand have access to broadband.

A recruitment drive for telecom talent is proposed to commence to drive RIL’s broadband business.  Even though RIL was home to several telecom industry veterans, there was a shift of manpower that took place when the ownership of the telecommunication business was given to Anil Ambani through a family settlement that was brokered by their mother Kokilaben in 2005.

The six core infrastructure industries – crude, petroleum refining, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel – posted a 5 percent growth in the month of May as against 3.2 percent in the same month last year. However, when compared to the previous month, it showed a marginal decline of 0.40 percent.

Petroleum refinery output reported a good growth. In May it registered a growth of 7.7 percent as against a negative growth of 4.3 percent in May 2009. Crude oil production also rose 5.8 percent in May as against a negative growth of 4.3 percent last year. Finished steel growth was less when compared to last year’s growth of 2.8 percent. This May finished steel grew only by 2.5 percent.

Coal production was lowest with 0.1 percent increase in May as against a huge growth of 10.4 percent the same month last year. Cement production also slowed down in May. In May 2009 cement production grew by 11.8 percent but this year it registered a growth of only 8.6 percent. Electricity generation more than doubled at 6.4 percent from 3 percent last year. The first two months this fiscal, the six core sectors witnessed a growth of 5.1 percent as against 3.5 percent in the same month last year.