A Timely Rap

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>There couldn't be better news for home buyers who are short-changed by builders. The Competition Commission of India (CCI), in a first-of-its-kind order has fined India's largest developer DLF Rs 630 crore (7 per cent of its average annual turnover for 3 years) for using its dominant position to build additional floors and delay its Belaire project in Gurgaon. The anti-monopoly watchdog is now considering proceeding against other realtors.<br><br>Property buyers continue to be at the mercy of slick-talking space sellers. Most of the big developers sell flats on the basis of ‘super built-up' area that has nothing to do with the actual floor area available. Similarly, completion clauses are routinely violated by companies like Unitech have become the norm. <br><br>In this context, CCI's order against DLF is a wake-up call for both builders and the government. The Centre, which for years has been mulling a regulatory body for the real estate sector to protect hapless consumers, must act before the pressure cooker blows up. <br><br><br><strong>STRICTLY BUSINESS</strong><br><br>Brands such as Canon, Coca Cola and Future Group who had designed ad campaigns around Sachin Tendulkar scoring the 100th century are now back-peddling furiously. Team India's disastrous England tour has given cricket a bad name, and no one wants a share of that, at least for now.<br><br>(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 29-08-2011)<br><br></p>