Notes, in the open.
Plain, factual writing on the places we build in and the ideas behind them, West Bangalore, the metro, the high street, and land in the Chennai corridor. No hype, just the case as it stands.
The market, in the open
By The Ameya Team ·
Where India’s office demand is actually moving — and how Bangalore and Chennai, the two cities we build in, sit within it. Explore the numbers yourself.
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13 piecesThe market, in the open
An interactive look at where India’s office demand is moving — Bangalore & Chennai in context. Browse it yourself.
Explore →Building Bengaluru’s future: what’s shaping Basaveshwara Nagar
Metro on the doorstep, corporate gravity next door, and land that isn’t being made any more — the case for West Bengaluru, with the numbers.
Read →The corridor reshaping plotted land near Chennai
A new airport, an expressway and a huge manufacturing belt — all converging on the district where Salavakkam sits.
Read →What a corner actually buys you
Why a standalone building on two roads out-earns a floor in someone else’s tower. From the founder.
Read →Why Basaveshwara Nagar is in demand
A planned West Bangalore grid, the maturity that makes it valuable, and what it means for ground-floor commerce.
Read →The Green Line effect
What Namma Metro's Green Line, Rajajinagar, Mahalakshmi, Sandal Soap Factory, does to a neighbourhood.
Read →High-street retail, reconsidered
Why street-facing addresses and corner plots still beat the mall corridor for flagship retail.
Read →Salavakkam and Chennai's southern arc
Where Salavakkam sits, the Kanchipuram–Chengalpattu growth belt, and why land there is bought for the long view.
Read →Land, not leverage
Plotted development as an asset, what you actually own, and where the value sits.
Read →Before you buy: the papers that protect you
An eleven-point document checklist for Bangalore & Chennai — title, EC, khata, sanctioned plan, RERA, OC and more.
Read →A letter on what RERA promises
The four promises the law puts in writing — a public record, ring-fenced money, honest area, and a timeline that costs the developer if it slips.
Read →A letter on the security it gives you
The ladder of recourse when a promise is tested — a five-year warranty, a no-courtroom complaint route, interest on delay, and protection from moving goalposts.
Read →RERA, in plain English
What the law actually protects, and what “registration in progress” honestly means for a new project.
Read →Buying from abroad: a plain checklist
Eligibility, banking, documents and repatriation for NRIs and OCIs buying property in India.
Read →West Bengaluru in 2026
Why an established, planned grid keeps re-rating while the city stretches outward.
Read →Why Basaveshwara Nagar is in demand
By The Ameya Team ·
In a city obsessed with the next frontier, an established western grid quietly holds its ground.
The corridor reshaping plotted land near Chennai
By The Ameya Team ·
A new airport, an expressway, and one of India’s biggest manufacturing belts — all converging on the district where Salavakkam sits.
The Green Line effect
By The Ameya Team · · 3 min read
A metro line does something specific to the ground around it, it compresses time and widens a shopfront's reach.
Namma Metro's Green Line runs roughly 33.5 km from Madavara in the north-west to Silk Institute in the south, threading the established western suburbs, Yeshwanthpur, Rajajinagar and Malleshwaram along Tumkur Road, through the Majestic interchange with the Purple Line, and on into South Bengaluru along Kanakapura Road.
For the Rajaji Nagar–Basaveshwara Nagar belt, the relevant stations are Rajajinagar, Mahalakshmi and Sandal Soap Factory, with Mantri Square Sampige Road a short ride beyond. Trains run at roughly five-to-ten-minute intervals from early morning to late night, turning a traffic-bound cross-city trip into a predictable twenty-odd minutes.
What rapid transit does to a neighbourhood is well documented the world over: it shortens journeys, widens the catchment a single address can draw from, and tends to lift both the footfall and the value of well-located, ground-floor real estate near stations. Transit-oriented demand is one of the quieter reasons established, metro-served western pockets have held their value even as the city has spilled outward.
Sources: Namma Metro / BMRCL; Green Line (Namma Metro), Wikipedia. Station distances are approximate and by road.
← All piecesHigh-street retail, reconsidered
By The Ameya Team · · 4 min read
For two decades the mall was the story. Quietly, the street has reasserted itself.
Flagship stores, food-and-beverage and experiential brands increasingly prefer street-facing addresses on arterial roads, and the reasons are unglamorous and durable. Visibility a mall's interior corridor cannot match. Walk-in footfall that needs no anchor tenant to manufacture it. Signage that works on commuters and pedestrians alike. And operating costs unburdened by mall common-area charges and rigid timings.
A corner plot, addressed by two roads rather than one, multiplies the advantage. Roads on two sides mean longer signage runs and two streams of approach; it allows retail footfall below to be separated cleanly from office access above; and it gives a building presence from more than one direction. On a busy junction, a corner simply sees more.
None of this is a reaction against malls so much as a return to fundamentals that never changed: location, visibility, and a catchment that is already there. The high street rewards exactly those things, which is why, on the right road, the ground floor still wins.
← All piecesBefore you buy: the paper trail that protects you
By The Ameya Team ·
A good address is only as good as its documents. Here is the file every serious buyer should assemble in Bangalore or Chennai — and what each paper is quietly telling you.
RERA, in plain English
By The Ameya Team ·
A law written for exactly one reason: to move the risk of a project off the buyer and onto the developer.
Buying from abroad: a plain checklist
By The Ameya Team · · 5 min read
Distance is a paperwork problem, not a barrier. Here is the shape of it.
Who can buy. Under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the RBI’s general permission, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) and persons of Indian origin may acquire residential and commercial property in India without any special approval. What is off-limits is agricultural land, farmhouses and plantation property.
How you pay. Funds are routed through normal banking channels, your NRE, NRO or FCNR account, or an inward remittance from abroad. Cash purchases are not the way; every rupee should be traceable and receipted.
The documents. Typically your PAN card, passport and OCI/PIO proof, your NRE/NRO account details, and, if you cannot be present to sign, a Power of Attorney granted to someone you trust, so a purchase can be completed while you are overseas.
Taking money back out. Repatriation is allowed within FEMA limits: broadly, sale proceeds from up to two residential properties are repatriable, and balances in an NRO account up to USD 1 million per financial year, after applicable taxes and filings, provided the property was acquired in line with the rules. Note that when you buy from a resident seller, tax may be deducted at source; when you sell, capital-gains rules apply.
None of this is difficult, it is simply a sequence. The value of a developer who works in the open is that each step is documented, so your own advisor can check it from wherever you are.
General information only, not tax, legal or investment advice. FEMA and tax rules change; please take independent advice for your circumstances.
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