Connaught Place 9th most expensive office location; Hong Kong tops chart

In its annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, CBRE tracks the cost of leasing prime office space globally.

New Delhi's Connaught Place (CP) is the ninth most expensive office location in the world with an annual rent of nearly $144 per sq ft, according to property consultant CBRE.

CP, located in the heart of the national capital, was at the ninth position even last year.

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In its annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, CBRE tracks the cost of leasing prime office space globally.

For the second year, Hong Kong's Central district retained the top spot as the world's most expensive market for prime office rents, with the prime occupancy costs valued at $322 per sq.ft.

"New Delhi's Connaught Place - central business district (CBD) retains its ninth position in the list as last year and the office occupancy cost is valued at $143.97 per sq ft," the report said.

Mumbai's Bandra Kurla Complex and Nariman Point CBD slipped to 27th and 40th positions, respectively.

Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) was ranked 26th and Nariman Point at 37th in 2018 ranking.

The current annual prime rent of BKC is valued at $90.67 per sq. ft and the Nariman Point CBD is valued at $68.38 per sq ft.

Indian markets continued to have greater investment grade space in the CBDs of the different cities as prominent domestic and global corporates continued to favour investment grade space for setting up front their front offices in these cities," said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO, India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa, CBRE.

The commercial office market remains a strong growth propeller for the real estate sector, he added.

"Delhi, being a prime market, continues to witness sustained activity and retains its position amongst the top 10 most expensive markets in the world," Magazine said.

CBRE highlighted that six of the world's 10 most expensive office markets are found in Asia.

Delhi eatery staff arrested for cloning debit, credit cards of customers

The accused used to re-swap cards of the customers and noted down their last four digits, PIN and bank name.

An employee of a central Delhi restaurant has been arrested for allegedly cloning debit and credit cards of customers and duping them of nearly Rs 4 lakh, police said Wednesday.

The accused has been identified as Pankaj Kumar, they said.

On February 14, a private bank filed a case that few of their customers who were having credit and debit cards have reported disputed transactions. Moreover, the cards were in possession of the customers at the time of those transactions, Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi), said.

During investigation, it was revealed that one restaurant in Connaught Place was the common point of purchase for all the cards. Police matched all the dates when the cards were compromised at that restaurant and found that Pankaj, a steward staff, was the person who had attended all the customers whose cards had disputed transactions, the officer said.

Thereafter, police laid a trap at the restaurant and apprehended Pankaj and one screamer was recovered from him, he said.

During interrogation, he told police that he learnt to clone cards from one Rahul, the officer said.

He used to re-swap cards of the customers and noted down their last four digits, PIN and bank name. He handed over the screamer having data of cards and other details to Rahul, police said.

They were acting cleverly and didn't use the cloned card for one month so that no one would doubt about their card being compromised at that restaurant, Verma said.

Total Rs 3,75,300 were transferred from the accounts, Verma said, adding police are looking to nab Rahul.

Business Standard