India, like many other parts of the world is zooming away in the face
of a real estate boom. In India there is a real estate boom in any
direction you wish to see. Whether it is Bangalore, Pune, Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Calcutta, Chennai or Hyderabad or even already sky high Mumbai and Delhi - the
story is the same.
The concern is that in India, stock prices are at the height of a boom.
As it happens, a boom in one sector translates into a boom in another
sector with investors rushing to park their money in a safe place.
Also, add the foreign exchange glut in India fuelled to a great extent
by software engineers parking their dollar salaries in real estate
(especially near the tech hubs). Low interest rates (relatively, as
compared to 10 years back) over the last few years made bank loans
easier.
Driven by
positive growth in the economy, real estate in India is booming. The
year 2006 started on a promising note when the Government of India
opened the construction and development sector in February 2006, and
allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) under the
'automatic route' in order to spur investment in the vital
infrastructure sector. The government has thrown open the lucrative
parts of the Indian realty market to global investors for the first
time.
The
relaxation of the FDI ceiling saw big names joining hands with the
Delhi-based developments to announce India's largest FDI in the realty
sector. Groups showing interest in India include major Indian and
international companies.
The development of real estate in India focuses on two primary areas: retail and residential.
The
global real-estate consulting group Knight Frank has ranked India 5th
in the list of 30 emerging retail markets and predicted an impressive
20 per cent growth rate for the organized retail segment by 2010. The organized segment is expected to grow from a mere 2 per cent to 20 per cent by the end of the decade, it said.
The
boom is also attracting interest from foreign players. In recent years,
non-resident Indians (NRIs) have played a very important role in
transforming the Indian real estate market. Opening-up of the Indian
economy provided them with new opportunities and they have shown a
great deal of confidence in the changed set up. Since 1994, NRIs have
invested a sizeable amount, of which a big chunk has found its way into
the property market. Participation by NRIs has brought about a lot of
maturity in the market which in the past had solely banked on the
actual users.