All eyes on India

by Amy Glass Tuesday, 02 October 2007

UAE developers are increasingly turning their eyes toward the huge growth potential of the vast India markets.

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Hosting a population of 1.1 billion people with an average age of 25, the fast developing country has an estimated shortfall of 22 million homes.

Chennai is becoming a hub for these sectors and many reputed realtors have entered the scene recently to take advantage of the growing gap between demand and supply.
This shortage, and the expectation that India ‘s population will exceed China before 2030 to become the world's most populated country, means few property companies can ignore the emerging market.

ETA Star executive director Abid Junaid says he intends the firm to have significant operations in India by mid-2009.

"India is one of the fast developing economies in the world and every business entity is eyeing India as their destination point. We are familiar with the rules and regulations in India, the development corridors, proposed developments and it is easy for us to take decisions regarding various projects in India."

ETA Star is currently exploring developments across India, and has followed this path since the Indian government simplified the foreign direct investment rules last decade.

"Since liberalisation of economic policies in the 1990s, India has shown growth in all fields and been able to attract huge amounts of foreign investments. This liberalisation saw us begin to establish our land bank development," Junaid said.

ETA Star has since firmly established itself in two Indian cities, Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Bangalore in Karnataka.

"We have lined up a wide range of projects in Chennai recently, some freehold and some joint ventures with land owners. We have launched a mega Information Technology Park project and a residential project in Chennai. These developments will be followed by few other residential and commercial projects including an integrated township in Sriperumbudur, just outside limits of Chennai, on a 350-acre plot for which the land acquisition formalities are being done."

While most of the projects are in Chennai, ETA Star are also planning to identify properties in Tier 2 cities in Tamil Nadu like Coimbatore and Madurai, with residential projects planned for these cities, he added.

Junaid notes demand for housing among young professionals has risen sharply across India over the past five years, as income levels increase within the IT, retail, banking, insurance and manufacturing sectors.

"Chennai is becoming a hub for these sectors and many reputed realtors have entered the scene recently to take advantage of the growing gap between demand and supply.

"Most people prefer apartments since prices are lower compared to independent villas because the land costs have raised considerably recently," he said.

Apartments also provide many amenities which attract young professionals and technocrats, and provide better security compared to independent villas, he added.

The real estate market in Bangalore is focused more towards designer apartments, since purchasing power is greater than Chennai.

"Our apartments there are based on the concept of affordable luxury and the two condominiums are called Binny Crescent and The Gardens. By affordable luxury, we provide apartments with basic amenities, and many buyers add features like security systems and landscape and greenery. We price these aggressively compared to the competitors and were able to sell more than 50% of the total 1,000 ‘The Gardens' apartments in the first week of our opening the sale."



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