April 07, 2006

Real Estate And India:

Real estate continues to be a robust story with serious players from the Middle East and Europe building concrete investments in India. Kuwait based India Fund is planning to buy land in Chennai and Bangalore with an initial investment of Rs 70 crore.Under the plan, two companies have been formed with the specific objective of diversifying investments in India. The companies will own stocks of Indian companies to invest in real estate and in private equity.Funds being floated The emerging trend is clear and real estate could be the big cash cow after equities. Interestingly, it is not just the Middle East but even Europe is bullish. UK based Trinity Capital plans to raise up to 250 million pounds to focus on commercial development sites, retail, hospitality and construction.With such international funding interest, going by India's hunger for development, even local players are taking the cue. TCG group's Purnendu Chatterjee is now floating a half a billion dollar realty fund.While it is still unclear as to how local investors can be a part of the funds that are being floated, the bullishness is visible even through the stock markets. In the first three months of 2006, three large infrastructure mutual funds have hit the markets. ------------------------------------------ By Tony Braig. source:http://www.ndtvprofit.com