Indian expats are confident in investing in Indian properties,” said Anil Kishora, Country Head and CEO, SBI, Singapore, at the inauguration of The Hindu 's India Property show, Singapore 2013. Kishora also felt that since there has been a decline in the Indian rupee, NRIs feel that Indian properties have become less expensive. “The profile of investors, who are interested in buying properties include, those who want to buy for future use, purely for investment purposes and also those who want to maintain sentimental ties with their mother land.”
The properties displayed were from cities like Chennai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Madurai and Trichy with projects in both urban as well as suburban areas represented well. “We want to create a platform for the Indian diaspora where they meet builders and make wise investment decisions,” said Ravichandran, Dy General Manager Events, The Hindu. “This is the fourth year of the show and some builders in the last year have booked sales of at least Rs. 3-4 Crore. We have adopted a 360 degree approach in promoting this event, including mainstream media as well as digital marketing, since Singaporeans are enthusiastic netizens.”
Bala from Arihant builder, who also participated last year, observed that the South Indian NRI working population based out of Singapore is interested in investing. “Since, Singapore hosts a sizeable Tamil Diaspora, properties based out of Tamil Nadu and other southern parts have a very good chance of being purchased. Also, the trend nowadays is to invest in villas and the suburban sector is seeing more growth.” Meera, from Vishwasri property developers, Coimbatore observed that 75 per cent of their prospective customers are expats, working in the IT sector looking for buy property. “Coimbatore has a growing IT population which we are trying to cater to.”
Kameswaran, a project manager, who already has a property in his hometown, Tanjore, is looking to invest in a property in Chennai so he can rent it out. “This way I will be contributing to my homeland and maintain my ties with it.” Satish Krishnan and Soumya Satish, IT professionals based out of Singapore are looking to move back to India andwant to buy a house to stay in. “We would prefer to invest in suburban areas as it will be closer to our work place,” they said. The event was presented by State bank of India and was held on September 14 and 15 at the Singapore Expo hall.
