The Hindu & Hindustan Times India Property Show 2011, the largest showcasing of pan-Indian real estate offerings this city state has seen, was inaugurated at the Singapore Expo on Friday and the event saw a significant number of visitors on Saturday. It will be on till Sunday.
At the first such event here last year, where the focus was mainly on south Indian properties, some high-value transactions were concluded.
The event marks such a collaborative move between The Hindu and The Hindustan Times for the first time, in conjunction with the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI, Tamil Nadu) and the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI). It aims to promote real estate investment opportunities among Indians in Singapore and the region. The number of non-resident Indians and overseas citizens of India in Singapore is an estimated 200,000.
The inaugural event was attended by over 150 invited guests, including industry representatives and potential buyers. Albert Hong, chairman of RSP Architects Planners & Engineers, was the Guest of Honour. He is a pioneering Singaporean businessmen who ventured into India also in the mid-1990s. RSP has a prominent presence in India and is associated with the Infosys campus in Bangalore and the Hinduja Software Park.
Dr. Hong noted that India receives one of the largest diasporic remittances — a whopping $52 billion in 2010 — and that much of the remittances go into real estate investment. He highlighted the advantage that overseas Indian buyers have in terms of access to lower interest rates.
Dr. Hong, along with Akila Iyengar, a Director of Kasturi & Sons Limited, the proprietors of The Hindu Group of publications; T. Chitty Babu, president of CREDAI Tamil Nadu; Vivek Khanna, publisher of Mint, an HT Media publication; and R. Narayanamohan, chairman of SICCI, lit a traditional Indian lamp to mark the inauguration.
The overall turnout this year is expected to be better than last year owing to the recent economic effervescence, particularly in Tamil Nadu. In Chennai, the Old Mahabalipuram Road, GST Road and the Bangalore Highway are three growth corridors marked for expansion, and real estate development here is being promoted at this year's show. These are expected to be popular among Indians in Singapore looking to buy property for their families back home or as long-term investment.
