The Realty India Expo, being held at JW Marriott in Deira on Friday and Saturday, provides Gulf NRIs an unparalleled opportunity to choose from varied options.

For those NRIs who are already owning property and wish to either sell or exchange, this is yet another opportunity to analyse the available options.

The expo also offers a unique opportunity to choose from built units as 100 plus exclusively selected ready to move in villas and apartments are made available for investors. For investors, commercial properties and plots provide ideal investment options to derive maximum yield on investment. What is more the expo offers investment seminar on real estate subjects that would be of immense benefit to investors as well as end users to understand the market scenario and make ideal investment options.

The Realty India Expo is coming at an opportune moment when India is maintaining its GDP growth despite global slowdown, infrastructure development changing the skyline of India, and state government competing with each other to bring in investment by way of investments from foreign investors.

For foreign investors 100 per cent FDI under the automatic route is permitted in construction led development projects including townships, construction on residential and commercial premises, roads and bridges, resorts, hotels, hospitals, educational institutes, recreational facilities, city and regional level infrastructure.

The condition for minimum floor area of 0.22 million sqft in construction development projects and minimum capitalisation of $5 million to be brought in within the period of six months of the commencement of business have been removed.

The investment will have a lock-in period of three years for each tranche of investment, however investors are permitted to exit at any time upon completion of the project or after development of trunk infrastructure i.e. roads, sewage, drainage, water supply and street lighting. This has made foreign investment even in smaller projects feasible with the result small entrepreneurs will immensely benefit not only in tier I and II cities but even in smaller cities.

The lock-in-period condition is not applicable on special economic zones, hotels and tourist resorts, hospitals, educational institutions, old age homes and investment by NRIs.

In the changing regime, foreign entities can invest in the entire real estate stock of completed or under construction projects. The budget has cleared the DDT hurdle and as a result any distribution made out of income of SPV to the REITs and infrastructure investment trusts having specified shareholding will not be subjected to DDT. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 has come into force effective May 1, setting in motion the process of making necessary operational rules and creation of institutional infrastructure for protecting the interests of consumers and promoting the growth of real estate sector.

Affordable housing will get a boost with fiscal incentives and government subsidies. For investors at project level, the mismatch between demand and supply across Indian cities will provide competitive return on investment. Eleven tier II and tier III cities that are expected to spur housing demand, driving cumulative incremental residential demand to approximately 0.9 million units between 2016 and 2020.

The yield on commercial estate stood at 10-10.5 per cent depending on the city, quality of building, tenant-mix and amenities offered in the project. There is no dearth of demand across major cities aggravated by BTS (built to suit) requirements and other sectors.

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