The Indian diaspora in Singapore and the region is being targeted for real estate investments by the nation’s largest listed real estate developer.
Mumbai-headquartered Godrej Properties (GPL) has established an international representative office in Singapore on Wednesday at One Fullerton Road at Raffles Place. They increased sales of about S$1.03 billion in its latest financial year ending in March.
“We want to provide a service to non-resident Indians and help them in their choice of residential properties in India,” said Mr Mohit Malhotra, executive director of Godrej Properties.
“Indian nationals living abroad and people of Indian origin in the region have a high disposable income. They also actively invest in India, so we would like to tap the opportunities in Singapore where there is a large Indian community with strong cultural linkages with India,” he added.
The 350,000 ethnic Indians in Singapore, together with a further 350,000 Indian nationals working in the financial services, information technology, marine and construction sectors in the city-state, make up a large part of Godrej Properties’s target audience.
“Our strategic positioning in Singapore will help increase our market share,” Mr Malhotra explained. “To be physically present in Singapore will enable us to market our properties, mainly residential properties, more effectively to Indians in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Hong Kong.
“This presents a major market opportunity in this region.”
GPL established its first overseas representative office in Dubai in 2014 to cater to the Indian diaspora in the United Arab Emirates and in the Middle East.
Over the years, GPL has been working with customers in Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Australia, Africa, UK and USA.
GPL is currently developing residential, commercial and township projects spread across some 12 million square metres in 12 cities.
The cities are: Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mangalore and Kolkata.
The properties are mainly high-end, with prices ranging from S$100,000 to S$2 million for apartments ranging from 40 sq m to 200 sq m. These are for one to four-bedroom apartment units.
Any individual who holds the Overseas Citizen of India card or the Person of Indian Origin card issued by the government of India can buy real estate there.
Foreign investors would have to meet the requirements set out by the Reserve Bank of India for foreign nationals and those of non-Indian origin.
Institutional investors can participate in Indian real estate by way of setting up real estate funds according to guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India.