Kolkata will lead in future!
Kolkata left Delhi and Chennai behind on the future attractiveness index on investment in the real estate sector and is set to get inflows of about Rs 37,000 crore in the next five years.
According to Real Estate Bank India, Kolkata has left most other metros behind when it comes to attracting real estate developers and the state, too, is blinking bright on the real estate radar as it has attracted about Rs 25,000 crore in real estate and infrastructure in the last two years.
Gujarat tops the list with investments of more than Rs 35,000 in the sector, while Maharashtra is third behind West Bengal.
Ascribing the cheap living cost in the city and the state to high investment in real estate, Mr Lakshmi Narayanan, CEO of REBI, said that despite all the growth, prices of essentials in the city are much below those in others.
He warned, however, that infrastructure needs to grow at a faster rate or the boom may be restricted to already developed areas such as Rajarhat, Salt Lake and Durgapur.
Investors will only be attracted in areas where they will be able to sell their projects and that will be possible only when facilities such as communication are well developed, he said.
The city in any case will add up to 250 million sqft of built-up space, for which more than Rs 37,500 will be invested.
Most of the growth will be in what is known as Greater Kolkata, comprising Garia-Narendrapur, Behala-Joka, Rajarhat and Howrah.
We dont see any slump in the growth as there is a huge housing shortage in the country. Kolkata is still virgin territory and will see an astronomical growth of 25-30 per cent, he said.
Growth in the IT sector, along with that of northeast India, will only add up to the growth. 65 per cent of Indians dont have a home of their own and with growing income, everybody will want to have one. So, the present shortage of 20 million homes will only increase if the sector does not grow fast, Mr Narayanan said.
The country as a whole will see investments of $25 billion by 2010 and $50 billion by 1015 in commercial, residential and industrial real estate projects. More than 16 million sqft of constructed space will be available by then, he claimed.
Source: The Statesman
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