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NRIs boost Indian property market

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DUBAI — India has a housing shortfall of 26 million units with the bulk of demand coming mostly from non-resident Indians (NRIs), making it a rich property market for developers to tap, a Citibank official yesterday said.

Published: Fri 19 Oct 2007, 10:22 AM

Updated: Sat 4 Apr 2015, 11:28 PM

  • By
  • Jose Franco

Mumbai-based Ashish Mehrotra, business head and vice-president for mortgages at Citibank India, said the Indian property market has been increasing at between 30-35 per cent per annum, and will continue to see huge demand in the coming years.

"The markets are very buoyant, and developers have been providing internationally-accepted standards in the property industry," he said at the opening of IndiaHome Property Exhibition, a trade show for NRIs seeking to purchase houses in India.

He said the three-day event, which is being sponsored by Citibank and held at Shangri-La Hotel, targets the NRIs in Dubai and the whole UAE for properties being offered by 12 large developers covering India's 18 major cities.

He added that Citibank, a member of global financial services company Citi, provides up to 90 per cent financing of the total value of home property, with a maximum repayment plan of 20 years.

HSBC and the Indian house financing company HDPC also provide home loans to NRIs, whose biggest populations are in 20 economies such as the UAE, Kuwait, the US, the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong Canada and Australia.

Having processed at least 1,000 home loans since January, Citibank now has over 8,000 customers in Dubai for this service, he said. He added that there are 40,000 NRIs who bank with Citibank in Dubai alone.

He said Citibank, which has been extending home loans for the past two decades, is on its 10th year as sponsor of IndiaHome.

Some of the developers participating in IndiaHome are Emaar MGF, DLF Ltd, Hiranandani Developers, SMR Constructions, Unitech Ltd, Sobha Developers, Aparna Group, Presidium and Vipul Ltd.

Citibank said in a statement that these developers have residential, commercial and retail projects across various towns and cities in India offering purchase options of between Dh30,000 (30 lacs) to Dh10 million (10 crores).

Vipul Kaput, global sales director at Citibank NRI, said that buying a home is an investment as well as an "emotional commitment" especially for NRIs.

"Citibank has a rich experience and established presence in the Indian home loans market," he said at the event, whose inauguration was likewise attended by Rahul Soota, retail bank head at Citibank India and Burjor Patel, vice-president for marketing, Khaleej Times.

Mehrotra said Citibank is offering pre-approved home loans on the spot to visiting NRIs based on their salary and identification documents during the three-day exhibition. These loans can be used to shop of property at various exhibitors.



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