THE IPI VIEW
September 2015
Invest in India, the Land of Opportunity Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit enriched bonds between India and the UAE, and highlighted India's appeal as a growing economy, says MENKA SHIVDASANI
QUICK FACTS • Prime Minister Modi told business leaders in the UAE that there was an immediate potential of one trillion dollars worth of investment available in India. • As the country witnesses a transformation across the board, NRIs have many reasons to seriously consider investing in Indian real estate.
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hen the Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi visited the United Arab Emirates in August 2015, there was considerable excitement. 'It was Madison Square Garden all over again', said one report, as Mr. Modi addressed a full house of more than 50,000 Indians at the Dubai Cricket Stadium, many of them chanting his name. It was the first time that any Indian prime minister had visited the UAE in 34 years, despite the fact that UAE is one of India's top three trading partners, with a population of as many as 2.6 million Indians constituting nearly 30 per cent of the population—a far cry from the 300,000 Indians who lived there when Indira Gandhi visited in 1981. Mr Modi also visited Masdar City, a planned city project in Abu Dhabi, to see first-hand how cities can rely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources. He told business leaders at a roundtable meeting there that there was an immediate potential of one trillion dollars worth of investment available in India. Among the sectors he mentioned which had huge investment potential were 8
infrastructure, real estate and low-cost housing, renewable energy and port-led development.
schemes that he announced for them was an online portal, Madad, to address their grievances.
He pointed out that India, 'the land of opportunity', was a country of 125 crore Indians, who were not just a market, but a power. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund were in agreement that India is now the fastest growing major economy in the world, with immense possibilities of development, he observed. The Prime Minister reminded his audience that many people were describing the 21st century as Asia's century, and pointed out that if India and the UAE worked together, they could indeed make this a reality.
While it is still too soon to gauge how successful Mr Modi's trip to the UAE might be in terms of actual investments on the ground, there is no doubt that the world's perception of India has been on the upswing since he took over as prime minister on May 26, 2014. The initial euphoria over his landslide victory has begun to settle down, but even as Mr. Modi's government grapples with the realities of effecting change in the world's largest democracy, the fact is that he has acted swiftly in announcing a series of far-reaching measures. From building toilets to creating smart cities, the range of his vision is enormous, leading to heightened investor confidence.
FAR-REACHING MEASURES Mr Modi had reason to be optimistic. "The Crown Prince has planned to invest ` 4.5 lakh crore in India," he said. "If people did not have trust in you, will they even want to invest ` 10 in India?" The optimism, however, was balanced with a sharp eye on the realities that non-resident Indians (NRIs) have had to deal with while investing in India; among the
In March 2015, global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield pointed out that investments in the Indian real estate sector in the previous year jumped more than twofold to over $5 billion, helping the country figure in the list of world's top 20 property destinations. "The Indian www.indiapropertyinsider.in | A
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