Mumbai, Sept 11: India's real estate market has potential for fast growth on the back of a boom in outsourcing business but regulatory issues are choking foreign investments, an international property consultant said. Foreign firms seeking cheaper providers of services such as accounting, payroll management and insurance claims processing are turning to India in growing numbers to take advantage of the country's huge, skilled, English-speaking workforce and growing telecoms infrastructure.
That in turn will create increased demand for office space. The United States alone has the potential to bring two million jobs to India by 2008 and create demand for about 200 million square feet of real estate, Stephen Mallen, global research head at Knight Frank, told Reuters.
"The jobs that move to India will create demand for different types of property, more mainstream office accommodations as well as suburban call centres," Mallen said.
But constraints over foreign ownership and repatriation could prevent that potential from being realised, he added.
Bureau Report