Barclays launches NRI Banking Services

Now NRI customers will be able to visit one of over 50 Barclays branches in and around London and access, among other products, two types of Savings bank accounts:

• Non-Resident External (NRE) Savings Account, enabling customers to conveniently manage all their basic Rupee transactions in India using their overseas earnings in any foreign currency;

• Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) Savings Account, enabling them to manage their Rupee income in India.

Both accounts come with a mandate facility to allow designated individuals in India to manage the account jointly with the holder, free ATM cards for both the account and the mandate holder, free cheque books and free pay orders from India. The interest on both saving accounts is 3.50% and is paid half-yearly.

Also launching today and available to NRI customers are:

• NRE Term Deposit and NRO Term Deposit accounts, enabling customers to convert currency savings from as low as 50,000 Indian Rupees and place them into Term Deposits for attractive returns of up to 5.45%, with no penalties for premature withdrawal.

Finally, NRI customers will be able to access:

• Foreign Currency Non-Resident (FCNR) Term Deposit accounts, earning their foreign currency savings of British Pounds, US Dollars or Euros returns from 3.78% up to 5.57% in India, without needing to convert them into Rupees.

Barclays is planning to extend NRI Banking services to more than 70 branches in large cities across the UK from early August. In the meantime, customers can find out more by calling the 24-hour NRI Contact Centre on 0800 376 2355 from the UK or 1800 233 7878 from India.

Barclays further expands its commitment to the Indian market with the launch of a suite of specially designed products for Non Resident Indian (NRI) customers, for the first time available directly from a bank’s branch network.

THE NRI EYE: Gulf investors bullish on India

India is fast becoming a favoured investment destination not just for its own diaspora, but also for institutional investors from the Gulf region. The most attractive avenue for major Arab players seems to be real estate.

Investment pouring into India’s hot property market from the Gulf region have crossed the $35bn mark, says The Economic Times. The combined value of the various real estate projects being developed by Gulf-based real estate firms has touched $37 bn.

The Gulf’s oil-fuelled current account surplus will hit $227bn this year, according to the Institute of International Finance, and that money is looking for a home. With domestic real estate markets saturated and the west seen as increasingly hostile by some, Gulf investors are turning to India’s emerging property market.

Gulf investors know India well, explains Richard Dean in The Financial Times. The country’s financial centres are a short flight away and many of the professionals managing Gulf money are Indian expatriates. Their intention is to develop the projects in which India’s fast-emerging middle class will live and work.

So far the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country’s central bank, has restricted foreign investment in property, fearing that an influx of funds could stoke inflation. But the finance ministry worries that stalling investment could stunt India’s growth and the balance appears to be tipping in favour of allowing more money in.

Fuelling this growth are companies like Emaar MGF, which announced its plans to develop SEZs, residential projects, hotels and malls and hospitals in the country at an investment of $12bn. Earlier this year, leading real estate developer DLF tied up with Nakheel to develop two townships in the country at a cost of $10 bn.

Similarly, Dubai-based developer ETA Star Properties announced a month ago its plans to develop a $923m IT park at Chennai, taking the group’s total investment value in India to $4.35bn so far.

Global Asia Real Estate, Dubai Properties, the Signature group, the Palmon group are some of the names that have so far made firm commitments to invest in the local property market.
In yet another instance, the UAE-based Palmon group invested $9.5m in Mumbai’s BSEL tech park. It is scheduled to invest in other cities such as Bangalore and Hyderabad. BSEL Infrastructure has other projects in Maharashtra and Gujarat and recently got contracts worth $134m for developing shopping malls in Nagpur.

Meanwhile, Dubai-based asset management firm Signature group is learnt to be close to launching several real estate funds for investment in the UAE and India, totalling over $650 m.
Istithmar, the private equity arm of the Dubai government, is also bullish on making investments to expand its horizons in the hospitality sector and other infrastructure projects in India. The company holds a global real estate portfolio estimated at $7-$8bn. Also, it was in holding high talks to buy Asian property assets worth at least $250m and expects to enlarge its portfolio by this year’s end.

Institutions all over the Gulf have predicted a bright future for investments made in India.
Kuwait Investment Company (KIC), for instance, sees an increase in GCC investment into India in the next three years. According to data released by the company, a major part of the investment will see its way to Indian real estate.

For the past few years, Indian realty has been a common hunting ground for large institutional investors investing high values, a trend which is expected to shape further.

Gulf Finance House (GFH), a leading investment bank, and lead financial advisor to Energy City Qatar, plans to buy 600 acres in Navi Mumbai to set up India’s first integrated energy business district — Energy City India — with an investment of $2bn. The project will come up within a few kilometres of an upcoming international airport in Navi Mumbai.

Unitech Targets NRI Buyers

Indian real estate major Unitech Ltd announced its latest multi-million dollar residential complex of luxury villas and penthouses coming up in Noida, targeting non resident Indian (NRI) buyers.

For this project Unitech has acquired 347 acres of land for about Rs 17 billion ($420 million) in May 2006. The cost of construction will be about Rs 60 billion, according to company officials.
"This is the biggest ever land deal in India by any real estate developer. The new project - Unitech Grande - is meant for the high-end luxurious segment as there is a growing need for such type of residential complexes in India," Sanjay Chandra, Unitech managing director, said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Aimed primarily at the NRIs, the complex is going to have its own golf course, a fitness centre, eight signature towers and four gateway towers which will house the penthouses. The complex is also expected to house schools, hospitals and shopping outlets. The size of the apartments will be between 2,200 sq ft and 5,500 sq ft. The total project will be built in four phases over a span of seven years.

"We have already sold over 25 per cent of the 670 units that will be ready in the first phase of construction, out of which 10 units have been sold to NRIs. As the project gets ready, we will eventually start targeting the corporates," Chandra said.

Source: Hindustantimes

NRIs Keen On Real Estate Investment

Real estate investment tops the list of queries received by the Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) launched by the government.

"We are getting a lot of queries from overseas Indians about investing in property in India," Harish Kirpal of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), who is chief executive of OIFC, said.

OIFC, a one-stop shop to help overseas Indians invest in India, was launched by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA) on May 28. The CII is the private sector partner and host institution of this not-for-profit trust.

Speaking about the response received by the centre since it was launched, Kirpal said going by the initial trend, real estate tops the list in terms of interest shown by overseas Indians while stock market investments come second.

"Lots of NRIs -non resident Indians and PIOs (persons of Indian origin) want to invest their small savings in the Indian stock market. We are in the process of guiding them in turning their savings into concrete investments," he said.

Share market, mutual funds and private equity funds are what the potential investors want to know about, he added.People are also showing an interest in the hospitality sector, especially with the Commonwealth Games coming up in New Delhi in 2010.

"Basically, we are focussing on four areas - investment in real estate, investing in the stock market, investing generally in India and setting up investment partnerships with states," said Kirpal.

Some queries don't have much to do with OIFC but the centre is nevertheless guiding information seekers to the right channels, he said. "People are interested in starting stress management courses and promoting tourism."

Stating that it is still early days for the centre, he added: "We are still getting used to the concept. We are planning a big publicity campaign and expect to make this centre really big in the next two-three months. As of now, we are strengthening the backend support, especially in the real estate sector."

"It will also establish a diaspora knowledge network by creating a database of overseas Indians, who would act as knowledge diaspora and whose knowledge resources could be utilised by using the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) platform," the minister added.

There are an estimated 25 million overseas Indians across 130 countries.

Source://Timesofindia