Indiabulls, a conglomerate with business interests in power, financial services, real estate and infrastructure, plans to have a presence in Bahrain by the end of this year.

"After a successful debut of Indiabulls' international operations in Dubai last year, we would like to be present across all GCC locations by end of the year," Indiabulls Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region head Santosh Tandel told the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication, in an interview.

"Bahrain is certainly on the agenda and we propose to be present through an alliance model," observed Tandel.

"The region has been an excellent opportunity for India-based investments. With a significant number of Indian expatriates spread across the GCC, it has been a critical market for Indian corporates," he pointed out.

"With the rupee depreciating sharply in the last couple of years, the scenario has further improved by making remittances to India more attractive and thus giving a huge boost to India-linked investments," he added.

Now that the rupee is near an all-time low, buyers can expect appreciation on both the currency as well as the real estate transaction in years to come, said Tandel.

"Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) are one of the key contributors to the growth of India's real estate industry. There are two segments of customers - asset creators and investors," he noted.

"The asset creators typically look for residential properties back at their home towns, so their interests lie in the cities where they originate from," said Tandel.

Investors typically acquire real estate, then dispose of the property after about three to five years and for that very reason they look at areas where they expect considerable appreciation in property prices, he said.

"Our experience has been that good products at good price points are well accepted by the customers.

"The GCC market has the ability to absorb units with prices from $35,000 to $3.5 million. The only thing is that the customer needs to see value," he stated.

According to Tandel, integrated townships were the most popular choice of NRI investors. It is also a way for them to connect with their roots, he added.

"Through Indiabulls Home Loans we have been able to structure consumer friendly finance schemes like 20:80, wherein the buyer pays only 20 per cent while the balance 80 per cent would be in the form of a home loan without any instalment or interest for a specified period," he said.

"Customers are able to take investment decisions much faster considering that they don't have any financial burden of instalment or interest payment for the first couple of years," added Tandel.

The company has also formalised strategic alliances with banks and financial institutions to offer home loans to the Indian expatriates in the region interested in investing in their projects.-TradeArabia News Service