“India is a very lucrative real estate market. There’s a huge housing shortage — 60 million units in residential alone,” said Bundeep Singh Rangar, chairman of IndusView, a New Delhi-based,

India-focused corporate advisory firm focusing on transactions and mergers and acquisitions involving multinational companies.

“Land banks and construction materials are available and there is pent up demand – people have waiting lists to get homes. What is required is capital investment to finance it,” he added.

While the larger cities of Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi are awash with opportunities, tier-two cities such as Chandigarh, Chennai and Calcutta also have pressing housing needs and offer big returns. “Remember that in India when we talk about tier-two cities, we’re still talking about cities of five million people,” said Mr Rangar.

Red tape has been loosened and if investors are willing to wait for three years, getting money back out of the country is not a problem, Mr Rangar added. An original investment cannot be repatriated before three years from completion of minimum capitalisation; however, investors may be permitted to exit earlier with government approval. Investors cannot sell undeveloped plots (this is to prevent speculative investments).

There is a minimum capitalisation of $10m required for 100%-owned subsidiaries and $5m for joint ventures. For serviced apartments development, minimum land area of 25 acres is required; for commercial development, it must be a built-up area of at least 50,000 square metres.

For greenfield projects, 100% foreign investment is allowed. But IndusView recommends tying up with local partners.