INDIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Vivek Chandy, Archana Tewary, Brijita Prakash and Karthik BM, JSA
and its implementation, along with the develop - ment of infrastructure in these locations, will positively impact the development of warehous - es and industrial projects. Affordable housing in Tier I cities; slum rede - velopment projects. Even in cities like Mumbai, there is scope for affordable housing projects, with Navbharat Mega Developers Private Lim - ited (NMDPL) – a joint venture between the Gov - ernment of Maharashtra and the Adani Group – having announced a huge slum redevelopment project in Dharavi, Mumbai. This is perhaps long overdue since such prime locations will inevita - bly be redeveloped in all the major cities in India over the next few years. Smart cities. The government’s focus on devel - oping smart cities has significantly benefited cities such as Pune, Bhubaneswar and Indore. Smart city projects transform previously under - developed regions into thriving real estate hubs. For instance, Dholera in Gujarat, which is being developed as a smart city from the ground up, is being developed to become a major indus - trial and residential hub, with state-of-the-art infrastructure and world-class amenities. The appreciation in property values, coupled with the increasing demand for smart and sustain - able homes, makes these cities attractive invest - ment destinations. Additionally, the development of infrastructure and connectivity in smart cit - ies reduces the risk associated with real estate investments, ensuring better returns over time. However, the development of such projects in smaller cities continues to face a few challenges, including inconsistent or complicated regulatory regimes, lack of skilled labour impacting time - lines and quality of construction, higher cost of materials, etc. In some smaller cities, there already seems to be a saturation in some seg -
ments such as residential real estate, leading to stunted growth. Urban residential real estate trends. The resi - dential housing market has seen an increase in projects being announced with “smart homes” featuring advanced integration of technology at the construction stage itself. From the pandemic years, the demand for luxury real estate has con - tinued to increase, reflective of a surge in interest from non-resident Indians in luxury properties that meet global standards. Luxury farmlands and vacation homes. Several developers are offering luxury “second home” or “vacation home” projects including villas in tour - ist destinations and managed farmlands across India. These projects reflect the increased spending ability of Indians but lower the entry barrier for individuals to acquire such real estate assets in India. Such projects are often set up as limited liability partnerships or other structures which allow the owners to share the project. Developers also take care of maintaining and even renting such projects when not occupied by the owners, making such projects even more attractive to investors. Digitisation of land records . Governments across the country have been working towards digitis - ing land and revenue records, which is a key step towards ensuring security of title in India. Such records are being made accessible online, reducing the need for manual intervention and providing an easy means to verify title to some extent. Governments are also endeavouring to use drone technology and advanced mapping techniques in boundary verification and to pre - vent encroachment. A notable development is the implementa - tion of the eKhata system in Karnataka, which
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