Red Fort Capital Advisors Pvt., a real estate private equity fund, plans to invest as much as $1 billion in India’s property market over the next few years to tap demand in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.
The firm has invested $400 million since 2007, mainly in residential projects, and may consider investing in offices, hotels and shopping malls, Managing Director Subhash Bedi said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday.
Demand for homes is picking up and Red Fort and its partners have sold 3,000 apartments over the last six months in New Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai, Bedi said. Red Fort has invested in projects with Parsvnath Developers Ltd. in the New Delhi area, and with closely held Prestige Group in Bangalore, he said.
“In India, there’s a growing middle class whose incomes are rising, the economy is consumption-led, investments come from high domestic savings and it’s a growing economy,” said Bedi. “Mortgage penetration rate is miniscule and as the penetration rate increases, more Indians will be buying homes.”
Red Fort Capital has returned an average 25 percent to its investors in each of the past three years, he said.
Source: Business Week