India's realty sector remains favoured destination

The Indian construction and real estate sector continues to be a favoured destination for global investors and businesses are optimistic about their prospects for this year, says a report.

Increasing migration to cities and urbanisation along with interest from buyers to invest in real estate market, will continue to be the prime demand drivers, according to assurance, tax and advisory firm Grant Thornton.

"Despite being burdened with high construction costs and increased cost of borrowing, the Indian construction and real estate sector continues to be a favoured destination for global investors," said the Grant Thornton International Business Report.

Steady housing demand, stock market rally and a slew of optimistic RBI rules permitting foreign banks into the country's banking ecosystem are set to offer further impetus to the projected growth of

the sector, it said.

Moreover, business leaders in the sector expect a strong revival for the housing industry if a stable government is formed May after the general elections. Across Asia Pacific, growth is being driven by businesses in emerging economies which are more than twice as confident about raising profits as their peers in advanced economies.

Around 78 per cent of business leaders in southeast Asia are optimistic, followed by Latin America (60 per cent) and North America (56 per cent), while those in the eurozone (19 per cent), and especially in southern Europe (-9 per cent), are the least optimistic. About 45 per cent of BRIC economies are optimistic, slightly more than its peers in the G7 (39 per cent).

The report covered business leaders in 45 economies to understand how the real estate and construction sector is recovering from the financial crisis, where the opportunities lie and what businesses are doing to keep their operations running smoothly and free from fraud.