Lehman to launch India real estate fund

MUMBAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. sees opportunities in India despite volatile markets, and will launch its first dedicated India fund this year for real estate, the investment bank's country head said in an interview published on Wednesday.

"We are now starting to see some excellent investing opportunities, at both the project level and company level," Tarun Jotwani, chairman and chief executive of Lehman Brothers India, told the Mint paper.

India Has Real Estate TV

powerful new force in real estate marketing has emerged with the news that India has its first 24x7 channel dedicated to the world of real estate. The channel is now available in all metros and major cities across the country. The new TV channel will provide viewers up to date information on all aspects of the property market.

Among the major distribution platforms, Real Estate Television has signed agreements with Hathway and Amogh in Bangalore, Hathway and SCV in Chennai, InCable and Seven Star in Mumbai and InCable in Delhi. It is also available across leading cable networks in Tier 2 cities.

Real Estate TV has been put together by media personality Sashi Kumar, and its COO, TK Vibhaker. The Network’s state-of-the art studios in Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Chennai and Hyderabad continually feed news related to real estate and infrastructure from their respective regions to its hourly Realty Check bulletins.

The property market in India may continue to experience growth in 2008

That is according to Jaideep Singh, head of the India desk at Knight Frank, the independent global residential and commercial property consultancy, who maintained that the Indian economy was currently "quite robust".

He said that people in India now had greater spending power and that the country had seen the emergence of a mortgage system.

Mr Singh commented: "The Indian economy is much better. The middle classes have made some money now so they can spend money.