Gulf Finance House to invest over $2bn in Mumbai

GFH has already raised $630m towards the initial development and infrastructure requirements of the project.

GFH exhibited this project amongst other infrastructure development initiatives at the inaugural Cityscape India, the international property investment and development exhibition and conference, which is currently taking place at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Goregaon in Mumbai.

GFH has signed a wide ranging MOU with the government of Maharashta towards the development of Energy City India, and the project details are now at an advanced stage.

Public-private partnerships of this nature are aligned with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's infrastructure strategy. Earlier this year he acknowledged the issue and confirmed, 'We have to improve the quality of our infrastructure. It's a priority of our government.'

India's latest five year plan shows infrastructure spending rising from 4.7% to 8% of GDP. The government is already committed to 35 new airports and 6,000 kilometres of highways connecting first tier cities. The government is also planning to sell stakes in power companies to help finance expansion of the power supply. But with India's public debt standing at 82% of GDP, much of the money for sorely-needed infrastructure projects will have to come from private sources.

'The Indian government estimates it will need $350bn to meet the goals of the next five-year plan, at least $100bn of which will need to come from private investors. With FDI currently standing at $11bn annually, there's still some way to go,' said Rohan Marwaha, Managing Director, Cityscape.

'The need for greater infrastructure spending becomes ever more critical as the Indian property and real estate market powers ahead,' he added.

Energy City in Mumbai is the second of a pan Asian network of Energy business hubs, the first being Energy City Qatar. Essentially it is an integrated business and residential hub dedicated to the hydrocarbon industry providing a single point of access to markets and expertise, in what will be a focus for key players in the Indian hydrocarbon value chain.

The Cityscape India conference has been examining in detail the state of investment in India's infrastructure and what needs to be done to raise spending levels and encourage private sector participation such as a dedicated session on the risk factors in infrastructure investment. Other crucial industry topics on the conference programme included; assessing the growth potential of REITs in India, investment hotspots, opportunities in SEZs and Townships and the impact of India's booming IT sector on real estate development.

Cityscape India has drawn solid support from leading industry players. Jordan-based Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority; Dheeraj and East Coast, from India; and major Indian developer Shipra Group, have all confirmed platinum sponsorship. Dubai-based Damac and Tanmiyat have taken the gold sponsorship package with global property service company GVA Intercapitalis and India's Shristi taking silver.