UAE investments in India cross $10b: Envoy

The UAE sovereign wealth funds have invested over $10 billion in India and this is an endorsement of India’s growth story, said Sunjay Sudhir, Ambassador of India to the UAE, at the opening of the 2022 annual conference of CREDAI, the 13,000 plus strong apex association of Indian real estate developers.

These investments over the last five years have been across sectors such as renewable energy, telecom, road infrastructure and affordable housing and startups, he said at the CREDAI NATCON 2022, adding that the bilateral relations between the countries have been accelerating with rise in two-way investments.

“We have made rapid strides in bilateral relations since 2014,” the envoy said, adding that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed this year now covers almost 98 per cent of the trade with the UAE

The CREDAI’s NATCON 2022 at Yas Island Abu Dhabi was inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, on behalf of his father, Sheikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Member of the UAE Cabinet and Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence.

 The apex realty body at the event announced that its members have taken a pledge to be carbon-neutral by 2050. The pledge makes CREDAI the industry’s first association to facilitate an ecosystem and lay a strong foundation for a sustainable realty in India.  This also accelerates its commitment to UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030.

With this pledge, CREDAI has become the industry’s first association to facilitate an ecosystem and lay a strong foundation for a sustainable realty in India. Furthermore, CREDAI also announced a slew of measures including collaboration with HDFC to empower Tier-2 & 3 cities with a $3 billion fund, and a $100 million fund for emerging start-ups with Venture Catalyst and NeoVon at the annual event attended by 1,300 plus developers.  With a keen eye on the world’s future, especially India, CREDAI pledged to explore the best practices available to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint by 25% before 2030 and be carbon neutral by 2050. As India pledges to become a low-carbon economy, the real estate industry can partner with the Government in extending its commitment significantly. Even though the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has implemented measures to promote more developers to use sustainable techniques, CREDAI will work with the policy implementation body to ensure the measures are well ingrained with the real estate developers in the country.

Commenting on the major development, Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI, said, “We believe that our role as nation builders is to also contribute to people and planet alike. When the entire world is waking up to the need for Green Real Estate, as an industry leader, we need to walk the talk by evaluating and exploring newer ways to reduce, and reuse waste through recycling. We are partnering with some of the best minds from the start-up industry to enable this initiative. We will set up an education exercise for all our member developers so that they jump onto the sustainable realty bandwagon and help us in building a better tomorrow for future generations.”

Technology today is changing every walk of our lives and to be a part of this change CREDAI is partnering with India’s first and largest integrated incubator and accelerator for startups – Venture Catalysts & NeoVon – to set up a $100mn fund - ‘Spyre VC Proptech Fund’. The fund shall invest $100 millionn in the next couple of years across early and growth stage start-ups.

Additionally, to be able to accelerate the adoption of technology, CREDAI will launch ‘Credaiverse’ to have a permanent presence in Metaverse for an immersive buying consumer experience. Boman Irani, President-Elect, CREDAI, said, “India is a start-up hub, and a lot of new-age start-ups are finding solutions to real-world problems more swiftly and effectively. Our Sphyre VC fund will bring together a lot of young leaders who will help us in bringing Sustainable Realty to life.”

Satish Magar, Chairman, CREDAI, said, “This year, the Real-estate ecosystem has witnessed the best year in decades at the back of pent-up demand post-COVID-19 and consumer sentiment continues to be positive. We are confident that with multiple planned launches and a shift in consumer behavior from HomeRenting to HomeBuying, the growth momentum will continue.”

Dr Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, MD & Co-founder, VCATs said, “The rapid advancements of the digital age present a plethora of opportunities that were unfathomable a decade ago. Emerging technologies are continually transforming businesses, and the Indian real Estate Industry is no stranger to these developments.