Chandigarh, Feb 2
Having made his millions in
the Canadian real estate market, Canada's first Sikh billionaire, Bob
Dhillon, feels India's real estate market has a lot of potential if the
government makes the right moves.
"The Indian real estate market
is a developer's dream. It is fascinating. It can be the No.1 market for
growth," Dhillon, who has charted an amazing success story for himself
by becoming the biggest landlord in Canada with nearly 10,000
properties, told IANS here.
"Technology is the key in real
estate. You guys (In India) have not gone vertical so far. With the kind
of demand and urbanization, you need to go vertical like Manhattan,
Shanghai or Toronto.
"That requires technology. There is a lot of
catch-up to do," said Dhillon, who is based in Calgary and whose assets
are pegged at Canadian dollars 1.2 billion.
Dhillon, who loves
to talk about his success, feels that certain policies, including
ownership rights, land acquisition and others, make the Indian real
estate market "uncompetitive" for investors from other countries.
"The
policy on acquisition of land is non-competitive. The negatives here
include issues like ownership rights, landlord tenancy rights, politics
of the business, repatriation of capital, lack of technology...
"Securitization
of the real estate market is also required. The real estate GDP here is
extremely low," said Dhillon, the president and CEO of Mainstreet
Equity Corp in Canada.
Mainstreet Equity, which went public in
Canada in 2000, has been listed as the highest performing company on the
Toronto Stock Exchange with overall returns of 1,270 percent over the
last 10 years, Dhillon pointed out with a sense of pride.
Having
visited India as part of the delegation of Canadian Prime Minister
Stephen Harper and others in recent years, Dhillon says the new Narendra
Modi government was making the right moves but a lot needed to be done.
"India
needs trillions of dollars for infrastructure. Modi is making all the
right moves but unfortunately execution goes at the state level.
"Sometimes,
that is extremely challenging. If you really bring in free market,
create proper governance and allow repatriation of capital, the influx
of capital will begin. If you want to have a 'Make in India' policy,
which is a great strategy, real estate has to play a key role in this,"
Dhillon said.
"Black money is making the values artificially
high. Real estate prices in India, based on world standards, are too
high. It is artificial wealth. It's beyond me why the Indian government
won't be wooing people like us to invest. Real estate market in India is
neither free nor controlled market. You have to decide either way," he
said.
Dhillon, whose real name is Navjeet Singh Dhillon, belongs to Tallewal village near Barnala in Punjab.
Born
in Japan in 1965, where his grandfather had moved from Punjab to get
into shipping business, Dhillon's family lived in Hong Kong, Japan and
Liberia. Having lost everything in Liberia's civil war, the family moved
to Canada in the 1970s to begin from scratch.
"For me, it has
been an unbelievable journey. I never had an easy break, to be honest.
Our Punjabi DNA is to own real estate. At least I am in the game. I am
100 percent self made.
"I have believed in diversification. I own
an island in Belize, have a credit card processing company, merchant
process companies and other businesses. These are pretty diverse things I
do. But I have very strong roots with Punjab and India," said Dhillon,
who holds a MBA degree from Richard Ivey School of Business.
Dhillon started his real estate journey at age 19 by buying two old houses. He renovated and sold them.
"I
made 17,000 dollars from these. First thing I did was to go and buy a
Mercedes. The only game in Calgary was real estate and manufacturing.
Grew up seeing icons like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Donald Trump and
Steve Jobs.
"I got into real estate and became a millionaire very
early. I never had a job in my whole life. All I did was buy, develop,
re-develop every type of real estate till I took my portfolio public,"
said Dhillon, who studied in Shimla's Bishop Cotton School from
kindergarten till he was a teenager.
Dhillon, who has business
interests in three continents, has written a book on Belize. "It's a
reference book on how (to) retire and do business in Belize," he said.
(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at [email protected])
