india: India needs to simplify pre-construction process: CEO-Eurasia region of Hines

India faces some challenges in the pre-construction timelines for real estate projects and global real estate investments, and streamlining the process would spur further growth in the sector, said S Lee Timmins, CEO-Eurasia region of Hines, one of the largest privately held real estate investors and developers in the world.

The company is looking to expand its commercial and residential portfolio in India and plans to enter the logistics segment as well.

“Challenges always exist in every market, and India is no different. India has some challenges with the pre-construction timelines, from the moment you make the determination to invest, to when you can start construction, which means planning the permits, the approvals, all of that aspect. Simplifying the process would be beneficial for developers,” said Timmins.

According to the CEO, it is common to make a significant investment at the start of a project and desire a speedy completion to begin generating income, whether through commercial leases or residential sales. “Therefore, any support from the government to clarify and expedite the process would be highly beneficial,” he said.

Hines has a presence in 314 cities in 28 countries, with $92.3 billion of investment assets under management and more than 102.1 million square feet of assets for which Hines provides third-party property-level services.

The company is evaluating about 5 million sq ft of assets in India.

Timmins said that India has done relatively well in terms of inflation as compared to other parts of the world.”Nonetheless, inflation does remain relatively high in India. And as a consequence, that does create a little bit of a challenge in terms of construction costs,” he said.

For Hines, India is one of the key strategic areas of expansion and investment over the next decade, driven by a number of different factors.

“India’s impressive economic growth, even in a challenging global environment, has caught the attention of our global executive committee. Therefore, it is one of the key strategic areas for our growth over the next decade and beyond.”