New Delhi: The Smart Cities programme of the Indian government presents huge business opportunity for UAE and the gulf country must come forward to take advantage of the infrastructure push in India, said Uddhav Poddar, Managing Director of real estate firm Bhumika Group while speaking at the 5th Edition of UAE-INDIA Economic Forum organized in Dubai.
“With Smart Cities becoming the next big leap in India’s Infrastructure development, its holds a big opportunity for UAE to invest and be the catalyst is making Govt. of India’s Smart City program a great success,” he said.
He further added, “With E-commerce boom, it has been witnessed that more than 50% sales on the E-commerce platforms in India comes from Tier II and smaller cities. This has triggered the demand of retail space in these cities as more and more brands are now willing to expand their presence in these cities. Therefore potential for Infrastructure Push in these cities are really high.”
Poddar was the only person from the real estate fraternity from India in the Forum. The event saw active participation from industry experts. The chief guest of honour was H.E. Abdullah Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary Foreign Trade and Industry, Ministry of Economy. Keynote speakers were H.E. Jamal Al Jarwan, Secretary General, UAE International Investors Council and H.E. Vipul, Consul General of India, Dubai.
The areas of opportunity discussed were – Innovation & Xpreneurship, Agriculture & Food Corridor, Electronics Manufacturing, Banking, Healthcare & Medical Sector, Infrastructure Push – Structuring Smart Cities & Smart Citizens, Renewable Energy & VC Funding for Start-Ups.