Delhi Real Estate and India Investment

Recently, I was evaluating real estate in India from an investment point of view. A 3 br flat in Greater Noida is going for 30-40 lac (USD 100,000), and a 3br flat in Noida is going for 60+ lac.

On the demand side, I don't know if there are enough people in the market for 30-40 lac flats that are being built by the thousands.

On the supply side, however, the picture seems better. Huge areas are opening up in Gurgaon/Noida/Dwaraka, connectivity is improving with the Metro and flyovers. Delhi has no natural barriers, and plenty of land around. If connectivity increases, and the government does not create artificial scarcity by restricting the private sector, then there should be plenty of supply.

(The story with Bombay is different because land is naturally scarce.)

I have decided against real estate investment in India for the present. Now looking into mutual funds in India. Basically, it may be a good idea to move some of my savings to India to hedge against dollar values. I will be happy with 10% gain in rupee terms (fix deposits are giving 6-8% in India). I am willing to tolerate a little bit more risk than fix deposits for a little bit higher return. The unfortunate problem is that fix deposits give 6% at zero (negligible) risk. If you want 10% at tolerable risk, you are taking an infinite increase in risk for a 33% increase in profit.

That's where the shackles of middle class mentality hold one back ....

Catalina

Had fun on Catalina Island on Labor day. The only trouble was the Catalina Explorer ferry that had it's return trip delayed by 5 hours. Very bad customer service, we ended up coming back on the much more professionally operated Catalina Express. If google ever crawls my blog, hope they pick up on this negative review of Catalina Express.

One thing I don't know is who maintains quality control on such ferry and other tourist services. I mean, most customers to tourist places are first timers, and unlikely to be repeat customers. For abusiness in a tourist town, is the only reward for good service a better rating in Zagat/Frommers/blogs(?). Particularly in a place like Catalina where there is not enough competition to begin with (due to the small size). Maybe the tourism board at such places keeps a good tab on businesses.

Bismillah

Went to a Pakistani restraurant on Aug 14 night. It's called Bismillah, one block west of the 805 on Clairemont. Very nice food. The lamb chops and biryani were both excellent. Why don't the upscale indian restaurants like Star of India (Del Mar) and Monsoon (downtown) have such good food ? Do Americas who frequent the upscale places prefer that kind of food ?