Foreword


“Real Estate Finance in India” by Prashant Das and Divyanshu Sharma (First Edition, 2013)
Sage Publications

Foreword
by Julian Diaz III

Swiftly a defining moment approaches.  Demand for space in India is booming.  For the allied real estate industries, the future indeed seems bright.  Yet on the winds of history come whispered warnings.  Rapid growth, when uncontrolled, is dangerous and may bring tragedy.  Standing against the danger, a cadre of real estate professionals is charged with channeling the force of market enthusiasm into sustained individual and collective prosperity.  This truth may be self-evident:  In the long run, vigorous and sustained real estate markets require strong real estate professions.  But from where will this cadre of real estate professionals come, and who will arm it to the task?  Perhaps less self-evident but no less true is the requisite necessity of a symbiotic association between strong real estate professions and a robust real estate academy creating the knowledge to feed the market’s hunger for engineered improvement in real estate.  And herein resides the challenge, for the real estate academic discipline in India today remains a thin line, more an aspiration than a reality. 

The authors of Real Estate Finance in India have steadfastly argued the critical links between healthy real estate markets, a strong real estate industry, and a robust real estate academic presence in India.  They long ago recognized the danger of a diminutive real estate academy and now offer their book as a foundation stone in the supporting infrastructure of knowledge essential to the discipline.  They have chosen their subject wisely, for capital is the fuel that drives real estate markets and anyone hoping for real estate success in India must possess a keen appreciation of real estate finance in India.  Readers of this book, whether students or prospective homebuyers, whether strongly grounded in business fundamentals or lacking any significant business background will find critical real estate information within its pages.  I know of no one better positioned intellectually to impart the central keys of real estate success in India, to define the coming moment than Prashant Das and Divyanshu Sharma. 


Julian Diaz III,

Professor and Chair (Retd)
Department of Real Estate                                                                  March 25 2013
J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Georgia State University, Atlanta GA USA