01-05-2025
Indians hit JACKPOT..., India has treasure worth USD 3.3 trillion, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani explains how
Nandan Nilekani believes India's real estate market could be a $3.3 trillion jackpot. (File)
There is a massive jackpot worth a staggering $3.3 trillion waiting to be unlocked in India's real estate, and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani has explained how Indians can unlock this gargantuan bounty by overcoming some major challenges in the coming future as the country heads towards becoming an $8 trillion economy by 2035. India's $3.3 trillion 'jackpot'
In his report titled 'The Great Unlock: India in 2035', Nandan Nilekani notes that Indians hold around 50% of their assets in real estate with bank deposits coming in at a distant second at 15%.
According to a Fortune report, the land capitalisation rate India stands at 5%, compared to almost 40% in the United States, which increases the likelihood of a surge in the rate of monetisable land assets with the creation of a unified ledger and a credible verification process, Nilekani's report says. Major hurdles must be overcome
However, as per Nilekani's study, some difficult obstacles stand in the way, such as increasing income disparity, limited market access, low levels of formalisation, and low productivity.
The study also points out that India's growth remains a concentrated to major urban areas, with 13 out of the country's 788 districts contributing to half of the GDP. Additionally, the top 10 percent among the wealthy account for around 60 percent of India's total income even as the phenomenon of migration driven by economic factors continues to rise, with over 200 million workers from poorer states migrating to other regions in search of better opportunities. What is real estate tokenization?
The study by Nandan Nilekani advocates real estate tokenization which is the process of converting the value of a physical property into digital tokens that can be sold, traded on a blockchain platform. In this method, each individual token represents a fractional ownership stake in the property, which allows small-time investors who lack any major capital to participate in real estate markets.
Experts assert that apart from boosting the accessibility to real estate investments, real estate tokenization also improves liquidity and transparency in the real estate market, the study notes. As per a EY report, tokenization would allow investors to buy and sell fractional shares, making entering and exiting investments very flexible.
