India to be next big investment region : Singapore Minister

Bangalore, Nov 19 (UNI) Singapore Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam today said India, China and Singapore would turn out to be a large investment regions in the coming days.

Talking to newspersons here after presiding over the signing of Management agreement between Frasers Hospitality, an international Hospitality Major and city based Skyline Group, builder of worldclass luxury homes, he said these three countries were emerging as most important region in the world for investment.

On Bangalore, he said the city had huge potential to attract large investments and Singapore was the largest investor in this IT hub of India.

He said the partnership was a symbol of the synergy and opportunities that existed between businesses in India and Singapore, even during the current economic turmoil.

The agreement currently includes two projects in Bangalore, constructed by the Skyline Group and Managed by Frasers Hospitality.

On the occasion Skyline Group Managing Director Avinash Prabhu said initially his company would be investing about Rs 100 Crore.

He said ''We are confident that the Fraser brand of luxury serviced residences, which have built such a loyal following in Europe, Australia and Asia, would appeal to the business visitor, expatriate community, as well as well-heeled Indian businessmen and professionals on medium-term travel.'' Frasers Hospitality CEO Choe Peng Sum said ''the Indian hospitality market is very short on high-quality branded accommodation and our partnership with the Skyline Group is an attempt to bridge the huge demand-supply mismatch that exists.'' ''By the end of 2011, we will be targeting several properties in all the tier-I cities in India, with more than 700 residences'', he said adding ''we are studying and actively pursuing other properties and developers in Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai and in our next stage of development we will expand into secondary cities like Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Pune and Surat.'' UNI MSP AKM 1508