Date:10/05/2006 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/05/10/stories/2006051005231900.htm

Back ISB ties up with Indu for real estate research

Our Bureau

The building laws and infrastructure guidelines in various States need rationalisation towards uniform regulatory framework.

Hyderabad , May 9

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has entered into an alliance with Indu Projects Ltd (IPL), a city-based leading real estate and infrastructure company.

Under this alliance, ISB would establish a Research Chair for `Real Estate and Urban Studies' for which Indu would make a grant of $5,50,000 (approximately Rs 2.5 crore) spread over a period of five years. This Chair would function under the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurial Development (WCED) at the ISB. As a part of the first tranche, Indu has released an amount of Rs 49.5 lakh here on Tuesday.

Addressing newspersons on the occasion, the ISB Dean, Prof M. Rammohan Rao, said, "This Research Chair is of great significance to us, as it is not only the first Research Chair to be instituted at the ISB, it is also the first Chair in Real Estate and Urban Studies in India."

The Indu Managing Director and CEO, Mr I. Syam Prasad Reddy, felt that the study of real estate was extremely important to the economic development of the nation. "We are of the view that the building laws and other infrastructure guidelines in various States across the country needed major rationalisation towards uniform regulatory framework so as to attract large-scale foreign direct investment (FDI) into the sector."

According to the WCED Executive Director, Prof V. Chandrashekhar, the ISB would bring a top professor of international stature to lead research, organise conferences and seminars and interface with the academia and the practitioners.

"Driven by the positive growth in the economy, real estate in India is booming and showing signs of emerging as one of the fastest growing sectors in the country today," Prof Chandrashekhar said.