Positively everyone is celebrating India's coming of age, whether it is cricket, movies, tourism, software, culture, business process outsourcing, peace with Pakistan or alliance with the US.

As I shifted my offices from Mumbai to Lucknow, I noticed, amidst all these positive developments the real estate scenario is also undergoing significant change. The real estate market in India continues to ride high on a robust & booming economy. Business circles, seminars and conferences are eclectic discussing the overdrive which has a lot to do with 100 percent FDI, NURMA (National Urban Renewal Mission) , ULCRA and tax efficient home loans. Industry bodies like NARDECO & ICRA are also contributing to it by rating the developers & their projects.

Platitudes about affordable housing, vast floor plates, and newer building techniques have been substantiated by the comfortable numbness of statistics and squatters.

While discussing these issues with my peers it came as a realisation to me that real estate is a People's Business: people as sellers and people as buyers. While people as buyers or customers are fast changing and becoming more demanding with increased incomes, affordability and evolving real estate formats and offerings; people in business of servicing customers have failed to keep pace even as overseas players have come in with this rapid change. More surprising is the fact that acclaimed real estate renaissance is seen as a phenomenon witnessed only in metros and big cities. Evidently, $1 billion worth of real estate fund proposals filed with the SEBI as FDI is yet to transcend to heartlands of India. Seemingly, the acclaimed real estate gurus are perpetrated about the changing times. Growth and aspirations of real estate customers or consumers is an entity acclaimed only in metros and big cities and smaller ones are discreetly marginalized. Whether it is the case or it is dictated by the business equations may be a debatable issue on ethical grounds.

As a group of concerned, responsible individuals at Sahara Infrastructure and Housing we plan to propagate the real estate phenomenon across 217 cities in India. People as buyers are rightly represented in our plans; as Sahara City Homes is firmly rooted into almost every sector like security, health, beauty, home improvement, electricity, water, transport, education and entertainment.