BOSTON – The Harvard Business School is hosting its first-ever real-estate program in India this June with the goal of providing some guidance to local executives as the real estate market in India continues to expand.

The South Asia Real Estate Seminar runs from June 17 to June 20 in Hyderabad, India, and costs just under $7,300. It will focus on South Asian real estate, will be taught by Harvard Business School instructors, and will feature a lecture by Noel Tata, the managing director of Trent, the company that manages Tata Group’s retail store chains in India.

He is also the director of other Tata companies, such as Voltas, Titan Industries, Tata Investment Corp., Trent Brands and Landmark. Tata will speak on the final day of the program in a session titled, “Property as the Foundation for Growth of Indian Multinationals.” The program is intended to help executives address and profit from the challenges within the changing international real-estate market, according to Harvard Business School. It will focus on several aspects of real estate, including land valuation, development planning and finance, leadership and talent development, and strategy and competitive advantage.

According to John Macomber, a lecturer at the Harvard Business School who is part of the real estate program’s faculty, the school viewed real estate as a good industry to focus on because it is a huge asset class with a lot of people involved in the field either as investors or as commercial real estate users. Macomber is the chief executive officer BuildingVision Inc. and the faculty co-chair of the Real Estate Executive Seminar and the Real Estate Management Program. He said that he expects about 50 people to attend the real estate program.    

According to Harvard Business School, the real estate program is intended for chief executive officers and executives with “significant real estate experience,” including property owners, investors and developers.

According to Macomber, the program is intended for executives who may not have formal training in the sector. These executives are expected to be people who primarily work between the Middle East and South Asia and also in Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.

“This is intended essentially for in-country people to develop management and leadership skills. This is about being in the real estate business in South Asia. It’s not about being passive money from outside thinking about a market. It’s about really being a principal at risk and operator,” he said.    

He added that people who attend the program will learn on several levels: they can take a step back from day-to-day business operations and have the opportunity to learn about other people’s experiences and reflect and think about what they can do when they return to their company; they can share some best practices with peers; and they have a chance to learn in a formal setting in an academic framework that they may already know.   

The program comes to India at a time when the country’s real-estate industry is on the rise. According to a report by Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. in February 2007, investment in India’s real estate sector is expected to jump from $16 billion to $90 billion in 2015. Due to the relaxation of rules on foreign investment by India’s government in March 2005, many U.S. companies have pledged or have already invested billions into the Indian real estate market. 

According to data collected by the India Brand Equity Foundation from January 2008 to March 2008, direct foreign investment could have a six-fold jump to $30 billion over the next 10 years.

The organization, which is a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, and the Confederation of Indian Industry, found information that showed real estate is one of the “most appealing investment areas for domestic as well as foreign investors.”

The India Brand Equity Foundation also found numbers from Cushman and Wakefield Inc., the commercial real-estate services firm, which show that since 2005, foreign investors have already raised nearly $30 billion to invest in Indian real estate. Another report collected by the foundation showed that Merrill Lynch states that $25 billion is needed over the next five years for urban housing, and a study by Indicus Analytics, an economics research and data analysis firm in New Delhi, believes there will be a demand for over 24.3 million new dwellings in India by 2015.

Other companies that are making large investments into India includes: Jones Lang LaSalle, which is planning to invest about $1 billion into the property market, Dubai-based DAMAC Properties, which is investing up to $4.5 billion in property development, according to information collected by the India Brand Equity Foundation.

In addition, the India Brand Equity Foundation also found data which revealed that real estate is the second largest employer in India, if construction and facilities management are included. Real estate is also linked to 250 other industries like cement, brick and steel.    

There was also a recent conference on South Asian real estate in Mumbai, with some of the major international hotel chains attending. The fourth annual Hotel and Investment Conference – South Asia in Mumbai took place April 2 to April 3 and was created by HVS, a consulting and services organization which concentrates on the hotel, restaurant, shared ownership, gaming and leisure industries.

Nelson Migdal, a lawyer with the Greenberg Traurig law firm, attended the conference and said there were over 400 people there, with every major international hotel company in attendance, including Jumeirah International LLC, Hilton Hospitality Inc., Hyatt Corp. and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts LLC. Migdal, who works in the firm’s Washington D.C. office, focuses on real-estate acquisition, development and leasing, hospitality and resorts, and condo management and operations.     

According to him, the chief operating officer and president of the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Kathleen Taylor, came to the conference to speak, and Edwin Fuller, the managing director and president of international lodging for Marriott International Inc. flew from Bethesda, Maryland, to attend the conference.

Migdal said these hotel companies are targeting local development partners and owners in India with appealing real estate holdings. This spans real estate properties for business in Bangalore or pleasure in Goa with high-end to mid-price hotels. He added local Indian real estate developers also attended the conference and spoke.

He said there is no question that there is a growing interest in South Asia real estate, but since this is relatively new to many real estate owners and developers in India, the desire does not yet match the experience. He added that a program like the Harvard Business School helps because it brings know-how to the region.