Schneiber, who was in Chennai to open Shelter's PropShop Chennai '98, said, initially NRI funds will be parked in financial instruments before getting routed to property purchases.

According to him the pent-up demand from NRIs, for investments in housing, witnessed in the early 90s has now given place to a steady inflow. With the stock markets still in the doldrums, NRIs will continue to show interest in property buying. Most such buying is done by end-users and not speculators.

Citibank lays a lot of stress on NRIs based in west Asia and HK as well as from other places for financing their property needs but Schneiber says they have to be `treated with kid gloves'. Citibank has to compete with two major housing financing entities to address the NRI markets for property buying and so has to carefully work its strategy, he noted.

Nearly one-fifth of Citibank's balance sheet goes into housing financing schemes, Schneiber said. "We would like to see it grow and an innovative approach would be a big help to see this market grow," he added.

Citibank is targeting the upper-middle class now and there is a lot of demand which presents a great opportunity and needs to be tapped, he said.

Housing for consumers is a big ticket item. "Consumers don't want a loan, but a house" and so the ultimate objective is to help them. The Propshow aims at bringing the buyer and seller at one place so that consumers can `kick the tyre' and get an idea of the kind of deal they would get.

Schneiber feels that with more demand than supply in the housing sector, there is a tremendous opportunity for buyers and developers. "The more simple the buying process, the more the property market can grow," he said.

Citibank attempts to bridge the gap between demand and supply and so has sponsored a virtual shopping mall. It also recognises that like the American dream of each family having a house of their own, Indians too can work for this dream. Schneiber says: "India is the place for the future for getting this dream fulfilled and Citibank will help its best to achieve this dream."