Jones Lang Wootton is the seventh international realty consultant agency to have started full fledged operations in India. The international property consultants have set up an office in Mumbai and Bangalore. They are also planning to open an office in Delhi by the end of the year.

MD Holland, managing director of Jones Lang Wootton India says, for JLW to pontificate on the market would be arrogant and foolish. "Clients with whom we work will confirm that we will tell it how wethink it is even if this goes against the short- term view point," he says.

"The specific thrust areas of the firm globally is to help clients to maximise the value of every property decision whether that relates to office, residential, retail or hotel property. Georgraphically, we now have established operations in bangalore and Mumbai and we will be extending our office base to Delhi in the near future," he says.

On being asked if the realty market has room for so many consultants, Holland says: "The market is crowded with service providers all offering varying levels of service and different products. In such a scenario it is the consumer who benefits the most and rightly so. Other than creating a more dyanamic market palce, many service providers, be they national or international provide a wider choicee and a better quality service. There are good local brokers and poor international advisors and poor local advisors and good international names. The customer makes the choice."Many of the Jones LangWootton staff have international perspective because of their experience in markets outside India. Holland says ``JLW will apply this experience in India to raise our own standards and that, will continue to raise the standard of the property market in India.''

According to the company if one enters the market for the long term there is no bad time. A company which focuses on maximising value rather than maximining prices or providing a higher level of commitment to service rather than minimising the effort will be discovered by the consumer base whether the market is rising or falling.