Global alternative capital is engineering India's next real estate mega-cycle through platform bets

The platform thesis reshaping Indian real estate capital allocation

Institutional investments in Indian real estate reached an all-time high in 2025, driven by a surge in domestic capital, according to Colliers India. But the headline figure obscures a more consequential shift taking place beneath it: the way global alternative capital platforms deploy money into Indian property is fundamentally changing. The era of single-project, single-cheque private equity deals is giving way to multi-asset platform partnerships, structured exits through public vehicles, and operator alliances designed to compound returns across cycles.

At the center of this transformation sit entities like Xander Group, GIC, Brookfield, and a new generation of domestic alternative investment managers, including Nisus Finance led by Amit Goenka. Their strategies reveal a coherent playbook that prioritizes governance frameworks, operator quality, and portfolio-level optionality over individual asset selection. Understanding this playbook is essential for any capital-side decision-maker seeking to participate in India's property markets at institutional scale.

GRI Institute's research and convening work across the Indian real estate ecosystem has tracked how these capital flows are restructuring the relationship between allocators and operators. What follows is a strategic analysis of the deal architectures, the operator selection logic, and the regulatory catalysts that are making India the most active destination for platform-level real estate capital in the emerging world.

How are global platforms like Xander Group structuring their India bets?

Xander Group's recent transactions offer a masterclass in how sophisticated alternative capital managers think about Indian real estate, not as a collection of buildings but as a portfolio of platforms to be assembled, optimized, and rotated.

Consider the evidence. In May 2024, GIC and Xander Group acquired the 2.4 million square foot Waverock business park in Hyderabad from a Shapoorji Pallonji and Allianz joint venture, as reported by IPE Real Assets and NDTV Profit. This was a stabilized, income-generating commercial asset in one of India's fastest-growing technology corridors. The acquisition exemplifies a buy-and-optimize strategy where global platforms acquire assets from earlier-vintage partnerships that have completed the development risk phase.

Then, in December 2025, Xander Group sold an office building in Bengaluru to Embassy REIT, according to Mingtiandi. This exit into a listed real estate investment trust represents the closing of a capital cycle that global allocators prize: acquire at a valuation reflecting development or lease-up risk, stabilize, and exit through a public, liquid vehicle at a compressed cap rate.

Simultaneously, Xander Group initiated the divestment of its 3.5 million square foot warehousing portfolio across Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata, as reported by The Economic Times in June 2025. The warehousing exit signals strategic portfolio rotation, moving capital from an asset class that has attracted deep competition toward sectors where Xander's platform capabilities offer differentiated returns.

The pattern is clear. Global alternative capital platforms operating in India are building diversified, multi-city portfolios across asset classes, then executing disciplined exits through public vehicles and strategic sales. The platform approach generates multiple return vectors: rental yield during the hold period, capital appreciation through active management, and exit premium through sale to REITs or incoming capital partners.

This architecture differs materially from the project-finance model that dominated Indian real estate investment a decade ago. Platform bets demand deeper operator relationships, longer time horizons, and more sophisticated governance structures. They also demand partners on the ground who can execute at scale.

Why do operator partnerships define the new capital architecture?

The most consequential strategic decision for any global allocator entering Indian real estate is operator selection. The Indian market's complexity, spanning regulatory variation across states, land title ambiguities, construction execution risk, and tenant relationship management, makes local operating capability a non-negotiable requirement.

RMZ Corp, led by Raj Menda, offers a compelling case study. Under its 'RMZ 4.0' strategy, the company is targeting massive growth for its real asset portfolio as it transitions to a diversified alternative asset owner by 2030, according to RMZ Corporation. This evolution from a traditional office developer into a multi-asset alternative platform mirrors what global capital partners seek: an operator that can absorb large capital allocations across multiple asset classes while maintaining institutional-grade governance.

The RMZ trajectory illustrates a broader trend. India's most capital-attractive operators are those who have made the leap from developer to platform, building the fund management capabilities, ESG reporting infrastructure, and multi-geography execution capacity that global allocators require. Operators who remain project-focused, regardless of the quality of their individual assets, increasingly find themselves excluded from the largest capital partnerships.

On the domestic capital side, Amit Goenka's Nisus Finance (NiFCO) represents another dimension of this evolution. Nisus Finance became India's first listed Alternative Investment Fund manager on the Bombay Stock Exchange in 2024, as reported by Realty Plus. This milestone signals the maturation of India's domestic alternative capital ecosystem. Listed AIF managers bring transparency, regulatory oversight, and public market discipline to a segment of the market that historically operated in private, opaque structures.

The convergence of global platforms seeking local operators and domestic alternative managers building institutional credibility is creating a new capital stack for Indian real estate. At the top sit sovereign wealth funds and global pension capital. In the middle operate platform managers like Xander and Brookfield. At the base, domestic AIFs and special situation funds fill gaps in the capital structure that larger allocators cannot efficiently access.

The growing prominence of industrial and warehousing assets further underscores this dynamic. Professionals like Sachin Bhanushali have highlighted the rising importance of logistics infrastructure in India's real estate investment landscape, a thesis validated by the scale of Xander Group's warehousing portfolio and its strategic decision to divest at a moment of peak institutional interest in the sector.

What role does regulation play in accelerating institutional capital flows?

Regulation is proving to be a powerful accelerant. The SEBI (Real Estate Investment Trusts) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024, introduced a framework for Small and Medium REITs (SM REITs) to govern fractional ownership platforms. The new rules mandate scheme asset values between INR 50 crore and INR 500 crore, a minimum ticket size of INR 10 lakh, and require 95% of assets to be invested in completed, revenue-generating properties.

This regulatory innovation has strategic implications at every level of the capital stack. For global platforms, SM REITs create a new exit channel for mid-sized stabilized assets that may not fit the portfolio criteria of large listed REITs like Embassy or Mindspace. For domestic alternative managers, SM REITs offer a product structure that can attract high-net-worth and affluent investors into regulated real estate vehicles. For operators, the requirement that assets be completed and revenue-generating reinforces the premium on execution capability and tenant management.

The formalization of fractional ownership through SM REITs also deepens the market's liquidity architecture. Global allocators calibrate their entry strategies based on exit visibility. A market with multiple exit pathways, including large REITs, SM REITs, strategic sales, and portfolio trades, attracts larger and longer-duration capital commitments.

Indian real estate is projected to grow to a multi-trillion dollar market by 2047, according to CREDAI and Colliers India. Achieving that scale will require sustained institutional capital inflows, and the regulatory architecture now being built is designed to support precisely that trajectory.

The strategic map for capital allocators

Several conclusions emerge for institutional investors, fund managers, and operators evaluating India's real estate opportunity.

First, platform-level partnerships are now the primary vehicle for deploying scale capital into Indian real estate. Single-asset transactions will persist, but the strategic premium lies in multi-asset, multi-city operator alliances that offer portfolio diversification and multiple exit pathways.

Second, operator selection criteria are converging around institutional capacity rather than asset quality alone. Global allocators increasingly evaluate operators on their fund management infrastructure, governance frameworks, ESG reporting capabilities, and ability to absorb capital across asset classes.

Third, regulatory innovation, particularly the SM REIT framework, is expanding the exit architecture in ways that reduce duration risk for global capital and create new product opportunities for domestic managers.

Fourth, the domestic alternative capital ecosystem, exemplified by Nisus Finance's listing as India's first publicly traded AIF manager, is maturing rapidly. This creates co-investment and syndication opportunities that did not exist even three years ago.

GRI Institute continues to track these dynamics through its research programs and leadership gatherings across the Indian real estate and infrastructure ecosystem. The convergence of global platform capital, institutional-grade operators, and regulatory modernization represents one of the most significant structural shifts in Asian real estate markets this decade. For leaders navigating this landscape, the competitive advantage belongs to those who understand the architecture of the deal, not merely the asset behind it.