Abstract
This article contributes to debates on the financialization of global South economies by looking closely at how India's real estate markets became entwined with global financial networks. We offer an analytical frame that centers on the strategies of global finance and its ability to transform its form and mode of operation when faced with a supposed ‘limit’, both spatially and temporally. Finance capital, we argue, derives its power from working with state actors and ambitious borrowers—across borders, sectors and conditions—to spawn new investment opportunities and, over time, a financialized type of urban transformation. In 2005, India deregulated foreign investment into land and real estate, a watershed moment that radically altered the financial and urban speculative logics of the sector. Private equity firms made vast investments into urban projects, anticipating massive returns, and even though the bubble quickly burst, India continues to attract finance capital. We explain this conundrum by tracking the new techniques and investment tools of private equity (‘following the financial strategy’), arguing for an analytical approach attuned to the relentless dynamism and hyper-mobility of finance capital (an ‘inter-scalar and conjunctural dynamics approach’).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 209-231 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | International Journal of Urban and Regional Research |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The research has been supported by a Senior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, University of Minnesota faculty research grants, and a multi‐year National Science Foundation grant (# BCS‐1636437) with four other co‐Principal Investigators working in Bengaluru and Jakarta on the relational‐conjunctural project ‘Speculative Urbanism: Land, Livelihoods, and Finance Capital’.
Funding Information:
This research project started in 2007, with funding and collegial support from the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), University of Minnesota's Global Programs and Strategy Alliance (GPS), the V.K.R.V. Rao Professor Chair at the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC) Bangalore, the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) within IISc-Bangalore, and the National Science Foundation award # BCS-1636437. In 2018, an early draft of this article was presented at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) conference. We are very grateful to Sanjiv Aundhe and Amay Narayan for sharing their insights and providing the financial data and analysis included here. We are also very much indebted to Rachel Schurman for her editorial input on multiple drafts and her intellectual contribution. Special thanks go to our generous colleagues and interlocutors, to name just a few: Carol Upadhya, Leo Saldanha, Bhargavi Rao, Hemangini Gupta, Kaveri Medappa, Vinay Baindur, Manjunath, Vinay Gidwani, Helga Leitner and Eric Sheppard. The research has been supported by a Senior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies, University of Minnesota faculty research grants, and a multi-year National Science Foundation grant (# BCS-1636437) with four other co-Principal Investigators working in Bengaluru and Jakarta on the relational-conjunctural project ?Speculative Urbanism: Land, Livelihoods, and Finance Capital?.
Funding Information:
This research project started in 2007, with funding and collegial support from the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), University of Minnesota's Global Programs and Strategy Alliance (GPS), the V.K.R.V. Rao Professor Chair at the Institute of Social and Economic Change (ISEC) Bangalore, the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) within IISc‐Bangalore, and the National Science Foundation award # BCS‐1636437. In 2018, an early draft of this article was presented at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) conference. We are very grateful to Sanjiv Aundhe and Amay Narayan for sharing their insights and providing the financial data and analysis included here. We are also very much indebted to Rachel Schurman for her editorial input on multiple drafts and her intellectual contribution. Special thanks go to our generous colleagues and interlocutors, to name just a few: Carol Upadhya, Leo Saldanha, Bhargavi Rao, Hemangini Gupta, Kaveri Medappa, Vinay Baindur, Manjunath, Vinay Gidwani, Helga Leitner and Eric Sheppard.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Urban Research Publications Limited
Keywords
- India
- financialization
- global cities
- global private equity
- inter-scalar and conjunctural dynamics approach
- speculative urbanism
- urban real estate
