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Seems like the Cold War is back in fashion againWhen did it start? What were its pivotal moments? How did it wind down? -Get some popcorn, queue up Cold War Music, and fasten your seat belts.​​​Japan's December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor was a defining moment not only for WWII, but also for the subsequent Cold War. This may seem shocking today, but even after the 1940 fall of France, the Battle of Britain and Germany's attempted (and failed) blitzkrieg in the USSR, the US public was neutral and did not favor sending troops overseas, or taking serious responsibility for the safety of major shipping routes far from North America. The US did not have a huge military and could not justify large military spending. This all changed on December 7, 1941 ("a date which will live in infamy"), and four days later Germany declared war against the United States.​​To be fair, the Roosevelt administration apparently anticipated the needed military build-up. The US also previously started economic help to the UK (seeing the British resolve in the Attack on Mers-el-Kébir) and to the Soviet Union. The Lend-Lease (which ramped up by the end of 1941) was a major effort to prop up the Soviet economy during the German onslaught and prevent the collapse of the Red army, while the Soviet industry was being relocated to the Ural mountains.When it became clear that the Axis (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan) would not win the war, the Allies (US, UK and USSR) met at the 1943 Tehran Conference to plan ahead and outline how Europe could be partitioned into spheres of influence. This can be illustrated by the Percentages agreementThe Percentages agreement was an agreement between Soviet premier Joseph Stalin and British prime minister Winston Churchill during the Fourth Moscow Conference on October 1944, about how to divide various European countries into spheres of influence...Winston Churchill (not Stalin) proposed the agreement, under which the UK and USSR agreed to divide Europe into spheres of influence, with one country having "predominance" in one sphere, and the other country would have "predominance" in another sphere. According to Churchill's account of the incident, Churchill suggested that the Soviet Union should have 90 percent influence in Romania and 75 percent in Bulgaria; the United Kingdom should have 90 percent in Greece; and they should have 50 percent each in Hungary and Yugoslavia. Churchill wrote it on a piece of paper which he pushed across to Stalin, who ticked it off and passed it back. The result of these discussions was that the percentages of Soviet influence in Bulgaria and, more significantly, Hungary were amended to 80 percent. Churchill called it a "naughty document".Such political agreements were finalized at the 1945 Yalta Conference, including the partitioning of Berlin. However, the actual progress on the battlefield was still important. Among direct consequences of the Percentages agreement were the Tito–Stalin Split and the unique status that Yugoslavia enjoyed during the Cold War - under the communist party, but not a Soviet dependent and more free-market than the Eastern Europe.WWII did not end with the End of World War II in Europe. The US overwhelmed Japan in the Pacific, but wanted to avoid fighting in the Japanese mainland and the inevitable huge casualties. One of the instruments was the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it did not seem to impress the Japanese Supreme Command (because the immediate destruction was comparable with the effects of massive American firebombings that occurred weekly). They were, however, impressed, by the Soviet invasion of Manchuria (violating the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and taking many Japanese prisoner), which was followed by the Surrender of Japan to the US. In the days after, the USSR quickly annexed South Sakhalin and the Kuril islands, to which Japan still lays claim.Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin may have looked like best friends at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. But they considered the peaceful coexistence of their countries to be impossible, for non-negotiable reasons.​​​​Even before the war ended, the Soviets deployed The Thing:Theremin's device was used by the Soviet Union to spy on the United States. The device was embedded in a carved wooden plaque of the Great Seal of the United States. On August 4, 1945, a delegation from theYoung Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union presented the bugged carving to U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, as a "gesture of friendship" to the USSR's World War II ally. It hung in the ambassador's Moscow residential study until it was exposed in 1952 during the tenure of Ambassador George F. Kennan. The existence of the bug was accidentally discovered by a British radio operator who overheard American conversations on an open radio channel as the Soviets were beaming radio waves at the ambassador's office. The Department of State found the device in the Great Seal carving after an exhaustive search of the American Embassy, and Peter Wright, a British scientist and later MI5 counterintelligence officer, eventually discovered how it worked.The Thing was demonstrated by the US to the United Nations in the 1960s.​​Such Cold War cat-and-mouse games continued for a long time, including the 1978 Bulgarian umbrella (KGB-assisted poisoning of Bulgarian exile Georgi Markov in London with a sharp umbrella tip). They were aptly captured by the numerous James Bond (agent 007) films, produced regularly since 1962.​​The UN was created in 1946 trying to address the failure of the League of Nations to stop WWII. A particularly important construct was the UN Security Council, with five permanent members - the USSR, the USA, China, the UK, and France - holding veto power. Ukraine and Belarus were included as founding UN members in recognition of their sacrifices in WWII, although Stalin wanted all Soviet Republics to be (voting) members. The creation of Israel by the UN quickly lead to wars between Israel and Arab neighbors. While the USSR initially supported the creation of Israel, it turned against it in several short years (as Stalin alleged the doctors' plot - Jewish doctors who were out to kill him), and instead supported Arab countries.The stability and prosperity in Europe today, as well as the creation of the European Union in the 1980s, are largely due to the Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion (approximately $130 billion in current dollar value as of August 2015) in economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, make Europe prosperous again, and prevent the spread of communism.The Marshall Plan required a lessening of interstate barriers, a dropping of many petty regulations constraining business, and encouraged an increase in productivity, labour union membership, as well as the adoption of modern business procedures.The Chinese Communist Revolution (1949) was hugely significant for the Cold war, and was followed by the Korean War (1950-53), which was a major test for the UN, but ended roughly where it started, except for huge casualties and massive devastation. While the US withdrew most of its troops from Europe after WWII, the Korean war forced the US to re-evaluate its military posture and assume much greater responsibility for world security.The USSR matched the US nuclear weapons within four years (Soviet atomic bomb project), but the Cold war really started with the creation of NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955). The Turkish Straits crisis led to Turkey's joining NATO in 1952. While on the surface, the military stand-off was between two military blocks, the Cold War was "fought" over the supremacy of the economic models - the USSR was building a communist society according to the teachings of Marx, Engels and Lenin, while the West was opening global trade and freeing the markets. With the war being "cold" (no direct fighting), the outcome would eventually be decided by economics.The US presidency of Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) - the supreme Allied Commander in Europe 1943-45 and, later, the military administrator of US-occupied Europe - undoubtedly contributed to the US posture during the Cold war and the Soviet perception of the US. He famously warned the public that the US military–industrial complex was getting strong enough to influence US foreign policy. The aggressive US foreign policy at the time can be illustrated by the successful 1953 Iranian coup d'état organized by the CIA and the botched 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion, also organized by the CIA (in response to the Cuban Revolution in the mid 1950s). The USSR easily matched that by suppressing the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and spearheading the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 to suppress an anti-Communist uprising. This led to the Brezhnev Doctrine, the 1978 communist coup in Afghanistan which was about to fail, and the subsequent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.Joseph Stalin died in 1953. Soviet domestic and foreign policies became erratic. Lavrentiy Beria, responsible for the NKVD (the precursor of the KGB), holding the Eastern Europe in check, and also for organizing very successful weapon design labs in prison camps (including the development of nuclear weapons) was arrested and executed on trumped up charges of spying for foreign powers. Soviet leadership had enough of dictatorship rule and hoped to distribute power more evenly. This became clear at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1956), which was such a shock that several high-ranked members of the Communist Party committed suicide after Nikita Khrushchev's speech denouncing Stalin's cult of personality. In March 1958, Khruschev became the Soviet Prime minister - holding both the top party post and the top government post (like Stalin back in the day and Putin today). Stalin's cool approach to foreign policy and WWII-alliance with the US and the UK fell apart when Nikita Khrushchev threw a tantrum at the United Nations on October 12, 1960, using his infamous shoe to illustrate how the Soviets would deal with the capitalists.​​A major development in the 1950s was the post-war Decolonization, during which the numerous colonies of European powers in Africa and East Asia became independent countries. They were generally poor and lacked official ideologies, so the Soviet block and the US-lead block spared no effort (and money) trying to influence those "third-world" countries. They formed the Non-Aligned Movement in the 1960s, but did not escape major turbulence (e.g., Events in Latin America During the Cold War). Also see the List of conflicts related to the Cold War.By the mid 1950s, both the US and the USSR tested thermonuclear weapons, and the main remaining technology issue was the delivery systems.​The first Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 and the first human in space (Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1) were a shock for the US defense establishment because they clearly indicated the feasibility of Intercontinental ballistic missiles and the apparent technological supremacy of the Soviet Union.​​The US response was a huge increase of their R&D funding, as well as a commitment to a mission to the Moon (Apollo program). While the US easily matched first Soviet space missions, the USSR was unable to send a man to the Moon, despite well-funded attempts.​​The US and the USSR started building numerous Strategic bombers, Intercontinental ballistic missiles and Nuclear submarines, starting the enormously expensive Nuclear arms race. Prompted by the fear that the USSR was far ahead in strike weapons (the Bomber gap and the Missile gap), the US developed the Lockheed U-2 that could fly over the USSR and other countries, beyond the reach of fighter planes and air-defense missiles (for a few years).​​​Those overflights triggered two quintessential Cold-war events - the 1960 U-2 incident, where Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the USSR and captured, as well as the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, where a U-2 detected Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba (deployed in response to US nuclear missiles in Turkey). The US responded with a naval blockade of Cuba. The Berlin Crisis of 1961 was another hallmark of the Cold war, resulting in the iconic Berlin Wall. The 1956 Suez Crisis, in which France and the UK sided withIsrael and overpowered Egypt, pushed Arab powers to the Soviet camp.Three events in 1963-64 marked a calming period in the Cold warthe Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treatythe assassination of John F. Kennedythe dismissal of Nikita Khrushchev.By that point, the USSR started experiencing serious economic problems, and apparently the coup against Khrushchev was prompted by his inapt economic policies. He was replaced by Leonid Brezhnev who ruled until his death in 1982. Today, Brezhnev is best remembered for his senility and slurred speech, for having a chest full of medals (many awarded by sycophants and himself), and for presiding over the Era of Stagnation in the 1970s.The calm was relative, given that Britain, France and China developed nuclear weapons of their own by the early 1960s and were busy with frequent tests. The lull in the Cold War was shattered in 1967, when, during the Six-Day War, US-supported Israel had seized the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank (of the Joran river) and the Golan Heights, growing its territory threefold. The USSR broke diplomatic relations with Israel and blocked all emigration by Jews to Israel. The Arab countries responded by the 1967 Oil Embargo to pressure the economies of oil-importing Western countries. This was followed by the 1973 oil crisis when OPEC cut oil exports (tripling the price of oil in the US) and the 1979 energy crisis caused by the reduction of oil exports after the Iranian Revolution (which was a surprise to both superpowers).​​The Vietnam War heated up in the early 1970s - initially a proxy war between North Vietnam (supported by China and the USSR) and the South Vietnam, it escalated with the direct involvement of the US. The USSR responded by sending advanced weapons systems, especially MiG fighters and very effective air defense, which surprised US forces. The US public, especially university students, protested against US participation and undermined domestic support for the war, which wasn't proceeding well anyway. The US withdrew, essentially losing the war.Anti-Vietnam protests at UC Berkeley:​​While oil prices grew sharply in the 1970s, the USSR ramped up oil exports and laid a network of pipelines toward Europe. This was later followed by a network of gas pipelines - first to Soviet cities, then to Eastern Europe, then to Germany. This brought mega-profits and propped up the Soviet economy, which showed clear signs of trouble. The leadership interpreted this as a great success of the socialist system, and Brezhnev announced in 1971 that the USSR reached the stage of developed socialism, on the way to building a true communist society.The Sino-Soviet split occurred in the 1960s, apparently on ideological grounds, leading to the Sino-Soviet border conflict in 1969. To some extent, this contributed to the US Rapprochement with China and Nixon's visit to China in 1972.The Cold War slowed down for a few years in the mid 1970s, marking joint US-Soviet space exploration (the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project).​​​​In the meantime, the USSR, flush with oil profits, embarked on a major rearmament program. Once again, the Cold War was all about whose economic and political model was stronger, whose science and engineering were better, and whose athletes won more olympic medals. Chess championships were particularly closely watched because having a world champion lead to claims of intellectual superiority (Chess the musical).​During the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who was considered weak on foreign policy and defense, the 1979 Iranian Revolution deprived the USA of a close (albeit corrupted) ally in the Middle East. It was exacerbated by the Iran hostage crisis and soon followed by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the lengthy Soviet–Afghan War. The immediate US response was surprisingly strong. It included a boycot of the 1980 olympic games in Moscow, and a ban on high-technology exports including advanced computers (The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and the U.S. Response, 1978-1980). But this paled in comparison to the strategic response that unfurled over the next ten years. Ronald Reagan won the elections with his platform of strength, dramatically increased military spending, and set to deal with the USSR much more aggressively. The US mended relations with the Saudi Arabia and ensured more than sufficient oil production which resulted in the 1980s oil glut and gradually undermined the Soviet economy (which was in the Era of Stagnation, and only held up by oil revenues). The CIA organized armed resistance to the Soviet occupation and covertly provided air-defense weapons that shot down hundreds of Soviet aircraft (Launching the Missile That Made History). The recruitment and training was largely handled by Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.​​The death of Leonid Brezhnev in 1982 was somewhat of a shock for the USSR, as this has not happened since the 1953 death of Joseph Stalin. The leadership was so old that the next two general secretaries of the Communist Party (Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko) died within several years. They were followed by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, who was younger and selected as a reformist, given the apparent decline of the Soviet economy.Top Soviet leaders, left to right: Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Chernenko and Gorbachev.​​Throughout the 1980s, the gears of the US response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Reagan's aggressive policies were turning. When the USSR shot down the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 and denied responsibility, Reagan (a movie actor by trade) publicly called the USSR the Evil empire. Later that year, NATO held comprehensive ten-year military exercise Able Archer 83, which was interpreted by the USSR as a preparation for an all-out attack - 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident.In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev started a course toward broad reforms in the Soviet Union, but the economy was rotten, the agriculture did not produce enough food, and the military spending was high. The terrible 1986 Chernobyl nuclear-plant disaster was a major loss of face for the USSR - in terms of science, technology, industry, economics and even politically (showing the ineptitude of high officials).​​With their economy deteriorating and oil revenues dwindling, the USSR started taking on considerable debt, much of it to buy agricultural products in the US. Due to belt-tightening, Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1988. In the meantime, the resistance to the Soviet control of Eastern Europe was increasing. The Polish trade union Solidarity spearheaded this resistance, to the point where the USSR was massing troops near the Polish border. The invasion was essentially prevented by the financial dependence on the West, and allowing Poland to hold its first presidential elections won by Lech Wałęsa (the leader of Solidarity). With Poland becoming unfriendly to the Soviet Union, the presence of Soviet troops in Eastern Germany was a no-go. The Eastern Germans started marching against the Soviet rule, and the 1990s German reunification was negotiated by the Western German leadership with Gorbachev. The Berlin Wall fell.​​​Czechoslovakia and Hungary freed themselves of the Communist rule at about the same time, with surprisingly little drama. Romania was a little late to the game, but caught up quickly with the brutal killing of its long-time communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu. It turned out that the official data on total support for the Communist parties and their leaders in Eastern Europe was fake.Next up was the Soviet Union itself. With the increasing Soviet Food Shortages and protests, the security services weakened and the centrifugal forces increased. Watching the events in Poland, Czechoslovakia and E. Germany, the three small Baltic republics annexed by the USSR in 1940 took a firm course toward independence, which they achieved de facto in early 1991 with surprisingly little violence (several dozen dead) - perhaps because the Soviet leadership was under pressure from the West. In the meantime, the prevailing mood in Russia was "let's stop feeding other republics", and Boris Yeltsin took matters in his hands, confronting his mentor Gorbachev and declaring the independence of the Russian Federation from the Soviet Union. The Dissolution of the Soviet Union was accelerated by the August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt organized by the KGB bosses when Gorbachev was on vacation in Crimea. This attempt was quashed, with Yeltsin's help, and the Communist party was banned in Russia for several years. Tanks were introduced into Moscow to keep order.​​Ukraine - the second most powerful Soviet republic - declared independence at about the same time (August 1991), and the independence of the three Baltic states was officially recognized by Russia. Other republics followed, and the dissolution of the USSR was finalized by the December 1991 Belavezha Accords.In the aftermath, the post-Soviet space saw economic collapse for the next few days. Countries that were propped by the USSR, such as Cuba, lost their support. The US and Western Europe were able to dramatically reduce military spending and troop counts in Europe, while providing some financial help to Russia and other ex-Soviet countries. The countries of Eastern Europe mostly joined the EU and NATO. Perhaps, the greatest beneficiary of the Cold War was China - starting with Deng Xiaoping, it managed to avoid the destructive influences of the Cold War and maneuver between the two superpowers, while growing its economy.Surprising as it may seem, the outcome of the Cold War is viewed differently in Russia and everywhere else. The US, and most of Europe view the dissolution of the Warsaw pact and the Soviet Union as the natural consequence of its misguided economic policies, militarism, and undemocratic governance. However, current Russian leaders consider those events accidental and blame them on individual leaders like Gorbachev (sometimes calling them traitors).Rather than acknowledge the loss of the Cold War, Russian media is quick to put the blame on the US for Russia's troubled economy in the 1990s (forgetting that the US provided food to Russia for many years, as well as military assistance and even contracts to the Russian space industry to keep it afloat). Key themes in modern Russian politics are "Russia's getting from her knees" and "forcing the US to treat Russia as equal" - nothing sinister on the surface, but the main means to achieve these results is not a strong, reformed economy, but a massive rearmament, including the development of new nuclear weapons, missiles, submarines, tanks and fighter planes. So, are we up for a replay of the Cold War? - not really, because Russia is a shadow of the former USSR, whereas Europe is more united than ever before, and the Western block is much larger than it was during the Cold War. Nevertheless, a replay of the last ten years of the Cold War is looking increasingly likely. In particular, Russian paranoia about NATO betrays the lack of a crisp idea behind which the nation can unite, or at least a compelling vision of the country's future - this is the real crisis, and has nothing to do with other countries.Did I get anything wrong? Miss something important? - I would have loved to include the Iran–Iraq War (since all key Cold-war players were involved), but had to draw a line somewhere.For more details, see the Wikipedia article on the Cold War .

Hello,Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my experience.You have asked the first lesson. I would like to share all lessons briefly:Since you are going to be your own boss, you need to inculcate and maintain SELF-DISCIPLINE. Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean going to office whenever you feel like or working in your pajamas. The only difference between employment and entrepreneurship is the ownership. Rest all HAS to be the same.Entrepreneurship will take time to start delivering stable and regular income. So, the next lesson that you learn is to have PATIENCE.It is so common to see people rent/ lease and even purchase office space and furnish it luxuriously even before their business has earned even one rupee. To a large extent, the lure of funding for start-ups is to blame for this. Even in the old economy sector, I have noticed entrepreneurs divert capex funds to manage working capital. In some cases, entrepreneurs have used company money for marriages and personal tours. So the next lesson is FISCAL PRUDENCE. You might have a winning concept, but first start earning and then spend.Big corporate organizations not only keep themselves ahead of the curve by identifying trends early, some of them also set trends. The big boys have the money and the right connections in top places to be one step ahead. But the most important thing is they invest a lot on data. A lot on market research. And some times I feel that managers in big corporations should also trust their instincts. I have seen entrepreneurs trust their gut and outright reject market research. If you ask me the learning and insights from market research by itself never goes waste. It is better to be safe than sorry. So the next lesson is TO KEEP LEARNING.Failure is a part of life. But what separates the winners from losers is the way we handle failure. Big corporations and their employees have the support of money to set things right and make amends when things go wrong. As an entrepreneur, the only thing you really have in your control is your conduct towards people. An entrepreneurs true asset is his relationship with every stakeholder - the customers, the dealers, the authorities and the general public. Relationships affect trust. Trust affects relationships. So the next lesson is not only to be honest, punctual and deliver quality now, but to continue doing it even when you become a huge corporate.

What are REITs?REITs are securities linked to real estate that can be traded on stock exchanges once they get listed. The structure of REITs is similar to that of a Mutual Fund. Just like mutual funds, there are sponsors, trustees, fund managers and unit holders in REITs. However, unlike mutual funds, where the underlying asset is bonds, stocks and gold, REITs invest in physical real estate. The money collected is deployed in income-generating Real Estate. This income gets distributed among the unit holders. Besides regular income from rents and leases, gains from capital appreciation of real estate also form an income for the unit holders.BackdropREITs have been in the making for more than a decade in India, but it was only in October 2013 that a draft guideline was issued by the Sebi. However, lack of clarity on the tax implications on the income earned and some other related aspects were holding back the instrument from becoming a reality. Though there was some movement in the 2015 Budget to overcome the issues, lack of clarity on a few things still remained. In the last few years, several amendments were made to make REITs more attractive.Should you invest?Real estate as an asset class has always attracted investors, but the high ticket size made it out of reach for many. Investing in grade A office space or prime real estate location is out of the question even for many wealthy individuals. But REITs can provide an option to the retail investors to invest in high-end commercial real estate, as the minimum investment has been kept very low. “Investment in commercial real estate is a highly capital-intensive affair. REITs are a very viable addition to Investment Portfolios as they allow investors to participate in an asset class previously reserved only for the affluent few.After recent amendments in the REIT regulations, rating agency ICRA Ltd stated in its press release, “Current investment avenues for retail investors in income generating infrastructure and real estate projects are limited due to high minimum investment requirements for Alternate Investment Funds and other pooled funds. Listed Infrastructure Investment Fund(InvITs) and REITs can be a transparent and stable investment option for retail investors due to the various regulatory stipulations."Expected returnTypically, commercial real estate provides returns between 8% and 10% per annum. However, grade A office space and commercial space in prime locations can provide even better returns. “The projected return on investments are anywhere between 8% and 14% in the short to medium termBut one may need to stay invested for a longer period. As in any asset class, one needs to keep a long term horizon, and be patient in riding out the real estate cycles that do last long. Expectations in the current market would be of low- to mid-level double-digit returns .Typically, commercial leases are of long periods like six or nine years or even more, with rent escalation clause. Experts believe that this make REITs less volatile than other investment avenues. REITs are far less volatile than the stock market, FDs, mutual funds and gold as regulations maintain that 80% of the REITs listings must be of rent-generating assets.Tax on returnsBefore considering investments in REITs, make sure that you are aware of the taxability on returns. According to Sebi rules, REITs are to distribute 90% or more of its earnings—be it divided, interest or rent—to investors or unit holders at least twice a year. Such income received by the investor under the Income Tax Act, 1961, shall be treated in the same nature and the same proportion as it had been received or accrued . Thus, income received by the REITs in the nature of dividend, rent, interest and distributed to its unit holder shall be deemed as dividend, rental and interest income, respectively, in the hands of the unit holder. Also, According to section 10(23FD) read with section 115UA of the Act, all the incomes received from REITs shall be exempt from taxation except the interest income received from the special purpose vehicle by the REIT and rental income from the property that is owned directly by the REITs .Largely, REITs will distribute most of their income in the form of dividend, which is tax free in the hand of the investor.You need to have a demat account to invest in these products. Retail investors may need to wait till mutual funds begin to provide these products as a part of their offering. But that is at least a few years awayIndia’s first real estate investment trust (REIT) is now a reality. The first REIT IPO by Embassy Office parks, a Bangalore-based real estate developer backed by Blackstone Group LP, a global private equity firm, is open for investment between March 18 and 20, 2019. The Embassy Office Parks REIT plans to raise ₹4,570 crore through the IPO. The per unit price of the REIT has been kept in the range of ₹299-300, with the minimum application bid of 800 units.While REITs have been a popular product worldwide for many decades, guidelines in India were formalized only recently. Read on to understand what it is and whether you should invest in it.