Indian expats shocked by attacks

By Neil Chatterjee and Kevin Lim

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Wealthy Indians living overseas were shocked by the latest attacks on the country's financial capital, but still see their home country as a good place to invest given its long-term growth potential, bankers said.

Joseph Poon, head of Macquarie Private Wealth Asia in Singapore, said both his Indian and non-Indian clients will likely take the latest militant attacks in their stride, noting that Mumbai had suffered from terror attacks in the past.

"There's more physical fear than investment fear. People are aware of the risks in India and do not think the investment climate is going to change," said Poon, who deals with ultra-high net worth clients with investable assets of $30 million (19.4 million pounds) or more.

"In the short term, there may be a bit of shock but the market will quickly bounce back like in 2006," he said, citing

a train bombing that year that killed 180 people.

Hundreds of people, including foreigners, were trapped by Islamist gunmen in Mumbai on Thursday after attacks on luxury hotels, hospitals and a tourist cafe killed at least 101 people.

A global Indian diaspora of 30 million is estimated to generate an annual income equivalent to 30 percent of India's GDP, India's minister for overseas Indian affairs Valayar Ravi said this month, according to the Economic Times newspaper.

Singapore, a tropical Southeast Asian city-state, has a multi-racial society that is 9 percent ethnically Indian, and is home to many Indian expats who value its safety, clean environment and proximity to their homeland.