And mind you the site does not just bring poperties for sale online without brokerage. It is hyperlinked to the Reserve Bank of India site on rules for paying credit online and regulations regarding the sale or purchase of property. It is also hyperlinked to housing finance company sites to give the latest interest rates and facilitate cleaning of titles from financial institutions.

Says indiaproperties managing director Vikram Modak: "This is the first cyber company focused on a vertical market. It tries to bring an organised real-estate market to the consumer."

This is how the site works: Suppose you are searching for a 600 square feet marble-floored apartment on Bandra Hill Road in Mumbai, all you have to do is enter your requirements and the site fishes out a list of choices. It even gives you details on the layout, interior of the living room, a picture of the house or apartment, details of the title of the property, and the owner's contact number; and all these free of charge. If the property listed is not of a broker, the customer does not have to pay any brokerage. If the listed properties do not satisfy you, then you have the choice to key in your requirements.

You must be wondering how the company will generate revenue if all is for free. Well, there are plenty of ways to generate revenue, depending upon how innovative one can be. At indiaproperties.com, money comes from each listing of property. Your property goes online only after you make the payment. Every individual listing costs Rs 2,500 irrespective of the cost, the location or the size of the apartment or commercial space.

For block listings from brokers, the rates stand at Rs 2,500 for hosting five properties, and for every additional listing, there is an additional payment of Rs 500. For banner advertisements and links, the rate is Rs 5,000. One can also become an affiliate member for a year paying Rs 4,500. The affiliate members get access to exclusive data of the site, free e-mail services, and certain spot advertisements.

There is another set of tariffs for the builders' fraternity. The membership fee for builders is Rs 10,000 per year. Listing of 10 apartments of a single project would cost Rs 2,500.

The site has about 100 builders and estate agents as affiliate members, besides over 1,000 individual listings from major cities in India. The monthly hits on the site have risen from 500,000 in April to over 2,500,000 by September-end. About 35 per cent of the hits are from the United States, nearly 15 per cent from the Far East, and over 5 per cent from West Asia.

Says Modak: "We still have not broken even, but we hope to achieve that over the next one year. The number of Internet users in India is just about three lakh. The projected rise in Internet users to about 15 lakh by the end of next year will augur well for business."