Donald Trump made his fortune by building towers and casinos in the United States. His son, however, is looking east in search of similar success by developing luxury apartments and resorts in India.

Donald Trump Jr has unveiled plans to establish a $1 billion (£500 million) fund to invest in Indian property. “Our entry has to be in [Bombay],” Mr Trump Jr said. “That's the place where one is going to achieve the highest prices ... It sets the tone for all of the other future developments.”

Trump Organisation, the privately held family business, has been looking to break into the Indian market for months, drawn by a boom in the buying power of the country's middle class and the rush to redevelop its crumbling housing stock.

Moreover, it would fit comfortably with Trump's increasingly global profile - recent projects include resorts in Turkey and Mexico.

Mr Trump Jr, who, with his siblings Ivanka and Eric is a vice-president of Trump Organisation, said that the venture in India may be conducted in partnership with one of the nation's business families. His spokesman refused to elaborate on the plans.

If Trump does go into India, it will join a host of big investors, including several Western banks, such as Lehman Brothers, which last month took a $175 million stake in a $1 billion project to redevelop more than 100 acres of Bombay slum into a replica of Canary Wharf.

Last week Mr Trump Sr looked to reaffirm his standing as one of property's wiliest players when he announced the sale of his Palm Beach mansion for $100 million to Dmitri Rybolovlev, the Russian fertiliser billionaire. “In an age of so many people getting hurt in real estate, it shows that you can still do well,” he said.

However, not all is rosy in the Trump garden. A £1 billion plan to build “the world's greatest golf resort”on the northeast coast of Scotland has stalled and many will wonder whether the Trumps are arriving late for the Indian party. Soaring inflation and a stock market slump have soured investment sentiment and the property market has been among the worst-hit.

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