RE Industry hails RBI latest move
Real estate developers have welcomed the steps taken by the Reserve Bank of India to deal with the economic impact of COVID-19. Dr Niranjan Hiranandani President – ASSOCHAM and NAREDCO said, “The perception that authorities had focused only on saving lives and not livelihood was dispelled yesterday. From the perspective of regulatory norms to spur an economic revival, the measures announced aim to maintain adequate liquidity in the system, facilitate bank credit flow and ease financial stress. These are absolutely welcome, given that economic activity has come to a standstill during the lockdown.” Sanjay Dutt, MD & CEO, Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited said, “At times like this, agility is key in improving the economic situation of any nation. We are glad that the RBI has demonstrated agility by announcing a slew of measures to support the real estate sector, corporates and the economy at large. We are thankful to the government for providing financial support, however, the two major agendas that the Government must focus on to truly help the sector are the arresting of the Covid-19 outbreak and reviving the economy to its optimal level.” Rajan Bandelkar – President - NAREDCO Maharashtra on the RBI announcement shared, “NAREDCO welcomes the regulatory measures and financial aid announced by the RBI. Providing a refinance facility of Rs 10,000 cr to NHB for supporting HFCs will certainly revive the sector and infuse liquidity in the market. The decision of RBI on extending the support to NBFC with additional liquidity is a much-needed relief for the sector. The industry is still looking forward to hearing from the Government in a broader way pertaining to the sector including an extension of 1 year from RERA on project completion deadline, reduce stamp duty to 50% and a one-time rollover." Ashish R. Puravankara, M.D., Puravankara Limited shared, “Relief to the NBFCs will undoubtedly help the real estate sector, also the infusion of Rs. 50,000 Crore to NABARD, SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) and the National Housing Board will further ease the way ahead. Also it is a refreshing move that the loans given by NBFCs will not get categorised as NPAs even on non-repayment for a period of 1 year. The spirit of the RBI with these news sops is in the right direction to help a capital intensive sector like construction, but the entire economic machinery needs to work in tandem to ensure the nation recuperates fast.” Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India shared, “We are extremely delighted and find a great sense of reassurance with the central bank taking cognizance of specific problems faced by real estate sector and proactively taking targeted measures to address those issues. The measures taken for liquidity support to NBFCs, HFCs and MFIs will meaningfully help the cause of the real estate sector.” Ramesh Nair, Ceo And Country Head, Jll India said, “The steps undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India to ease the liquidity concern of Banks, NBFCs and other financial intermediaries is an acknowledgement of the liquidity issues faced by the financial system of the country as well as the industry.The announcement will give an initial fillip to the real estate sector. The Central Bank’s focus to provide credit flow to NBFCs is a key step. This will provide a boost to various real estate activities.” Pradeep Aggarwal, Founder & Chairman, Signature Global and Chairman, National Council on Affordable Housing, ASSOCHAM, “Infusion of liquidity in the market is of utmost importance and the latest announcement will definitely help the economy. This time the RBI has addressed the realty sector too, which is a clear indication that the government understands the importance of the second largest employer in India. All the economic machinery has to work together to make sure the country comes out of this conundrum as soon as possible.” Uddhav Poddar, MD, Bhumika Group, “I welcome the announcements made by the RBI Governor today. RBI has taken these measures as they realised that despite lowering of rates the banks were only lending to large corporates and not to mid size and small businesses or to real estate, hence RBI has provided liquidity to NBFC’s which mainly service the mid and small businesses and to the real estate sector. Real estate is a capital intensive business and needs liquidity infusion and we hope this and more steps from the RBI will prompt banks and NBFC’s to provide the required liquidity in the sector ". RERA Expert Advocate Ishanee Sharma said, “For the real estate sector facing the most challenging dual crisis of the ongoing recession and a sharp dip in demand due to COVID-19 impact, the RBI’s move of lowering the reverse repo rate by 25 bps has come as a pleasant surprise which will surely inject optimism and enthusiasm in the market. Apart from reviving the market sentiments, it will further result in bringing down the home loan rates and help the industry overcome the current devastating scenario filled with uncertainty.”
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