Divaker Bhalla, CEO- DNA Ventures Pvt Ltddiscusses few technology advancements which can bring the glory back to the sector.Real-estate for long has waited to be recognized as a sector despite being the second largest contributor to employment after
Divaker Bhalla, CEO- DNA Ventures Pvt Ltddiscusses few technology advancements which can bring the glory back to the sector.Real-estate for long has waited to be recognized as a sector despite being the second largest contributor to employment after agriculture. The sector has faced huge challenges since the crisis of 2008. It has never been able to recover and be in the prime spirit. There have been green shoots in some tier 1 and tier 2 cities but the sector could never achieve the prominent position. The demonetization and GST added fuel to fire bringing it further down. These are not only the challenges faced by the real-estate sector, it has to address a lot of other issues related to payments, finding right investors, have a reasonable access to buyers and many more. The government is forth coming in taking the reforms for the real-estate like easing liquidity, providing capital to stuck projects and making NBFCs finance available for real-estate projects. The only missing factor has been integration of technology to the next level. Channel partners- The developers have always faced challenges in reaching to the right audience or investors for their products. Real-estate has faced a lot of challenges in finding the right channel partners, when the developers have not been able to clear all the inventory at hand. The sector is lacking an authentic platform which can offer verified channel partners, who can deliver desired results. Verified investors – The new age real-estate consultancies operating in the country claims to have sold more than 2 lakh properties, none of them have been able to find verified investors who are ready to undertake transactions and invest in project of repute. The solution can be offered only when we have already verified investors who is ready for investment in multiple projects. Access to remote markets- The other major challenge which is faced by developers is limited market access. People are ready to invest in Dubai but not in a lucrative market within India. The benefits of investing in these markets never reach to them. The technology developers have to work on a platform which not only offer access but can also provide the trust to the investors of investing in a particular market within India. Integrating Global launches- Why can’t Indian developers sell to global investors at a click of button? The reason is that the technology has not been advanced where an investor can reach the right product and lack of trust is another big factor in achieving this feat. With technology, we can always think of offering local real-estate products to global audience. Streamlining payments- Most important challenge that needs to be addressed is integrated payment facility. There is an urgent need for a development of tool and mechanism where payments are driven by integrated tools, both brokers and builders receive their share of payment. Escrow accounts have been an option, but this has not been used in broker and developers’ relationship. The payment has been a huge issue in real-estate, and this can only be addressed with integration of technology.