Pre-Budget Expectation of Strengthening Existing Financing Systems

Manju Yagnik, Vice Chairperson, Nahar Group and Senior Vice President, NAREDCO With the contribution of over 7% to India’s GDP, the real estate sector is one of the most important pillars of the economy. Post the Covid-19 pandemic last year, the residential sector has witnessed a stellar growth in terms of actual transactions of homes and other asset classes. The lowest home loan rates along with reduction of stamp duty converted into phenomenal momentum. The ongoing support from the government and its related agencies, with the onset of the pandemic, has ensured good volumes of transactions and we expect the continuance of support in the forthcoming budget to ensure complete recovery of the sector. We expect that waiver on the GST front be it for under construction properties and for raw materials viz. steel and cement prices firming up. GST waiver will augur well with the industry for continued sales momentum. A GST Waiver could renew the focus of developers on new projects and would also help build sustained liquidity for the entire industry. Apart from the GST waiver, the focus should also be on providing an impetus to both affordable and rental housing as well as strengthening the existing financing systems to provide liquidity to real estate projects that need dire support. The real estate sector could also witness more stability with a low-cost credit ecosystem, through priority sector lending categorisation of home loans.”