'Constructive Disruption or Destructive Disruption: Impact of Blockchain on Indian Real Estate’

Full adoption of blockchain technology in Indian real estate may appear a remote possibility, however, low transparency provides an incentive for adoption of blockchain rather than an obstacle; and we see several near-term applications for the technology.These include digitisation of land title, recording of transactions, multiple listing services and fractional ownership of real estate assets. In India, the use of blockchain technology is still at a nascent stage of development, but some progress has been made recently in the real estate sector, which mostly relies on manual records, and thus transparency is relatively low. Blockchain technology makes it practically impossible to alter or reverse any information once it is added to the blockchain system. The use of the technology will legitimate the government-mandated record of real estate transactions and improve the overall transparency level in the system.“Despite the roadblocks, the blockchain disruption is a long-awaited reform that the real estate industry arguable requires worldwide. Its inherent characteristics of being faster, tamper-proof and transparent are the pulling forces which entice not only the institutional investors and government institutions, but also retail investors”, says Joe Verghese, Managing Director at Colliers International India”. According the Colliers Research, the true blockchain-led revolution to come in the business world, if it goes hand in glove with next age technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and will streamline the entire real-estate life cycle.