Finance minister asks banks to meet realtors to understand industry issues

Finance Minister PiyushGoyal Thursday asked banks to meet real estate sector representatives within the next fortnight to discuss the issues being faced by them. The minister also assured that goods and services tax (GST) rates would be brought down soon for the sector, which has been facing a demand slack. "There is a real problem (being faced by the realty sector)," Goyal said at a Credai event here, adding that banks should take some initiatives to assess the projects and fast track them. He suggested that within the next 7-15 days the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has a meeting with the real estate players to help increase funding to the sector. He said the group of ministers (GoM) under GST Council has worked out a mechanism for taxing real estate sector under GST.