Jhumur Ghosh welcomed the panelists, following which Ravi Sinha questioned the global competitiveness of Indian real estate in the wake of thousands of abandoned projects waiting for the funds, the debt-equity ratio imbalance, lending issues, pre-launches without RERA sanctions, and the developers’ defending the indefensible.
Can Indian real estate bridge the gap between the promise and the performance? Can Indian residential market attract as much investment as its commercial real estate? Will the global funds trust the Indian residential real estate? There are more questions than ever and it is time to settle these question marks over the business of real estate.
Pranay Vakil: No but the same developer used to rent out commercial office space, but he won’t rent out the residence because of the return. So, according to Gaurav funding is the issue and according to Atul return on investment is the issue.
Gaurav Gupta: I think you will have to take into account the historical background of real estate industry. All of us know historically real estate was never a professional industry in the country before FDI came in 2005. The industry was really fragmented and the industry was with small developers and it was more like a family business.
Jhumur Ghosh: I am a little curious. In 2008, all the funds of the world were lining up for real estate and signing and today we are having this discussion, in just four years. How does that happen?
I would like to ask the developer friends here when they say there is an ambiguity as far as ECB is concerned. Which are the funding routes that you find without ambiguity—whether it is private equity, QIP, IPO or any other route to raise money?
Gaurav Gupta: I would say there are multiple challenges for the sector.
Atul Modak: The perception that you are talking about is true. On that we had a meeting with the members of MCHI-CREDAI and the focus was this poor perception that builder is chor (thief), not interested to give possession and he will take away your money. But that is not the case as in majority of the cases developers’ intention is good. They want to deliver project on time, but because of delays in approvals, added to the funding gap and he has nowhere to go once he has launched the project.
Pranay Vakil: As a developer if someone wants to come and tell you Atul that instead of borrowing at 11.5 per cent or 12 per cent, whatever the rate lender gives you, you will get this money at 3 per cent, how do you react?
Ravi Sinha: But if we go by that yardstick, my question is that in the major real estate markets across India do we have that kind of projects where ECB would be viable?
Ravi Sinha: Even in the Indian context, if you look at the places like Gurgaon. Had there been no infrastructure no one would be living over there and that is how NCR has evolved as a case study in satellite towns. But the disconnect is with the funding.