I am relatively dissatisfied with the budget focus on the sector as no efforts made to the growth of the sector. My wish list to the Finance Minister is to relax the provisioning norms of banks for Real Estate loans, sector status to real estate, clarity on service tax & VAT, with some relaxation and to increase the interest exemption on Housing loan. But then the Finance Minister has not consulted the industry representatives in the last few years.
Allied sectors like steel, cement and others get more patient hearing and their issues addressed in budget than realty. So I am not sure about the Union Budget addressing the concerns of the sector this year. We continue to remain under represented in successive budget. We are deliberately getting a raw deal in each budget. To a large extent the sector has failed to make a consensus over its legitimate expectations with the budget.
The sector is not very organized to create consensus over its legitimate issues. To a large extent real estate being a state subject makes it neglected in the budget. I agree with the fact that the sector needs to organize itself to be given adequate representation in budget. Our disorganized nature of the business has made realty sector failing to project a face of the industry.
I would like to suggest some measures to make realty sector get its due in budget. Give it an industry status, independent regulatory body at centre, clarity on tax related issues and provide adequate infrastructure to help sector grow.
