DLF Chairman K P Singh has warned that the current policy paralysis has had an adverse impact on the country’s growth momentum denting business confidence, and could lead to its unique demographic dividend turning into a demographic nightmare.
Speaking at the company’s 47th annual general meeting on Friday, Sep 7, the billionaire industrialist said, “It is clear that these developments are leading to a challenging scenario in which the decision making process of the government has slowed down, resulting in delays in vitally needed policy formulations.”
He said that the country can ill-afford a deceleration in growth rates and consequent shrinkage of employment opportunities for young job-seekers.
“Inevitably, all this has had an adverse impact on the growth momentum of the country’s economy and affected the confidence of the business community as well as the citizens,” he said.
DLF, the country’s largest developer by market cap, is facing the brunt of the current slowdown. Lower home sales across the country has dented its business, forcing it to reduce new launches and sell off non-core assets, including a prime land parcel in Mumbai, to pare debt which currently stands at around Rs 22,600 crore.
Singh called for “crucial changes in policy approaches aimed at providing easier access to capital at substantially lower interest costs and creating an investor-friendly atmosphere in the urban development and housing sector… Unlocking the potential of the housing and construction sector is one of the key revival tools.” He said that there was a need for easier access to capital at substantially lower interest costs and the creation of an investor-friendly atmosphere.
He said that the country’s policymakers and bureaucrats, and the judiciary, have been somewhat apprehensive about the role of the private sector developers in the sphere of housing and real estate development.
The ground reality, he said, is that there are serious shortfalls in providing adequate urban infrastructure. “The cost of not paying attention to our cities is enormous. The policy vacuum is leading to worsening urban decay and gridlock, a declining quality of life for citizens and a growing reluctance among investors to commit resources to India’s urban centres,” said Singh.
