Pranay Vakil: The problem is when having sanctioned the loan, there is no fear of revoking it. You can change your mind because these funds are kind of committed. When engage Shapoorji Pallonji or L&T to execute a project, you enter into a contract and you say that this is how we are going to make payments. Suddenly, if you are to switch off the tap, it is going to cause a lot of embarrassment to the developer.
Atul Modak: Why did bankers’ lobby not block the mutual funds then?
Pranay Vakil: Because the mutual funds lobby is larger than the bankers’ lobby. They could not do anything about it. The companies into mutual funds are so large, they might just foray into banking.
Sunil Dahiya: I have a copy of the circular which PNB got from the RBI and probably the managers are interpreting that in their own way. Now the circular that has been shared by the HO with the managers says that they will not take any exposure in housing loans, not even non-fund based.
Pranay Vakil: Kruti can you give some examples of innovative funding for the benefit of the panel? It is just to prove a point about how innovative that funding has been.
Kruti Jain: I believe any funding available in real estate is gap funding. It is not about only the gap which is there in funding for real estate because what happens for other industries is that they have this reserve capital which is not their land or raw material, but is the actual capital they put in to manufacture xyz product and then they replenish the funds with whatever returns are accrued.
Sunil Dahiya: Pranay, the most important thing is the background of the investor from the developer’s perspective. My understanding may be a little limited because I come form the Delhi NCR market and as you know, it is a very localized subject. But being in the governing council of NAREDCO at the national level, where Knight Frank is knowledge partner, one of the presentations that we had in 2008 with the idea that where the industry has lost its bearing and funding was the main agenda.
Pranay Vakil: Let’s start by introducing ourselves. I am Pranay Vakil, Chairman of Knight Frank India. We are a brokerage and consultancy group, positioned as second in the business.
While many of the Indian cities are reeling under the apprehension of slowdown with sales nosediving, Pune real estate has defied any such apprehensions.
When the Reserve bank of India was announcing the CRR rate cut by 50 base points, the house wife Sugnadha Dubey, glued to TV news channels, couldn’t resist the temptation to call up her husband to know whether the EMI burden on this middle class home owner is going to ease out from next month. With no background of the world of financial jargon, her husband could only assure her with a wishful thinking.
The real estate sector has welcomed the CRR rate cut by the RBI and said it will help revive demand in the housing segment.