By: Sunil Dahiya, Sr Vice President, NAREDCO
Industry bodies like NAREDCO can become ideation centers. NAREDCO is actually taking some concrete steps in getting the consumers and developers to connect with the policy makers. Ideally, we need to identify the next line of growth centers. Every city will have its own growth center. That is when we can realise that the consumer is buying what he wants and not what is available.
I would personally like NAREDCO to take up the role of policy advocacy and ideation with the stakeholders. Also, bridge the trust deficit which has come into public perception.
When the airlines were privatised, we saw tickets falling from Rs. 8000 to Rs. 500 and we also saw the quality of airlines falling to the same levels. But then the parabola went the other way around.
As a result, some very innovative airlines came with out-of-the-box strategies and consolidated the market at those levels. They were not for Rs. 500 but for, may be Rs. 2500, but they were flying us comfortably. The essence of the service was delivered and they called it no-frills. They gave the idea to the regulator that this is the product line that we need to deliver to the consumer and the consumers lapped it.
If the Government can help us deliver the same kind of essence in time, with efficiency and efficacy, I think we will achieve the goals of policy advocacy. One factor that has to be kept in mind is that real estate development is a localised subject.
The real estate being developed in Delhi is different from the real estate being developed in Assam. The consumer requirement and behavior are different for both places. It becomes all the more important to understand that you cannot administer real estate from a single point. So it is very important that we have localised regulators.
Of course, the Center has to take up the advisory role, but all policies in all spheres need to be delivered at the state level. Policy restructuring alone cannot bring the change and the desired reforms; you cannot administer the real estate from the Centre. There will be a lot of questions raised—delivery, fiscal benefits, land acquisition etc. and all of this is out of the Centre’s domain.
