A White Paper on black money tabled in Parliament on Monday, May 21, has named real estate among others as most vulnerable to menace of black money. Given that land is part of the top black money generators, the white paper suggested that states could consider taxing farm income to curb black money.
The government has said “no specific instance” of flow of terror funds into the real estate sector has come to its notice. “As per the current assessment of revenue intelligence agencies…no specific instance of flow of terror funds into the real estate sector has been found,” Minister of State for Finance S S Palanimanickam said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. However, he said, “investigations by the Income Tax Department reveal unaccounted or undisclosed income or assets in various sectors of the economy, including real estate.”
Economic intelligence agencies have informed the Finance Ministry that a major chunk of illegal funds and black money is being generated and routed in the real estate sector of the country.
Over the last few years, the number of HNI investors and corporates who are seriously looking at investing into Indian office space has increased manifold. Mumbai continues to hold its own as India’s numero uno office space investment destination, with companies from all over the world unerringly zeroing in on the financial capital.
In 1959, Charles E Lindblom, the American political scientist, published a paper in the Public Administration Review entitled The Science of ‘Muddling Through’. In this, he contrasted what he called the ‘root method’ of decision-making with the ‘branch approach’.
Our reaction to Union Budget 2012-13 is mixed at best. It seems fair to state that the Indian real estate sector does not have much to cheer about.
Recently an acquaintance – a fund manager by profession – relocated to India to set-up a domestic PE fund here. He had invested in a Mumbai residential property strategically located close to the primary business district and an international school for his kid.
RBI’s latest notification says that stamp duty, registration and other charges should be excluded while calculating the value of a property. This is expected to have a short-term impact and is unlikely to turn out to be a show stopper.
The Supreme Court on Friday, Jan 20, gave two Sahara group companies three weeks to choose between two courses to secure investments made by the public in their controversial Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCD) scheme.
India has the second largest population in the world and is expected to overtake China by 2025. Fulfilling the housing needs of the Indian population which is growing at 1.41% annually is a tremendous challenge for the government today.