When the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was to announce its annual monetary policy for 2012-13 on 17th April, there were widespread concerns of slowing economy, rising inflation, trade deficit of 4 per cent of GDP and drying FDI too emerging as a grace concerns
Ravi Sinha: One issue which Sunil raised on funding mechanism that it was a strategic mistake by certain developers to raise money through IPOs. I would like to rake this issue again and seek the panel’s view.
The demand fundamentals of the India story are now focused around all cities that have sufficient economic activity, be it industrial, service sector-driven or incentive-driven programs by the State Government. In Gujarat, which has seen considerable industrial progress, the key cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara come readily to mind.
Today we are looking at a situation where real estate is isolated by the Government as an industry it does not trust. It could be because it is too segregated, too micro for a Government to take note about 5000 developers which are organized under CREDAI.
The much talked about and widely anticipated Real Estate Regulation and Development Bill may not get cleared in the current Budget Session of Parliament, since the government is getting cold in the wake of the Union Government running into opposition from the states on a host of issues, including the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre and Lokpal Bill.
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.
Launching its multi-pronged strategy to focus attention on the real estate industry’s unending series of problems, CREDAI (Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India) has decided to send an ‘SOS’ to the Prime Minister and planned for a nationwide developers strike to sensitize the policy makers.
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.