Track2Realty: Opposing the Maharashtra government’s decision to impose local body tax (LBT) in lieu of octroi, developers’ apex body CREDAI Chairman Lalit Kumar Jain said the new levy will result in rise in corruption and be detrimental to business as well as consumers. There is a potential threat of it becoming breeding ground of corruption.
Track2Realty Exclusive: There is a school of thought within the sector which suggests the nature of the business is more suitable to be carried smoothly as promoter-driven. Though officially no one wanted to be quoted but some of the developers admitted to Track2Realty that the nature of real estate business demands more grounded entrepreneurs and not high flying professionals for whom more money in the sector is the only traction for job hopping.
Track2Realty Exclusive: If CCI verdict against DLF is upheld, it will amount to all developers in danger of coming under the jurisdiction of the competition commission. Would the slew of builders across the country very much be amenable to this kind of interpretation?
Track2Realty-Agencies: West Bengal did not receive any investment, either foreign or domestic, in the real estate sector in the financial year 2012-13, according to a report by industry body ASSOCHAM.
Track2Realty Exclusive: While the real estate fraternity, legal experts and others had strongly questioned the basis of the CCI order and the enormous penalty of Rs 630-crore levied on the real estate major, the sector itself eventually approached the CCI through its industry associations against the cement cartel. Acting on the sector representatives’ complaints, the CCI imposed a penalty of Rs. 6, 307 crore on 11 cement companies for cartelisation.
Track2Realty Exclusive: Consumer rights advocate Lakhendra Singh is even more forthright when he says if CCI has to establish its credibility in the collective conscience; it must make its economic analysis more scientific and full-proof. There can’t be different parameters of defining relevant geographic market and product category for different real estate companies. According to him, CCI instead of being seen as an anti-monopoly watchdog and inspiring confidence has, of late, been in the news for consumer activism.
Track2Realty Exclusive: When the Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleged that DLF misused its dominant market position and imposed unfair conditions on home-buyers at two of its many projects, the real estate fraternity, legal experts and others strongly questioned the basis of the CCI order and the enormous penalty of Rs 630 crore levied on the real estate major. However, within a year the real estate sector itself approached the CCI through its associations against the cement cartel, and got them nailed as well. Consumers too are approaching repeatedly the anti-monopoly body. Track2Realty wonders whether the CCI has become the new regulator in the sector by default.
Track2Realty: Omkar Realtors & Developers, one of the leading players in making the slum redevelopment a success story in Mumbai believes slum projects are generally feasible in Metro Cities and more particularly in Mumbai. Shifting focus on Slum Rehabilitation for ECB will really help the sector.
Oberoi Realty is looking to lucrative markets beyond its home market of Mumbai and is now planning to foray into new market of National Capital Region. The company has outlined budget of nearly Rs 150 crore for this and is aiming to do so in the current financial year, a top company official said.
Track2Realty: It has been a marginal rate cut that may not have any significant affect on the fortunes of the economy in general and real estate in particular. However, the sector believes it still goes a long way in improving the sentiments of the market by and large. On Friday, May 3, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut its policy interest rate by 25 basis points, for the third time since January as growth slows and inflation ebbs. RBI says there is little room to ease monetary policy further.