Budget 2019: Here's a wish list from real estate sector, check status report

Budget 2019: The Modi Government’s ‘Housing for All’ mission has seen around 6.85 million houses getting sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Urban by December 2018.

Budget 2019: As the country gears up for Budget 2019, the Real Estate and Construction industry too looks forward to FinMin Arun Jaitley’s sixth and last consecutive budget.

Budget 2019: As the country gears up for Budget 2019, the Real Estate and Construction industry too looks forward to FinMin Arun Jaitley’s sixth and last consecutive budget. During Budget 2018, the Finance Minister had announced setting up of Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) which would fetch capital from priority sector lending shortfall and fully serviced bonds authorized by the Government. The government aimed to create 15 million jobs in the Indian realty and construction industry under its Housing for All by 2022 project. The Modi Government’s ‘Housing for All’ mission has seen around 6.85 million houses getting sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Urban by December 2018. The  100 Smart Cities project has also opened unexplored avenues of incremental growth for the construction industry. Budget 2018 also emphasised on infrastructure development of the country via its Bharatmala project for which Rs.5.35 lac crores was allocated. To boost air transport connectivity, the FM had made way for connecting 56 unserved airports under its UDAN project. For the railways, 600 major railway stations were to be developed. The development of road, rail and air connectivity has strengthened the real estate sector as well as the construction industry. In Budget 2018, the Modi Government announced Rs.3 lac crore for the MUDRA project, under which, loans up to Rs.10 lac were to be extended to non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises. The scheme has helped in sorting out working capital needs to local developers. The government’s decision for disinvestment in PSUs to an estimated Rs.1 lac crore was aimed at freeing up unutilized land space under the Public Sector Undertakings. In the past few years, the BJP has also whipped Benami property transactions to bring in more transparency in the Real estate market, besides introducing GST for construction goods to organize the sector. The ever expanding demand for office spaces have given impetus to the Real Estate sector in urban IT hubs with Bengaluru, Gurugram, Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai leading the real estate investments in office establishments. The idea of co-working spaces in the metropolitans have also spurred in the past 3 years with start-ups mushrooming in every nook and cranny of the country. Since time unknown investing in real estate aka property as it is called in India has been most preferred by Indians. Real Estate is the choicest asset class for investments in India where every middle class family aims to build at least their own home in a lifetime and pass it on to the next generations, while the financially sound invest in commercial properties and the housing sector. Talking about FDI in Real Estate, the government has taken various initiatives to attract foreign direct investments. As of now, real estate projects developed in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) carry 100% FDI. The BJP led centre announced that Embassy Office Parks would raise investments to the tune of US$ 775.66 million via the country’s first Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) listing. Furthermore, short term and long term NRI investments in real estate have spurred in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Pune, Chennai, Goa, Delhi and Dehradun, in the past few years. For Budget 2019, the real estate sector expects the government to give it the ‘Industry Status’ while framing substantial laws for the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Although the government has outlined a set of rules for investments via Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) in non-residential sector, more clarity is expected to be given by the Finance Ministry during Interim Budget 2019. Also, the realty sector and home buyers have long pending demands like bringing Real Estate under GST, creating a Single Window Clearance system, tightening RERA guidelines to strengthen investor sentiment, while raising the personal income tax exemption limit for interest on home loans and rental income.