Budget 2022-23 Expectations: With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman all set to present the Union Budget for 2022-23 fiscal on February 1, real estate developers have pinned their hopes and started making suggestions and recommendations to Centre for including them in the Budget document.
Despite reeling under the headwind during first and second wave of the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, real estate industry has successfully managed to overcome the turbulent clouds.
In order to keep the momentum going, several experts and developers have requested the government to extend incentives on taxes for home loans, rental housing and rebate on income from renting of housing properties.
Below are some expectations of real estate industry from Union Budget 2022-23:
FICC
The housing and real estate sector can be a force multiplier for growth and for kickstarting investments/ capex cycle. Housing and construction sectors have forward and backward linkages and impact nearly 200 sectors. The sector needs to be provided holistic support in the upcoming Union Budget. An interest subsidy of 3-4% on housing loans could also be offered for a period of 3-4 years.
Ashish Jain, Managing Director, Star HFL
PMAY subsidy, introduced by the GOI in 2015, has lend a positive hand to the end-users specifically the EWS and LIG segment customers. The same is due to expire in Mar 2022. We believe the same should be extended further for a period of 5 years as there is an inherent demand for housing, most of it coming from the EWS and LIG segment.
Sandeep Runwal, Managing Director, Runwal Group
The cap of Rs. 2 lakh per annum against interest rate deduction under section 24(b) of the Act needs to be hiked to at least Rs. 5 lakh along with removing the 45 lakh cap from affordable housing, which will boost the affordable and mid-segment housing in a big way.
We also expect the government to continue promoting the affordable rental housing schemes by announcing tax reliefs for rental housing projects, which will fast track the pace of investments in these schemes.
Kaushal Agarwal, Chairman, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory
The government needs to push the well-capitalised NBFCs and banks to extend credit and liquidity to the players in the sector who have good equity left in their stuck projects.
Government should also think about extending no tax up to an income of Rs 10 lacs to all taxpayers for a year to give impetus to demand and consumption.
The government should declare tax-free, the rent income received from any one owned house across the country. The same will see the young, new age investor pour money in real estate.
Shraddha Kedia Agarwal, Director, Transcon Developers
The upcoming budget needs to be more attractive to foreign investors as it will be an ultimate platform to announce further incentives which will attract more foreign investments into the sector. Considering the rupee's recent muted performance, this budget is an ideal time for reforms targeted at foreign inflows into India.
We expect the government to reduce the tax on interest income which will help accelerate capital inflows to India. Liberalising foreign investment norms in real estate is another widely expected move.