Budget 2021: Announce industry status to the real estate sector, says Bennet & Bernard Group Chairman

By Lincoln Bennet Rodrigues

The real estate sector, which is one of the major contributors to India’s GDP, has undergone significant changes in the last few years making it more transparent and credible. A series of key decisions taken by the government recently to revive the realty sector has improved consumer confidence and the impetus given to the residential sector is expected to yield positive results in the near future.

These reforms will also be instrumental in attracting investors, institutions and private capital players into India's real-estate market. In its bid to help the real estate sector survive this unprecedented health crisis, the government did announce various measures in the recent past which were directed towards infusing liquidity and strengthening consumption, thereby giving a push to economic recovery.

We expect the upcoming budget to further relax income tax norms, push more reforms in GST and announce industry status to the real estate sector. The sector also expects the government to unleash a series of reforms and consumption boosters to increasing credit off-take from banks to ease liquidity. There is a specific need for income tax relief on a second home which will benefit home buyers in a big way and also stimulate the real estate sector.

Single window clearance would go a long way in improving the approval process and quicken the project execution. We would also like to see lower home loan interest rates, reduction in stamp duty & registration charges which make a sizeable difference to the cost of a project and will definitely be a motivation for home buyers to go in for property purchase. Post pandemic, people have realized the importance of larger spaces & self-sustained communities. Hence, the desire to have bigger spaces for the same investments would definitely shift focus from buying realty in cities to second homes in holiday destinations and hence places like Goa will definitely attract investors because of its culture, lifestyle and value for money it offers.

Overall, we hope the government takes measures that strengthen the real estate sector and affirms robust infrastructure growth.

(The author is the founder and chairman of Bennet & Bernard Group)