SAMIR JASUJA, FOUNDER & CEO, PROPEQUITY
This budget has given another boost to affordable housing keeping up with the Government’s agenda of inclusive living. Ample stress has been given on education and employment.
Overall, it was a balanced budget for realty sector, keeping in mind the external macroeconomic factors currently influencing our economy.
- The additional tax deduction of interest up to 1 lakh for home loans up to 25 lakhs comes as a welcome move. This move essentially has two positive implications — one of providing a hike in the home loan interest deduction slab from 1.5 lakhs to 2.5 lakhs and to give additional tax benefits for affordable housing. It would provide some stimulus to the demand in Tier II and Tier III cities. However, considering the inflationary trends in the country, it would have been more desirable had this provision been extended to all home loans irrespective of any specific segment.
- The additional funds of 14,873 Cr for JNNURM stresses that the Government is laying stress on creation of infrastructure.
- The allocation of 2,000 Cr for the Urban Housing Fund to be set up by NHB will help provide greater access to credit.
- The reduction in the rate of abatement of service tax on homes of above 2000 sq. ft or costing 1 Cr from 75% to 70% would lead to more expensive luxury property- A move to charge premium on luxury properties.
- Also, a provision for 1% TDS on property sale of more than 50 lakhs has been introduced in the budget. However, it would make the process more tedious and complex, something which is not desirable for the sector in the current scenario.
Given the positive side, the budget was a dampener for certain key areas which needed to be addressed. There was no mention of the Real Estate Regulatory Bill which means that issues of transparency and corporate governance in the sector have been ignored.
Another move that the sector was looking forward to was an industry status for the sector, but it has again been missed in the current budget.
About PropEquity:
PropEquity is India’s first online real estate intelligence platform that tracks over 45,000 projects of 8,200 developers over 40 cities and features over 5 years of catalogued data on the platform. P.E. Analytics, the company behind PropEquity is built on pure innovation. The products created by the company are unique in Indian context and have been validated by the market and marquee customers. The company’s endeavor is to create an information service enterprise through continuous innovation and integration of real time data, analytics and cutting edge technology to achieve higher transparency. Its key beneficiaries include over 100 Real Estate PE Funds, Developers, Institutions, Retail and other industries that need research, data and analytics. It currently has 250 employees.
PropEquity’s offering include Collateral Risk Management, Realty Index, B2C - One Click Report and Catchment Area Analysis.
P E Analytics has been founded by Samir Jasuja, a serial entrepreneur with over 18 years of domain experience in Real Estate, PE & Financial Services. Catch us live at Electronic Media Coverage".