New Delhi: Real estate developers Tuesday hailed the government’s decision to allocate Rs 48,000 crore in Budget 2022-23 under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and faster approvals for affordable housing in urban areas. However, they rued that no additional tax deduction was allowed on interest paid on home loans.
“Allocation of Rs 48,000 crore towards completion of 80 lakhs home under PMAY is a welcome step. FM also announced that approvals related to land and construction particularly for Affordable Housing in the urban areas will be given priority,” CREDAI president Harshvardhan Patodia said. He also welcomed the government’s focus on urban planning, especially in tier II and III cities, in the Budget.
Boman Irani – president, CREDAI-MCHI, said there has been an introduction of a revolutionary reform – one land and one registration system – which is beneficial for the real estate ecosystem.
“The real estate industry analysts and developers community were hoping for some more rebates given its performance and contribution to the overall economy in the past few months. A simple point that could have added cheer to home buyers would be an increase in tax deduction for home loan interest,” said Irani.
NAREDCO president Rajan Bandelkar said several provisions in the Union Budget will positively impact the real estate sector and cited example of focus on the development of logistics parks. “Easing land and construction-related approvals will help the development firms in meeting the delivery timelines,” Bandelkar said.
However, Bandelkar said the sector was expecting more in terms of incentives to boost sales and to fulfill the dream of ‘Housing for All by 2022’.
Puravankara Ltd MD Ashish R Puravankara said ‘with regards to the housing sector, we are pleased that the Government has revoked custom duties levied on stainless steel and High Steel Bars. We are hopeful that these savings are passed down to the developers so that the end-users can benefit; this is yet to be determined’.