Government should keep a continuous check in the form of reforms to give a fillip to the realty sector.

Ashok Mohanani

- President, NAREDCO, Maharashtra

What is your outlook on the RE sector in Mumbai, the growth drivers, and how sustainable the growth trends?

With the relief of vaccine rolling out in the city, we expect better days for the economy going forward along with the GDP growth to turn positive in the Q1 of upcoming financial year. The Repo rate cuts, lower home loan interest rates, slashing of premiums and affordable rental housing policy will open new avenues for the segment. The real estate sector in India is expected to reach US$ 1 trillion by 2030 and it will contribute 13% to the country's GDP by 2025. The Government should keep a continuous check in the form of reforms that will give a fillip to the real estate sector and will indirectly help revive the economy which has received a dent due to the impact of the pandemic

What are the current challenges and what further regulatory / policy reforms do you expect for the sustainable growth of the sector?

The impact of the novel Coronavirus on Indian real estate has been unprecedented as the sector faced some of the most challenging times ever. Now that the sector is getting back on track, we expect that the developer fraternity should focus at selling their unsold inventories instead of lunching further projects. However, with the gradual recovery and developers' continuous efforts to sustain a conducive environment for all stakeholders, the sector is bound to witness a new era of real estate development that would lay a sound foundation for reviving economic growth.

On behalf of the real estate fraternity, we at NAREDCO urge the State Government to extend the reduced 3% stamp duty charges for another year i.e till March 2022, so that we could continue to encourage the homebuyers to invest in their dream homes.

How the Information Communication Technology - ICT - and digital platforms have impacted the sector in the entire ecosystem?

The realty industry in India is at the point of unlocking surprising growth on the back of recent policy interventions and a digital overhaul necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. We are seeing a lot of customer engagement happening through digital platforms. Clients are quite comfortable having initial information and project walkthrough online. Most of the sales have happened through the digital virtual platform. Developers have taken initiatives to boost sales through digitalisation; all their transactions post sales are now digitized on an integrated platform starting from online booking form to e-registration to online collection of dues which makes the client journey seamless once the booking is done.

Hits: 153