Budget Impact on Real Estate

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley laid down his first budget. Below are the critical points which impacts real estate industry in India1. Income tax slab increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh also long term investment under section 80C increased to Rs 1.5 lakh. This will positively impact home buying behavior, as people will have more free cash flow.

1. Finance Minister also raised the tax-free cap on interest paid on housing loan from Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh, which will increase appetite to invest in homes. This will also encourage new home buyers to buy homes now.
2. Rs 4000 cr allocated for low cost housing in Urban cities:National Housing Board (NHB) has been awarded Rs 4000 cr to build affordable housing for urban poor people. NHB is the wholly owned bank of RBI. It manages Rural Housing Fund and Urban Housing Funds. Rs 4000 cr will be added to Urban Housing Fund which will build houses for urban poor.
3. Rs. 7060 crore allocated to create 100 smart citiesHow India will Build Smart City:To build smart city India needs to invest significantly in human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action and engagement. Smart city means efficiency based on the intelligent management and integrated ICTs, and active citizen participation and implies a new kind of governance, genuine citizen involvement in public policy.India will get assistance in building these smart cities. Singapore has offered to build some of the smart cities. India will work with Singapore in building another Tianjin knowledge city (created by Singapore in China) that can be replicated in different parts of the country.French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius expressed interest of France to help India in building 100 smart cities.Ponneri has been selected for smart city from Tamilnadu while Tumkur has been selected from Karnataka.
4. To resolve tax issues with realty REITsReal Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is an investment vehicle which allows retail investor to participate in real estate growth without investing directly in to an apartment, villa or commercial space. It gets money from investors pool it together and invests in income producing real estate like apartments, office space, hospitals, hotels etc. Rental income derived out of this will be distributed as dividend income to the units holder.
5. Propose changes in norms for affordable housingIn order to encourage infrastructure development and affordable housing, RBI exempted long term bonds from mandatory regulatory norms like CRR and SLR if the money raised is used for funding of such projects. Banks will raise long term loan from other institutions and retail investors through infrastructure bonds and that can be givens as loan for affordable housing projects. Affordable housing loans are eligible under priority sector, which are loans up to Rs 50 lakhs to individuals for houses costing up to Rs 65 lakhs located in the six metropolitan cities. For other cities loans up to Rs 40 lakhs for houses with values up to Rs 50 lakhs is considered as affordable housing loans.Due to this change by RBI affordable housing projects will get more money and project cost will become cheaper. This will boost demand for projects in Bangalore, Chennai and other cities.
6. Slum development to be added in cos' mandatory CSR activity As per the new companies act any company having more than a net worth of Rs 500 crore, or turnover of Rs 1000 crore, or a net profit of Rs 5 crore should spend 2% of the net profit as Corporate Social Responsibility. It is worth to note that, this section is applicable for private companies also. Rs 65 lakh crore is the total profit of eligible companies and 2% of that will be Rs 130,000 cr.

With the announcement of Slum Development is an eligible spending, it is expected to unlock critical land parcels in the city which will be developed in to dwelling units. This will not only increase more apartments in to the city, but also will give much better living conditions for the city residents.However finer details are required to see whether Slum Rehabilitation is included as part of CSR program.

8. 20 new industrial clusters to be set upThe government announced 20 industrial clusters will be set up across the country. Among the 20 clusters Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor, a Bangalore-Mumbai eco-corridor, a Biometric cluster in Tumkur.

The Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor, envisaging upgrading infrastructure for industrial growth, will involve an investment of over?12,000 crore including land acquisition. The development includes improvement of three national highways NH 4, NH 7 and NH 46 with construction of roads to connect industrial hubs. The proposed 136-km Peripheral Ring Road road, linking Mahabalipuram to Ennore Port, about 25 km to the north of the city, has been identified as a key project under the development. We can See Apartments in Whitefield sale and many Flats in Chennai for Sale because of this Industrial corridor Project.

The State Government announced Rs 10 crore for laying of 60 KM ring road. The ring road will link important industrial hubs such as Singaperumal Koil, Sriperumbudur, Thiruvallur, Thamaraipakkam, Periyapalayam and Kattupalli.

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