Union Budget 2020- Real Estate Highlights

Feb 1,2020 / By Supriya Mogarala / No Comment

Real Estate Sector Highlights of Union Budget 2020:

Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister of India has announced the Union Budget 2020-21. In the second term of the current government, this is the second budget. Fundamentals of the economy are strong enough to assure the stability of the micro-economic growth of the country. Banks had cleared up and recapitalized the accumulated loans of the past decade. Numerous steps have been taken on the formalization of the Indian economy.

Infrastructure:

Infrastructure was a principal focus for the Finance Minister as she presented her Budget speech. She made various important announcements on infrastructure like setting up 100 new airports for the UDAN scheme by 2024. The presence of an airport will enhance the city’s image as a business destination and will directly augment the scope of rental housing. She also announced that large solar plants would be set up on land owned by the Railways along the railway tracks. 148 km long Bengaluru Suburban transport project at a cost of 18600 crores, would have fares on the metro model. Central Government would provide 20% of equity and facilitate external assistance up to 60% of the project cost.

The government has proposed to provide about 1.70 lakh crore for transport Infrastructure in 2020-21. Proposal has been given to set up a project preparation facility for infrastructure projects.

The National Infrastructure Pipeline was launched on 31st December 2019 of ` 103 lakh crore. It consists of more than 6500 projects across sectors and are classified as per their size and stage of development. These new projects will include housing, safe drinking water, access to clean and affordable energy, healthcare for all, world-class educational institutes, modern railway stations, airports, bus terminals, metro and railway transportation, logistics and warehousing, irrigation projects, etc. The National Infrastructure Pipeline envisions improving the ease of living for each individual citizen in the country. It will also bring in generic and sectoral reforms in the development, operation, and maintenance of these infrastructure projects.

Accelerated development of highways will be undertaken. This will include the development of 2500 Km access control highways, 9000 Km of economic corridors, 2000 Km of coastal and land port roads and 2000 Km of strategic highways. The budget plan had also focused on the completion of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway by 2023 and the construction of the Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway would also be started.

FASTag mechanism encourages us towards greater commercialization of our highways so that NHAI can raise more resources. I propose to monetize at least twelve lots of highway bundles of over 6000 Km before 2024.

Affordable Housing:

In line with the government’s initiative “Housing for All” and Affordable Housing, it has been announced that the tax holiday is granted on the profits earned by developers on affordable projects approved by 31st March 2020. In order to ensure that more people will avail of this benefit, Sitharaman has proposed to extend the date of loan sanction for availing this additional deduction by one more year. The government also plans to extend the additional reduction of INR 1.5 lakhs for interest paid on home loans taken for the purchase of affordable housing by one year in order to boost the supply of affordable houses in the country. The interest deduction of up to INR 3.5 lakh for affordable housing priced below INR 45 lakh as against INR 2 lakh earlier for loans availed until March 31, 2021.

Personal income tax and changes in income tax slab:

In order to minimize the hardship in real estate transactions and provide relief to the middleclass taxpayers who are willing to let go of certain deductions can now make the switch to new rates. The new and simplified personal tax regime, wherein income tax rates will be significantly reduced for the individual taxpayers who refrain certain exemptions and deductions.

Taxable income slab	Existing rate	New rate
Rs 0-5 lakh	No tax	No tax
Rs 5-7.5 lakh	20%	10%
Rs 7.5-10 lakh	20%	15%
Rs 10-12.5 lakh	30%	20%
Rs 12.5-15 lakh	30%	25%
Rs 15 lakh and above	30%	30%

Making Indian real estate “green”:

Eco-friendly or green buildings segments have witnessed a huge growth in the Indian real estate segment. Reports suggest that the Indian green building market alone is poised to increase by 10 billion sq ft. by the year 2022, driven by factors such as increasing awareness level, environmental benefits, and government support.

Concession to real estate transactions and tax rates for co-operatives:

While taxing income from capital gains, business profits and additional sources in favor of transactions in real estate, if the consideration value is more than 5 percent by less than the circle rate then the difference is counted as income both in the hands of the purchaser and seller. In order to reduce hardship in real estate transactions and provide relief to the sector, FM proposed to increase the limit of 5% to 10%. Co-operative societies perform a remarkably significant role in our economy in promoting access to credit, procurement of inputs and marketing of products. These cooperatives are currently taxed at a rate of 30% with surcharge and Cess. FM proposed to present an option to cooperative societies to be taxed at 22% plus 10% surcharge and 4% Cess with no exemption/deductions.

Non-banking financial companies (NBFC’s):

To address the liquidity constraints of the NBFCs/HFCs, post the Union Budget 2019-20, the government formulated a Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme for the NBFCs. To further this support of providing liquidity, a mechanism would be devised. The Government will offer support by guaranteeing securities so floated. The government will allow NBFCs to extend invoice financing to MSMEs. The limit for Non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act 2002 to be eligible for debt recovery is proposed to be decreased from Rs 500 crore to asset size of Rs 100 crore or loan size from subsisting Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh.

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Land Pooling Policy 2020

Jan 30,2020 / By Supriya Mogarala / No Comment

Land Pooling Policy (LPP)

Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has formulated a Master Plan 2021 for Delhi to improve city planning in the divided zones under the Land Pooling Policy (LPP). Land Pooling Policy is the consolidation of small land parcels to make them into one larger land for construction in order to accommodate the residential and commercial solutions to the people of Delhi NCR. Under the Land Pooling Policy of Master Plan Delhi-2021, the national capital region will begin the smart city plan.

Land Pooling Policy was announced by the urban development ministry in September 2013. The initial phase would see several landowners/developers/societies to pool their land and assign it to the government for developing a percentage of land and retain a percentage to build infrastructure. Delhi Development Authority and the developers would operate in partnership for the development of the LPP Zone.

As per the Master Plan Delhi-2021, 6 Zones amongst a total of 15 zones come under the Land Pooling Policy. These zones are J Zone of South Delhi, K Zone of South West Delhi, and L zone in West Delhi. These zones will attract population and thus the difficulty of housing solutions will be fixed under the LPP.

Land Pooling Policy has encouraged the development of the Indian real estate market and retaining hopes of the builders. Homebuyers can buy luxurious houses at affordable rates in all the prime localities of Delhi NCR. The cautious use of large land parcels will benefit the stakeholders. It’s more beneficial to invest in the LPP approved projects and experience living around robust infrastructure.

Key Amendments:

Timely development of infrastructure.
Enabling farmers to pay development charges.
Mandatory EWS housing units.
Full utilization of approved floor area ratio (FAR).
Urbanization of 20,000 hectares of land.
95 villages are coming together to develop.
Provision of 14-16 lakh housing units in Delhi.
48-60 percent of the land to be returned back to the owners.

Major benefits of Land Pooling Policy:

The archaic Land Acquisition Policy has been mastered by the LPP, thus promoting proper land-use and bringing out transparency in land management.
Better revenue for the landowners and the government.
Better living at affordable prices.
PPP Model has been introduced, and it is the first time the government sector is working with private entities to construct quality development in the prescribed zones.

Image Source: Quora

The dark red areas in the above map are the residential centers where the maximum population of Delhi resides. The red spots on the map imply that the residential centers of the city that are fully populated cannot accommodate any more residents on the currently available land. Delhi needs to expand to meet the needs of the migrant population which is expected to be 2.3 crores by 2021. The current infrastructure is only equipped to handle 1.5 crores of the 1.9 crore residents.

Distribution of land returned to DE (60%):

Gross residential – 53%
City-level (commercial) – 5%
City-level (public/ semi-public) -2%

Distribution of land returned to DE (48%):

Gross residential – 43%
City-level (commercial) – 3%
City-level (public/semi-public) – 2%

Which areas will come under the ambit of this policy?

To compensate for the 50-60k acres of land requirement in the upcoming years, areas like Narela, Najafgarh, and Bawana will witness land pooling and development. About 89 of the 95 villages have been listed as urban villages that will accommodate development. This system is a part of the master plan for Delhi-2021 according to which the city of Delhi will be developed.

The master plan has highlighted the following roles in infrastructure development for each:

DDA:

Time-bound development of Master Plan Roads.
Create a plan for physical infrastructures such as water supply, sewerage, drainage, provision of social infrastructure, and traffic and transportation infrastructure including metro corridors.
External development in a time-bound manner (external development charges and other development charges acquired for city infrastructure shall be payable by DE on the actual cost incurred by DDA)

Developer Entity (DE):

Approval of layout/ detailed plan from DDA
Demarcation of roads as per layout plan, sector plan, and obtain verification of the same from the concerned authority.
Develop sector/ internal roads/ infrastructure/ services in its share of land (which includes water, power supply lines, rainwater harvesting, STP/ WTP, etc.)
Timely completion of development and its maintenance with all facilities (open spaces, roads, and services till the area is handed over to the Municipal Corporation)

Special Provisions for the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS):

As per the master plan, the developer entity will assure sufficient provision of EWS and other housing as per the Shelter Policy of the Plan. Aside from this, the developer entity shall also declare the prescribed built-up spaces, EWS dwelling units, and LIG Housing components to the DDA as per the policy.

The EWS Housing unit size range within 32- 40 square meters.
50% of EWS housing stock to be maintained by DE for regulated sale for community service personnel and the remaining 50% to be sold to DDA, which will be improved as per CPWD index at the time of handing over.

Development Framework and Control Measures

The Government/ DDA will be answerable for creating and implementing a framework for Land Pooling Policy to:

Frame detailed regulations including process and a timeline for participation in a time-bound manner. The laws shall be put up in public domain for capturing views of all stakeholders by giving a 30-day time frame
Create a dedicated unit for dealing with approvals of Land Pooling applications
Create a Single Window Clearance wherein all the agencies accountable for giving time-bound clearances will meet regularly as per notified timelines.

DDA shall formulate the following norms pertaining to the policy:

The residential Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 400 for group housing to be applicable on net residential land exclusive of 15 percent FAR reserved for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) housing. Net residential land to be a maximum of 55 percent of gross residential land.
This is explaining the concept of building higher to support more population
FAR for city-level commercial and city-level public/semi-public development to be 250.
Subdivision of residential areas and provision of facilities shall be as per MPD-2021.

How shortly will it be implemented?

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has approved and notified DDA Land Pooling Policy, and the implementation is set to begin once proposals are built on the final draft.

Apart from this, the developers have already started pooling land and we can see housing units soon.

What’s in it for a Delhi resident?

Being a Delhi citizen, you can expect approximately 25 lakh housing units in the coming 10 years. That means cheap and affordable housing.

If you are not a Delhi Resident, you can still invest your money in the land pooling scheme so to be a part of one of the biggest real estate booms in India.

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Tier 2 cities and coworking spaces.

Jan 17,2020 / By Supriya Mogarala / No Comment

Tier 2 cities could drive Coworking:

Among the various types of shared office space concepts, coworking spaces have earned the highest popularity. Innovations by creating such workspaces have made a huge difference in the overall work environment of a workspace. Coworking operators had always ensured that it is not just individuals working separately under a roof but have created the phenomenon of maintaining a relationship with fellow coworkers. Meanwhile, in India coworking might still be in its initial stages of development as a profound form of office space in tier 2 cities. The coworking concept has seen its tremendous growth from the past several years and it is essentially the private sector’s response to meet today’s activity-based work requirements. The concept of coworking spaces is especially popular among boutique firms and startups today, for whom coworking spaces offer flexibility without the need to tie up lease obligation.

In India’s top cities of Delhi NCR, Pune, and Bangalore, coworking spaces are likely to lead to cost savings in the range of 20-25% when compared with leasing a traditional office space. The key drivers of coworking spaces in India are cost, infrastructure, and networking opportunities. While freelancers, startups, small-medium sized enterprises in India are primarily focused on the cost factor and infrastructure.

A growing number of coworking spaces in tier 2 cities like Indore, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Udaipur, Kota, Surat, Pune, and other cities have boosted the startup ecosystem. Startups who seek an ecosystem are able to create communities within coworking spaces. Boost of coworking spaces within the tier 2 cities are because of the rise of startup aspiration within the people. According to the research it has been stated that coworking spaces are present in more than 40 Indian cities including small cities. There are around 250 coworking spaces in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

The reasons why all the tier 2 cities are expected to see a similar demand:

Emerging entrepreneurs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities:

Smaller cities have technologically trained people who are experts in creating and adopting their own startup. For these skilled professionals to lease a reliable workspace with proper infrastructure can take a lot of time but coworking spaces will make it easier, shortens the gap and will allow such professionals to start their work immediately.

Government promotions:

Since the smart city mission was launched in 2015 to solve the problems in urban areas, this is also an opportunity that increases the opportunity in these cities that could see a lot of development and even the advent of more coworking spaces. The “Make in India” movement of the government is encouraging tier 2 and tier 3 cities to build, and this will also lead people relocating to tier 2 cities and that would encourage the necessity of coworking spaces.

Choking Cities:

A workspace must be easily accessible to employees and must be comfortably located for potential clients. Tier 1 cities face a lot of problems like parking problems, associated costs, and saturation. If coworking spaces would expand to tier 2 and tier 3 cities which have more affordable spaces to offer. It would offer a better quality of life and lower property taxes and rates. All these make tier 2 and tier 3 cities more appropriate for expansion.

Quality workspaces:

Coworking spaces offer high-quality offices that are 24*7 accessible at a reasonable cost. It is estimated that coworking spaces can save up to 30% compared to traditional self-managed offices. This will make tier 2 and tier 3 cities an attractive option.

Short term projects:

Indian as well as international entities who want to expand their organizations in tier 2 and tier 3 cities would sometimes need workspaces for a short period of time. This would increase the demand for coworking spaces in such locations. All such companies would prefer coworking spaces because of the lower operational costs and a flexible work environment which will have a scope of work and include prime land availability at a lower cost.

Demands of the modern workforce:

With an average age of 29, India is expected to become the country with the youngest workforce by 2020. Nevertheless, the economy is unable to generate jobs that can absorb the prospective employee base. As a consequence, the number of freelancers is increasing. These resources, apart from high remuneration, are also watching for some additional perks such as adjustable working hours, comfortable work locations, and the availability of high-quality utility services such as the internet, etc. Coworking spaces are an exemplary combination of these various necessities, thus becoming a popular option with businesses and professionals alike. From bootstrapped startups to established corporate houses, every organization is seeming to examine the opportunities in Tier-II cities in a coworking way.

Key Factors why Tier-II cities prefer coworking spaces:

Shortage of funds to leverage business in the early stage
Finding technology partners
Working with like-minded and highly enthusiastic people
Building network

Approximate no. of coworking spaces in few tier 2 cities:

One of the most important reasons for coworking spaces to be introduced in Tier-II cities has been the increasing numbers of home-grown startups and entrepreneurs from these localities. Initially, talented individuals had relocated towards tier 1 cities as only these places could present their chances to grow. But, with the evolution of technology, everything can be done through the internet. Recently, Jaipur got five coworking spaces. A high number of coworking brands are also developing in other cities such as Indore, Rajkot, Udaipur, Bhubaneswar, etc. Even Kota, a tiny city in Rajasthan recognized for its blooming coaching classes industry has its own coworking space. A large number of bright young minds in these areas would have definitely played an important role in such a decision.

Facts about coworking spaces in India:

84% feel more engaged and motivated since joining their coworking community.
82% cited an increase in the size of their business network.
83% reported a sense of isolation decreasing.
14 Million people are expected to work out of coworking spaces across India by the end of 2020.
The coworking industry is expected to reach a valuation of $2.2 billion by 2022.
Tier 2 cities are expected to grow to 8.5 million seats by 2020.
Over 14 million people are expected to work out of coworking centers by 2021.

The potential market in India:

The coworking industry is still in its nascent stage in the country, with various players rising in this market. This is considered in the fact that over 90% of India’s 300 shared workplace operators began their first coworking space in 2019 (Source: Coworkyard). With 3–4 startups arising every day over the past few years in India, the country has become the third-largest startup hub in the world, with a total employee base of a million. The numbers are expected to reach more than double by the end of 2020. Since, India has a huge freelancer workforce (second in the world), in excess of 15 million professionals, and developing comparatively fast. These two factors together present a potential demand for more than 3.5–4 million seats.

Thus, the future of coworking in Tier 2 cities in India will shape up in the future based on the number of employment opportunities generated in those cities. To keep the younger workforce motivated in the work environment might be a crucial factor in the coming years. Many large companies, who either own office spaces or are still operating through conventional leased-out buildings are also approaching coworking space operators in order to accommodate the flexibility of location to provide a creative workplace to their employees.

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Nirmala Sitharaman Discloses Plan For Rs 102 Lakh Crore Infra Projects

Jan 3,2020 / By Prahalad Singh / No Comment

Rs 102 lakh crore investment in Infra Projects

Nirmala Sitharaman’s Press Conference Highlights:

Govt plans to invest about Rs 102 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector in the next 5-years to achieve a target of $5 trillion by 2024-25
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman states India will carry annual global investors meet in 2020
Irrigation and rural infrastructure projects would consider for Rs 7.7 lakh crore each
On industrial infrastructure, Rs 3.07 lakh crore would be disbursed
Agriculture and social infrastructure would consider for the remainder
Road projects will estimate for Rs 19.63 lakh crore
For railway projects, Rs 13.68 lakh crore would be spent

FM Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press conference on Tuesday that as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment at the 73rd Independence Day speech to make India a $5 trillion economy. The government had identified infrastructure projects pipeline worth more than Rs 105 lakh crore to be implemented for the next 5 years as part of the government’s ambition of turning India into a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. It will also serve as one of the important drivers of faster economic growth.

She further added that the projects have been classified under two broad categories i.e. economic infrastructure and social infrastructure for both ease of doing business and ease of living.

Infra projects identified are in the sector such as power, health, urban irrigation, railway, mobility, and education.

Under National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), the govt has also identified approximately Rs 25 lakh crore energy projects, another Rs 20 lakh crore in the road, almost Rs 14 lakh crore railway projects, Rs 2.5 lakh crore port and airport projects, Rs 3.2 lakh crore digital infra projects, Rs 16 lakh crore irrigation, rural, Agri and food processing projects, and over Rs 16 lakh crore infra projects including mobility projects.

The Finance Ministry had established a task force directed by Economic Affairs Secretary to plan a road map for the “national infrastructure pipeline” from 2019-20 to 2024-25 under Rs 100 lakh crore infra plan.

The government believes that with more and more States/UTs submitting their proposals so that another Rs 3 lakh crore worth projects are expected to be added in this pipeline by the states to make it the total to Rs 105 lakh crore.

The minister also said that the annual global investors’ event would be organized where Centre and States would get a chance to meet all the investors and to talk to them about infrastructure possibilities.

These projects are on the top of Rs 51 lakh crore spent by the center and the states during the last 6 years. Adding the new infra pipelines consists of 39% projects each by the center and states and the remaining 22% by the private sector.

National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) is a booklet prepared by a task force that gives details of infrastructure projects in which the energy sectors make up the lion’s share of 24% followed by roads 19%, urban irrigation & development 16%, and railways (13%). The shares of rural and social infrastructure projects, which include health, education, and drinking water, is 8% and 3% respectively.

The government hopes that the huge investment will help drive economic growth which decelerated to 4.5% in the 3rd quarter ended in September, the slowest pace in the last 6 years and the 6th consecutive quarterly decline in a row. The Finance Ministry has taken as much as 32 measures since August 2019 to boost the economy, including corporate tax cuts at a cost of Rs 1.45 lakh crore to the exchequer to attract investments, approved 3.31 lakh more houses under PMAY (U) and about Rs 5 lakh crore in disbursal of bank loans since October to encourage demand.

A Finance Ministry statement said that out of the total expected capital expenditure of Rs 102 lakh crore, projects worth Rs 42.7 lakh crore (42%) under implementation, projects worth Rs 32.7 lakh crore (32%) are in the conceptualization stage and rest are under development.

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Real Estate Transformation: Making Property Transactions more Transparent

Nov 13,2019 / By sunil deo / No Comment

Real Estate in India is going through a major transformation today and with quite obvious reasons. So, we should look into the broader picture in this perspective rather than concentrating on the figures of only a city or a state or just any region.

Let us accept this at the outset that things are very bright and promising for the end consumer, without whom the market does not exist, as at last a regulatory body has been placed on top of this sector to protect their rights. RERA has laid down rules which will also help even the developers in the long run.

The safeguard of the buyers was a major issue that was long delayed. This single step is going to boost the buying sentiment a big time in years to come and this implementation of RERA will sustain that boost for sure.

Such transparency in real estate transactions was very much required when we consider the amount and the buyer spends out of his whole life’s earning to purchase or invest in a property of his dream. This is a phase when the Real Estate fraternity has to stand together to get this RERA implemented smoothly across the country which will benefit them for generations to come.

Along with this, the obvious steps to recognize this mammoth of the industry as an Industry, at last, is going to help even further. This will help the industry people even more. With easy funding facilities to come in, this will attract more entrepreneurs for sure. And we know what can be the outcome if that actually happens consistently.

Truly a huge scope of development is awaiting a developing country like ours. And, most importantly, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna is actually a game-changer. A country which needs homes for the mass was delivering more for the class for decades. This country, which lives more without an owned shelter, was delivering more for the rest. The thought to do otherwise was obviously there. But such public support was surely needed. With this scheme dedicatedly focusing only on Affordable Housing with lots of benefits for the buyer and also the developers, a true boom has, at last, come to the Indian Real Estate. We really believe that this trend is going to continue even after this PMAY scheme is non-existent.

It is a really good time for both India and the Real Estate Industry to embrace each other and usher in an unprecedented era of sustained growth and development.

Insights on Indian Real Estate by:
Mr. Rajesh Somani
Director – Somani Realtors Pvt. Ltd.

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Category : Infrastructure development in India