The Real Estate sector and urban infrastructure drew investment intent of a whopping Rs 58,502 crore at Make-in-Odisha (MIO) Conclave 3.0. The investment intents worth Rs 58,502.55 crore were received from 22 potential investors who have signed MoUs with state government for future investments.

Boston-headquartered Taurus Investment Holdings and its partner Sage Capital plan to raise a Rs 500 crore domestic fund to invest in the real estate sector in India. The firms plan to focus on Tier 1 and high-growth Tier 2 cities in South and West India.

The online building permission system will be implemented across all cities by March next year, from about 2,500 cities currently, to facilitate ease of doing business in the real estate sector. The online system has been fully implemented in 19 states and Union Territories and will soon be operational across all 36 states and UTs.

India is the second largest cement producer in the world, and accounts for over 8% of the global installed capacity.

Budget 2018-19 focus on infrastructure and the Smart Cities initiative is a positive move for the real estate sector and Pune in specific. The Smart Cities Mission is an ambition to develop 100 cities across India that would also harness the Information Communication Technology (ICT) capabilities.

The primary issue concerning policy reforms like RERA & GST was the lack of clarity on how they would impact the country’s real estate sector and the buyers/investors thereof. This has had a profound bearing on the stakeholders, as property markets are largely sentiment-driven.

With implementation of RERA, REIT and GST last year, the real estate sector continues to be in the limelight this year. Now, the builders are looking forward to the upcoming budget, where they are expecting certain announcements to provide impetus to the sector.

Private equity has come to the rescue of the real estate sector in India. Till 2014, Bank funding was anywhere between 50 - 57 per cent. The bank credit has slumped in the last two years to 26 per cent.

I am looking forward to RERA as its going to have its benefits to both developers as well as the buyers. With RERA coming into force this sector is going to see a great deal of transparency and accountability which has been a dire need for this sector. Developers will get all necessary sanctions which will fasten the development process and avoid delays.