The Indian industry, shorn of latest technology and respectability, has been traditionally backed by speculators and investors seeking to make a quick buck by creating an artificial shortage of housing stock in the country. And an entry of foreigners into the industry is a complete no-no.

Says Niranjan Hiranandani, managing director of Mumbai-based Hiranandani Constructions: ``There are many among us who do not want any role for foreigners in Indian housing industry and a few who want the industry to open up.''

Hiranandani is among the minority who see a role for foreign investors in order to get organised funds and technology into the industry. ``Liberalisation haspassed by the housing industry... we have to open up the industry so that shelter can be provided to all -- even to the poor.''

Though Hiranandani's own constructions in Mumbai has been a haven for the rich and super-rich, he says that in future, industry will grow only by scrapping the Urban Land Ceiling Act, so that more land can be made available for cheap construction.

Pune-based Kumar Gera, president of a newly-founded industry lobbyist organisation called Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai), says that developers will try to build a consensus on the issue. ``We are meeting for the first time on Tuesday... I am sure we will come out with a joint strategy on this.'' As of the norms of the Government of India, foreigners are not allowed to invest in the country's real estate industry, though the Centre is toying with the idea.

Credai's immediate wish-list, however, is: A reduction or revision in the ridiculously high stamp duty, abolition of the Urban Land CeilingAct, and to inculcate some accountability to the construction industry.

Giving the example of South East Asian nations where foreign investment in speculative housing industry led to crash of economies, Chairman of Bajaj Auto, Rahul Bajaj, who was in Mumbai to inaugurate the first national meet of Credai, said that foreigners should be avoided. ``Instead, the industry should refurbish its image as there was a general sense of unease among the customers about their being taken for a ride. Credai must develop a model agreement to protect the interests of both the parties,'' he said.

Gopal Raheja, Chairman of Credai and Chairman of K Raheja Construction says that the industry needs Government incentives, on the lines of Yashwant Sinha's 1999 Budget, to expand. ``The industry today needs massive investment to house all the poor... we expect the Government to pull us out of the present recession.'' Raheja says that he has decided to concentrate only in Mumbai after he went into unnecessary expansion in SouthIndia during the 1994-95 boom time.