•Rishi Raj: Tomorrow, if you are made the Urban Development Minister, what would be the five major things you’d do to spur growth in real estate?

First, I would ensure that the subject of Urban Development is introduced as a subject in schools and colleges. Second, I would revamp the entire town planning set up. What was made in the 50s and 60s based on a British system is not relevant today. Town planning has to create surpluses. Third, I would revamp urban infrastructure and involve the private sector in a big way. Finally, I would change the concept as it now exists of the development authorities: government authorities must be enablers for the private sector.

•Praveen Singh: Since the global meltdown, what has gone wrong? Has new demand dried up or are old bookings getting cancelled?

India’s economy is not that dependent on the global situation though it is interlinked with foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and there’s an impact on exports. Other than that, a substantial part of the economy is reasonably well-insulated from the major turmoil. Therefore, we cannot say that the slowdown here can be entirely attributed to the global turmoil. What is prevalent is a lack of confidence. The interest rates have gone up to 14-15 per cent and it’s only very recently that they’ve come down. How can people own homes with this prevailing rate of interest? There was a time under Vajpayee when if you included the income tax incentive, the rate would come to 7 per cent. Whether you look at cars or homes, people aren’t buying because they think prices will come down further. New purchases aren’t happening because of high interest rates. We need to bring in fresh ideas to determine monetary policy, something the Reserve Bank of India has not been able to provide so far. Their tight monetary policy has been too shortsighted. The question of how the economy would cope during a downturn was never contemplated. All the job losses, all the repercussions are a result of this shortsightedness. 

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