Anuj Puri, chairman & country head, JLLM:

All said and done, the government is already on the right track by considering the hiking of IT exemption available for interest payment on home loans to Rs 2.5 lakh a year. However, there are still a number of blanks to be filled. The budget should make high-priority provisions for the laying down of necessary infrastructure so that new areas can be opened up. The concept would be to create and link up satellite settlements to main cities that will help tackle the demand-supply mismatch.

The budget should provide clarity on the STPI guidelines whether they will remain or not, or whether they have changed. It should offer clarity on the introduction of a real estate regulator, since the fact that India is now a member of the global village makes higher levels for transparency imperative. This regulator may not necessarily decide on rates, but should put down firm principles in terms of property dealings and also quality parameters in terms of rating of constructions.

The budget should free the rental income yielded by commercial premises from service tax. It should extend the tax holiday under Section 80-IA (4) (iii) for developers who build, operate and maintain industrial parks so that the compromised IT industry gets a shot in the arm.

It should finally and decisively enable the entry of FDI into the real estate sector.

The budget should reintroduce tax exemption for developers who construct flats of smaller size with tax benefits, offer incentives to developers to concentrate more on affordable housing and rationalise stamp duty registration charges for land so that obtaining land for affordable housing becomes more feasible for developers.

... contd.