New Delhi : Realty developers’ apex body CREDAI expressed the disappointment over the Finance Minister missing out on affordable and rental housing and banking reforms.

CREDAI, however, praised Union Finance Minister Mr. P Chidambaram for accepting the suggestion for home loan interest incentives for sub-Rs 25 lakh buyers, “but, honestly we were expecting a lot more,” said Mr Lalit Kumar Jain, National President CREDAI & CMD  Kumar Urban Development Ltd (KUL).

Mr Jain noted with happiness that the first time home loan borrowers of properties of sub-Rs25 lakhs will be allowed an additional deduction of Rs one lakh. He also welcomed the interest deduction of an additional Rs one lakh for home loan borrowers, taking the allowance to Rs 2.5 lakhs, for all self-owned properties.

CREDAI – Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India – with over 10,000 members across 20 cities has been campaigning for easing the restrictions on funding the sector to fulfill the housing needs of the millions of homeless.

However, the developer community is thoroughly disappointed that the Finance Minister has not given any directions to the RBI on the imperative to support real estate funding.

“We have been suggesting to the government for long to help revive the real estate sector to rejuvenate the economy,” said Mr Jain and expressed the disappointment that that Finance Minister did not address the sector adequately.

CREDAI has been demanding the infrastructure status for real estate which Union Housing Minister Ajay Maken has supported. But the Union Budget did not make any mention of this, Mr Jain said.

CREDAI had called for tax exemptions for incomes on affordable housing with tenements of less than 60 mtr carpet area and incentives for rental housing, but the budget failed to address these key issues, Mr Jain said.

“We have suggested a 20% reduction in FDI limit in real estate from the current 50,000 sq mtr and 25 acres that could help generate funds, but we are unhappy that the Finance Minister ignored this aspect,” Mr Jain said and remarked that the sector would continue to face cash crunch.

CREDAI said the nation urgently needs to scale up the delivery of housing which can be achieved with the help of imported technology. “We have been asking for tax reliefs for importing the technology,” Mr Jain said.

CREDAI criticized the government for not withdrawing TDS on immovable property transactions.

The Finance Minister seems to have gone for revenue generation through the high tax route and not by the growth-oriented economy which is highly disappointing, Mr. Jain added.