National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) with APREA have organised two day Summit on Real Estate Infrastructure and Investment in Mumbai. The major focus was to highlight that infrastructure, housing and real estate are the engine of economic growth of the country because of their huge backward and forward linkages with other sectors of economy.

Rajeev Talwar, Chairman, NAREDCO and CEO, DLF Ltd., emphasised and said, “RBI should expand the scope of 'priority lending’, to cover lending to developers involved in low-cost and affordable housing, as cheap funding is critical for developing low cost housing projects. Availability of land for development is the need of the hour for creating affordable housing and improving infrastructure.”

The two day summit that included panel discussions, debates and presentations on various topics such as, India’s infra and real estate sector – enabling policy framework for integrated development; Growth drivers for attracting investments, on track for affordable housing and Housing for all; Where is the capital headed - India vis-à-vis other emerging markets – global institutional investors moving towards alternatives; New hotspots: Social infra, logistics and warehousing, renewable energy; Growth in AIF Funds – impact of new regulations and innovation in structures; Opportunities for AIF funds v/s FDI Fund v/s Portfolio management services.

Parveen Jain, President NAREDCO and CMD, Tulip Infratech, said, “For every rupee invested in construction, 78 paisa is ploughed back to the GDP and a unit increase in final expenditure generates additional income five times. Looking at India’s potential, construction sector is capable of contributing 15 percent of the GDP by 2030 and employ 75 million work force. The size of Indian construction market is expected to be 1 trillion US dollars – 3rd largest globally”.

Speaking as the chief guest, Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director, National Banking Group, State Bank of India said, “Real estate like any other industry has also experienced ups and downs.” Calling for business based on sound principles, he called for time-bound completion of housing projects to check spiralling costs. There is not enough supply of land which is not in sync with demand. The cost of land, transaction fees are all contributing to high cost of property. In India, construction time is very long when compared to the west, due to which finance cost goes up. (EOIC)