“Transparency, governance and social responsibility are the essentials elements to take Indian Real Estate Sector to the next level,” Arun Nanda, Deputy Chairman, CII Western Region and Executive Director Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd said. Nanda was speaking at the conference on “Turnaround in the Downturn- An insight into the current Real Estate Scenario” organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Mumbai yesterday. “Revival of Indian real sector lies in providing affordable housing by cross subsidization and conscious effort on part of the developers to inculcate corporate social obligation”, recommends Nanda. He also laid emphasis on development of satellite centers as a means to tackle the issue of growing urbanization and urged the need to ensure balanced urbanization.

“Real estate is the single biggest business in the country creating high employment. This business needs to be strongly encouraged for the economic growth of our country,” stressed Adi Godrej, Chairman Godrej Group. Viewing affordable housing as reaping good opportunities in the sector, he said that land cost, construction cost, steel cement prices and mortgage rates should remain at reasonable levels to have developers invest in low cost housing. “Affordable housing can add 1%-1.5% to India’s GDP. Also the need is to have well planned urbanization with clear policies and regulations.” Sharing his views on the real estate sector, Niranjan Hiranandani, Managing Director, Hiranandani Constructions emphasized that residential real estate is performing well in the western suburbs.

The developers have learnt lessons and the time is now ripe to reboot the Indian real estate sector. Talking about the plethora of regulations governing the Indian real estate sector, he called for new township policies and makeover in the regulatory system of the country. CII along with global property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj launched a timely white paper on ‘Capital Flows Outlook for India’s Real Estate Market’. Commenting on the paper, Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj stated, “We have strong reason to believe that the Indian real estate sector will go into recovery mode by the end of this year – far ahead of previously projected timelines.

This recovery will be fuelled by a confluence of different factors influencing the economy in general and the Indian real estate sector in particular. Global capital flows are looking for existing and futuristic growth indicators and patterns, and India has displayed both to a measurable degree. These factors, coupled with an already discernible return of positive sentiments in the real estate business, will result in enhanced interest by foreign real estate investors. This will first become evident during CY10–11 and protract sustainably over the medium-to-long-term.”