Digital Sales In Realty Set To Get Big Push From The Government

The Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday told a group of developers at a webinar that the government will look at issuing a digital signature protocol to facilitate digital sales of properties.

Renu Sud Karnad, managing director, HDFC, made the suggestion to Puri that the government should approve a protocol for digital signature for facilitating loan disbursal by banks and registration of property agreements. Karnad said the visual and technological aids were available now, which developers can use to give a 360-degree view of the properties to customers online, but lack of digital signature validity were hampering the further process regarding the sale of the property and bank loan process.

Puri said: “We have taken note,and we will find a solution.” MoHUA Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said, “We are already using Aadhar Card for digital authentication process and we could simply develop an Aadharbased protocol for this.”

Puri also indicated that the government may consider tweaking of investment norms for allowing more access to foreign funds to projects nearing completion stage. He also assured developers that he would personally intervene when developers informed him that steel and cement manufacturers were planning to hike their rates once the lockdown is lifted on May 3.

Niranjan Hiranandani, national president, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), which works under the aegis of MoHUA, pointed out though the central government and the Reserve Bank of India are coming out with several measures to provide relief to the industry,the same is not passed on by the banks.“I find it highly shocking that almost Rs 6.9 lakh crore was lying idle with banks under the reverse repo adjustments.

“This money could have been given to provide relief to several sectors. There is an urgent need for an intervention at the prime minister’s level to let that happen,” he said.

Over 2,500 developers participated in the webinar from across India and made different suggestions to the minister to rescue the real estate sector from the slump.

Neel Raheja of Raheja Group pointed out that India was the only country in the world where under construction projects had to pay GST as well as stamp duty whereas GST was waived off for ready-to-move-in homes. He said the overall costs for warehousing and IT parks had gone up due to 18 per cent GST being charged. Vikas Oberoi of Oberoi Realty suggested that a substantial stamp duty waiver would help boost demand, and could be passed on to the home buyers.

(Source: Bangalore Mirror)