Budget Expectations – Hopes in the real estate sector

Budget Expectation: Mr. Milind Gowardhan, MD and CEO at Leaf Fintech

“We expect the government to keep focusing on the affordable housing segment as we saw demand for housing bounce back strongly after the first and second waves, driven mainly by historically low-interest rates on home loans. The cap of Rs 2 lakh per annum against interest rate deduction under section 24(b) of the Act needs to be hiked to at least Rs 5 lakh along with removing the Rs 45 lakh cap from affordable housing, which will boost the affordable and mid-segment housing in a big way.

Also, we expect the government to continue promoting the affordable rental housing schemes by announcing tax reliefs for rental housing projects, which will fast track the pace of investments in these schemes. The existing tax exemption on housing loans should be raised. The personal income tax could be made easier in terms of heads and filing in the budget.”

Budget Expectation: Mr. Jai Kishan Challa, CEO, and Founder of Curated Living

“The upcoming budget brings high hopes for the realty sector as well as rebates in taxes. We expect the budget will have a renewed focus on rental housing so that the current financial system can be strengthened to provide liquidity to the already stuck real estate projects.

The government is expected to continue the promotion of affordable rental housing schemes followed by tax exemptions to notify rental housing products. It will further enhance the pace of investments in this scheme in order to achieve the ‘Housing for all’ mission.“