Amol Prabhu, partner, Shashi Prabhu & Associates
“The budget was very well drafted with a focus on grassroots development within India. Government’s initiative to promote affordable housing for all with the basic infrastructure being benefited with an investment of 50 lakh crores in infrastructure sector, creation of 115 model aspirational districts, outlay of 2.04 crores for smart city and setting up of Architecture and Planning schools within the IIT & NIT. I am hoping that the creation of the affordable housing fund under the ‘National Housing Bank’ coupled with the earlier initiative of ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana’ scheme will boost the development of Tier II and III cities by creating housing for all.
“Government is taking the initiative to construct 2 crore toilets in next fiscal year under Swach Bharat Mission. The Bharatmala project to develop 35,000km of roads under phase 1 with an outlay of Rs 5.35 lakh crore will help connect Tier II & III cities to metropolitan cities. Green Initiative will also get a small boost with the exemption of custom duty on Import of solar tempered glass for manufacture of solar cells. Wish the budget had done more in this area.
“Government has also proposed to increase the number of airports from 124 to 620, and the UDAN scheme to connect 64 unconnected airports across the country will give a huge boost to development of smaller towns and cities with proposal to set up 1.5 lakh centers to provide health facilities closer to home and setting up of one medical college for every three parliamentary constituencies, with 24 new government medical colleges being envisioned in the coming year is a great initiative to provide healthcare facilities to every citizen.”
Aditya Yamsanwar, director, partner and strategist, Team ONE Architects
“We welcome the budget 2018 presented by Finance Minister Mr Jaitley, being the first presented after the RERA and GST which hit the real estate sector badly; there were expectations of support to this sector which was completely missed. Low cost housing and infrastructure received attention and would, hopefully, create jobs and better infra might help better commercial hubs. In the downturn of the residential market for the past two years, the commercial sector grew and kept the market buzz with some activity. The forward leasing deals kept hope alive on the same.”
Rajesh Mehra, director & promoter, Jaquar Group
“The Union Budget 2018 -19 further strengthens the government’s Swachh Bharat Mission as they continue to address the crucial issue of open defecation, especially in rural areas. The push towards affordable housing and smart cities will add to India’s growing demand for infrastructure requirements. Jaquar Group hopes to add to India’s growth story by providing affordable and high-quality sanitary ware products through our value brand Essco and making it readily available across metros and Tier 2 & 3 cities.”
Namit Bajoria, director, Kutchina
“Like every year, this Union Budget has also its positives and negatives. I welcome and appreciate the fact that there will be no TDS for senior citizens on FDs and post office deposits up to Rs.50, 000. What came as a surprise was the no change in the personal income tax. We were expecting the rise of the exemption limit.”
Namit Bajoria, director, Kutchina
“Like every year, this Union Budget has also its positives and negatives. I welcome and appreciate the fact that there will be no TDS for senior citizens on FDs and post office deposits up to Rs.50, 000. What came as a surprise was the no change in the personal income tax. We were expecting the rise of the exemption limit.”
Gyanesh Chaudhary, MD and CEO, Vikram Solar
“Budget 2018-19 is not very encouraging for the renewable and solar energy sector. The government has missed out on a major opportunity to take a lead towards combating climate change. The recently released Economic Survey highlights the impact of climate change in India especially to farmers. It mentions that rainfall extremities have increased in the past 10 years and climate change can potentially reduce farmer’s income by the range of 20-25%. Renewable Energy, especially solar can play a very crucial role to reduce the impact of climate change on our communities.
“Unfortunately, the budget has not taken steps to create an eco-system which would make combating climate change a possibility. The budget has very limited allocation to MNRE with a target to achieve 11 GW of installations in the next financial year. Allocation to SECI has also seen a reduction. A large chunk of the coal cess which was earlier transferred to National Clean Energy Fund now goes towards GST compensation fund. The budget does not talk about any alternative mechanism which would fund clean energy installations in India. In terms of energy security, currently we import 85-90% of our solar modules, which threatens our energy security. The current provision in the budget does not mention any support for the manufacturing industry, which has been highly discouraging for the sector. We hope that the government will take additional steps to increase installations of solar power plants by providing direct and indirect support.”
Mahendra Singhi, Group CEO, Dalmia Cement Bharat Limited
“It is a forward-looking budget and an affirmation on housing for all by 2022. Infrastructure being the key pillars of the budget, is something to look forward to in the long run. The extension of 3.17 lakh km of rural roads, 51 lakh new rural houses and 2 crore toilets to be built by 2019, will raise the demand of cement. This will augment the infrastructure segment, leading to employment generation and development of our economy.”
Mehernosh Pithawalla, vice president and global head – Marketing, Sales & Innovation, Godrej Security Solutions
“The Union Budget 2018 has given the much-needed importance to infrastructure, safety and comfort of passengers by announcing the highest ever capital expenditure plan in the history of railways. With the redevelopment of 600 major railway stations being taken up by Indian Railways Station Development, the ‘Safety First’ policy is definitely the cornerstone of railways towards safety of passengers. The decision to provide CCTVs at all stations and on trains to enhance security of passengers, is a commendable decision, as it is the need of the hour. The proposal to expand the airport capacity to more than five times of the present 124 airports that the Airport Authority of India has, to handle a billion trips under the new initiative – NABH Nirman, also will call for the need for increase the adoption of surveillance for the security of passengers. We welcome the proposed changes in customs duty, which will create more jobs in the country and incentivise domestic manufacturing and Make In India in the electronics sector.”
Mayur Shah, managing director, Marathon Group and President CREDAI MCHI
“The budget has focused on areas such as agriculture, rural sections and health care that are vital and have lacked attention in the previous budget.
“Announcements on building 1 crore houses to be built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in rural areas will surely promote housing in the rural areas. This includes 31 lakh homes to be built in 2018-19 in urban areas. Also, establishing a dedicated affordable housing fund under National Housing Bank for priority sector lending will help developers in financing projects. Government assuming ownership of National Housing Bank from RBI would translate into focus of National Housing Bank shifting from regulation to development.
“The government has shown special focus on developing connectivity in Mumbai by strengthening and expanding the rail network. Creating smart cities will further boost the spirit of development in the country. “Corporate tax reduction for MSME will be good news for developers and 10% tax charged on capital gain, may bring more investments to real estate, as it’s a level playing field with equity market . “The Government has also addressed the anomaly under section 43 to tax real estate transactions at their real value rather than the value arrived at by applying the artificially higher circle rate. “However, we were expecting some more from the honorable Finance Minister. Post demonetization and GST, the sector has been limping back. In such circumstances, an announcement on providing industry sector to real estate would have made things easy. Also, there was no announcement on GST, very high rate coupled with state’s Stamp duty, around 20 % transaction cost is the biggest dampener for real estate and housing. “The industry was expecting some measures for home buyers on higher interest exemptions on home loans.”
Rajesh Mhatre- CEO- Real Estate, Vascon Engineers Limited
“The budget 2018 has completely focused on areas that have not gained much attention in the past. We welcome this measure by the honorable Finance Minister, which we are sure is a move towards overall economic development. However, as real estate is the backbone of the economy, we are slightly upset that there has not been much announcement for the housing sector – except for the affordable housing segment.“We are happy that announcements on building 1 crore houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in rural areas and establishing a dedicated affordable housing fund under National Housing Bank for priority sector are some bright points. However, these are not enough to soothe the negative impact of demonetization and GST that the sector has borne in the past year. The economy was looking for some deduction in the corporate tax, but there has been disappointment here too. Capital gains tax of 10% may bring some investments to the real estate sector. “The sector has been facing some hard times. With the government’s focus on affordable housing in the past, we were expecting some announcements on relaxation in the interest rates or reduction in GST or providing an industry status for the real estate sector. However, nothing much has been done this time.”
T Chitty Babu, chairman and CEO, Akshaya Pvt Ltd 
“The much-awaited Union Budget is out today with many new announcements across sectors and, as expected, there is a huge boost to infrastructure with a slew of announcements related to the capacity addition to roadways, railways and airways network. The great boost to infrastructure investment will pave the way for real estate developments in a big way. Secondly, the huge focus and funding towards the SME sector will enable employment generation, helping boost the economy and addressing the needs of the youth. When it comes to the real estate sector, the push given by the Government towards affordable housing is really appreciable and will help in realising the dream of ‘Housing for all 2022’.
“The existing Government initiatives like land reforms, REITS, FDI in real estate, RERA, GST, Smart Cities, Housing for all 2022, infrastructure status given to affordable housing, subsidies for buyers and tax benefits for developers will prove to be beneficial if the Government is also able to implement most of it through single window approvals, in the coming years. We are hopeful that this will create many jobs and accelerate the growth of the infrastructure and real estate industry and also contribute to the ‘Make in India’ effort of the Government.”
Parth Mehta, managing director – Paradigm Realty
“The budget was completely skewed towards agriculture, health and education. Real estate was a no-show on the budget, as none of the expectations of concessional GST for housing sector overall, stamp duty regularisation to 3 % overall, or change in capital gain tax window on REIT, change in income tax slabs got covered.
“The salaried group significantly contribute to the industry. The standard deduction will be a breather to the potential buyers, and will endow them with higher purchasing power when it comes to real estate investment. Conventions pertaining to digitalized transactions will also provide transparency in the ambit of Indian Real Estate. This will facilitate fair play for organised players and will curb the fraudulent practices at the same time. However, the goal of housing for all by 2022 is quite on track as the government is planning to build one crore houses under PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) and will also setting up a dedicated housing fund under the NHB for priority sector lending. The demand will also escalate, as the home buyers will be provided with the ease of credit for aspirational or affordable homes. The mission of building smart cities is another step in the right direction and will effectively influence the demand for housing in times to come.”
Shrinivas Rao, CEO-APAC, Vestian
“The real estate sector held significant expectations from the Union Budget 2018, hoping for alleviating measures post a testing period of reforms. The budget primarily focused on strengthening agricultural and rural economy, while laying vast emphasis on rural housing. The PMAY scheme launched in 2015 aimed at developing 51 lakh houses during 2017-18 as well as in 2018-19, implying the construction of more than one crore houses exclusively in rural areas. In urban areas, the assistance has been sanctioned to construct 37 lakh houses. This bodes well for the housing sector, and the vision of ‘housing for all’ may just turn to reality in the forthcoming future.”
Pakshal Sanghvi, director, Sanghvi Realty
“The budget was contrary to people’s expectations of being a populist budget, as this is the last budget by the Modi Government before the elections in 2019. However, I personally feel that it is a good budget that has taken agriculture and rural areas into focus for economic development of the country. Real Estate as a sector was left out.
“However, this budget also took one step towards granting real estate sector an industry status by setting up an Affordable Housing Fund. This effort will help realise the ‘Housing For All by 2022’ vision of our Honorable Prime Minister and, slowly but surely, grant the real estate sector an industry status.
“The Finance Minister also mentioned about reducing the hardships faced in realty deals and addressed the anomaly under Section 43 CA to tax real estate transactions at their real value rather than the value arrived at by applying artificially higher circle rates. As per new announcement, if the circle rate does not exceed 5% of transaction value, no adjustment is required towards the capital gains on a real estate transaction. It will help in terms of some extra savings if there is parity between the market rates and the ready-reckoner rates. The 5% differential allowed from the ready reckoner rates will benefit the buyers at large. I feel that this is the right time for buyers who want to buy properties like these.”
Amar Kaul, chairman and managing director, Ingersoll Rand (India) Limited
“The Union Budget 2018 is a comprehensive budget covering a wide base of innovation and sustainability. The budget proposals to increase spends in Rural Areas, Agriculture, Infrastructure and major thrust on Social Sectors like Health and Education should provide a growth impetus to the Indian economy and demand generation. Major emphasis on Skill Development, Housing for all, Railway Infrastructure, Smart cities, Food processing sector, Agricultural market, Science and Technology and Textile is a welcome move that will boost the Capital Goods segment. It will be interesting to see how the financial mechanism works.”
