Real estate regulator will give sector quality players: M Murali

Shriram Properties Managing Director M Murali, has said that the urban real estate in India comes from nine cities namely, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad in South, Kolkata in East, Mumbai and Pune in the west and Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon in the Northern part of India. These nine cities may be contributing close to about 60 per cent of Real estate development. 

He said, "The gap between the supply and demand is huge in affordable housing and it may take long years to meet the demand for the economically weaker housing." Speaking on the effect of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and GST to the real estate market in India he said, "RERA will bring down the number of players in the industry on one side and on the other side will have few good quality players. 

RERA will discipline the industry. But for the RERA and the industry to be successful, there needs to be some correction on the current RERA bill. He further said that GST will also help real estate growth in long term, but in short term the cost is likely to go up marginally. 

Murali further said, "Our Prime Minister’s vision of Housing for all by 2022 is a noble cause. Once this is achieved, this one mission alone can take our country to different heights." "This will bring lot of prosperity to our country, crime rate will come down by more than 50 per cent  productivity will go up by at least 30 per cent, and people would become more civilised. This must be done like an emergency for the prosperity of our nation at all levels," he said. "From Shriram, we are keen to play an important role in contributing to our Prime Minister's vision," he added.  

Speaking about the role of FDI in real estate, he said, "I would divide this into two parts. One is affordable housing and the other is housing for all." Stressing on the FDI Murali said that the most important thing for our country now is 'Housing for All'. 

Only this will uplift our society. "For us to make this Housing for All to come true, we need affordable long term capital. It can be through FDI or ECB or even long term bonds. We need to look at various options of making cheaper funds available for this sector," he added.