The MMR Action Committee of developers’ body CREDAI MCHI has filed an online petition to the Prime Minister pleading for steps to revive the real estate sector which can help rejuvenate 250 other industries and with a potential to provide five crore jobs directly and indirectly.
The petition called #ReviveRealEstateReviveEconomy has already generated over 25,000 online signatures from across the country.
It pointed out that the real estate industry contributes about 8 per cent to the GDP and hence needs an immediate attention. This is significant in view of the RBI forecast of a negative economic growth for the country.
The Rs 20 lakh-crore package announced by the government offers miniscule benefit to the crisis-ridden real estate industry, as compared to the massive impact to the industry, said the campaign, addressed to the Prime Minister.
The petition also called for the reduction of home loan interest to 5 per cent, passing of the RBI repo rate cut benefit to the end consumer, one-time restructuring of developers’ loans, extension of project completion timeline by RERA by a year, apart from GST reliefs.
“We request for an urgent intervention at the highest level in the government so that the industry is revived to rejuvenate the economy as a whole,” said Ajay Ashar, spokesperson of the MMR Action Committee of CREDAI MCHI.
“The lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in halting the entire economic activity. The pandemic has compounded the difficulties of the crisis-ridden real estate industry,” he said.
The online support to the campaign is swelling at the time of going to press.
Every rupee spent on construction results in an increase in the overall output of the economy by two rupees, while each one crore of revenue results in employment generation for 25 workers. Thus, the contribution of real estate is far more than any other sector, the petition said.
The revival of real estate will also kick-start many other industries such as cement, steel, electric, paint, plumbing and elevators and all these will help safeguard jobs.
The real estate industry always stood up and supported the government, leading from the front. Even in this crisis of COVID-19, real estate has contributed to PM Relief Fund, provided accommodation for doctors and paramedic and also provided space for creating temporary hospitals. During the lockdown, when labourers were not able to move from their site, all developers were taking care of those labourers by providing them food and shelter, the online petition said.
CREDAI MCHI asked for doubling the PMAY benefit and extending the plan to the entire country without any restrictions.
The petition sought extension of the GST Input Tax Credit for new projects as well, increasing the SWAHIM fund to Rs. One lakh crore, scrapping of the market-value basis for GST, speedy clearance of Indian Navy and aviation NOCs for want of which over 25,000 buyers are stuck.