Budget 2014: Give real estate an industry status, says Mehul Thakur of Viva Homes

NEW DELHI: With Budget 2014 a week away, Mehul Thakur , Director of a real estate firm Viva Homes, expects Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government to boost the growth of real estate sector by focusing on infrastructural development.

"Infrastructural development has been at the forefront of the new government's agenda on account of its potential to propel economic growth significantly. We have already seen the positive impact of infrastructure development on the real estate markets," said Thakur.

"We have great expectations from this budget, starting with support to incentivize affordable housing and permit higher tax exemption limits on interest and principal repayments for home buyers," he added.

Making a suggestion, Thakur requests the government to ensure separate industry status for real estate which, according to him, will help boost domestic bank lending, Foreign Direct Investment and External Commercial Borrowing.

"Since the deduction of Rs 1, 50,000 for interest paid on home loan was introduced in 2010, the property rates have skyrocketed and multiplied four or five times. We request the government to enhance the limit of interest payment of loan to at least Rs 5 Lakhs per annum. This will give impetus to the housing industry, thus boosting the economy in the long run," Thakur suggested.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is all set to unveil Budget 2014 on July 10.