Extend tax benefits to housing sector: NAREDCO council chief Rohtas Goel

NEW DELHI: Industry body National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) has sought reintroduction of tax benefits for the housing sector to boost demand.

Re-introduce "tax benefit under section 80-1B(10) in coming union budget 2015 to provide tax benefits for the housing sector up to basic selling price of Rs 60 lakh in the country to boost demand of housing sector and to realise the dream of Prime Minister for providing housing for all by 2022 in the country," said NAREDCO, Chairman - Advisory Council, Rohtas Goel.

The tax benefit should be extended to the part of the project with 1,000 sq ft residential units in metro cities with a cap of basic selling price of Rs 60 lakh and 1,500 sq ft built up area in non metro cities with a cap of basic selling price of Rs 60 lakh for easier flow of credit, said Goel, who is also Chairman of Omaxe Ltd.

In a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, he has requested for withdrawal of section 43CA of Income Tax Act, introduced in the Budget 2013. He has said that market rates should be the basis for calculating the dues instead of government fixed circle rates, saying circle rates are quite higher and are creating hardship for home buyers.

A balanced approach should be adopted in Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill by addressing the concerns of the developers, like accountability of development authorities, he said.

City Master Plan should only be notified if it has all statutory approvals like change in land use, environment clearance, mining, maximum height from AAI etc so that the developer is able to start the work in minimum possible time, he said.

Delays in providing supportive infrastructure and timely approvals by the development authority causes delay in delivery of project, but the Regulatory Bill proposes to penalise only the developer, he added.

In order to enhance the ease of doing business, he said, the Bill should also eradicate the grey areas and discretionary powers. Developing authorities with active support of NAREDCO or CREDAI can develop a software, wherein all the approvals including building plans can be filled and approved online by the software itself without requirement of manual intervention, he added.