Government asks realty firm to focus on building homes for lower income group/economically weaker section

NEW DELHI: Real estate developers should focus on addressing the housing demand of lower income group and economically weaker section, a senior government official said today.

Addressing a real estate conference here, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Joint Secretary Karan Bir Singh Sidhu said that there is shortage of about 2 crore houses in the country, of which maximum exists for the EWS/LIG section of society.

"Organised real estate must address the demand of LIG and EWS," he said at a conference organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

He asked the developers to move on from a low volume-high margin business to low margin-larger volume business.

Noting that supply is more in the middle income and luxury segment, Sidhu said the private sector also has an important role to play in providing homes to LIG/EWS section.

Speaking on the occasion, the apex realtors' body Credai Chairman Lalit Kumar Jain demanded online approval of realty projects to create housing supply and bring down prices.

He also mentioned that the sentiments have improved in the sector but ground realities have not changed. "It takes upto 2-3 years to take environmental and aviation clearance for developing real estate projects," Jain said.

Realty firm SARE Homes MD Vineet Relia stressed on the need for ease of doing business and ease of financing for the long-term growth of the real estate sector.

Industry is facing a huge slowdown in demand due to high interest rate regime and costlier homes resulting into severe liquidity crunch.