Issues of govt nod, liquidity, FDI need to be addressed

Vikas Oberoi: Chairman and managing director of Oberoi Realty Limited

Our expectations from the forthcoming Budget is to see a fair balance between economic growth, financial discipline and the availability of funds for the sector.

Though the year started with a renewed focus on infrastructure spending, with the government allocating sufficient expenditure in the 2011-12 Budget, many developers have had to shelve their new projects due to cash crunch.

The real estate sector is not only one of the key drivers of economic growth of a country but is also a measure of the same. As challenging conditions prevail, we expect that issues like government approvals, FDI and liquidity would be addressed.

We believe that the government is a partner in the growth story of the economy and we welcome the regulators.

Those would bring policy measures and level the playing field for all developers. We expect a regulator to ensure faster approvals and a single-window clearance mechanism for real estate projects.

In addition to these, we also expect the government to provide better clarity on the indirect taxes being levied on developers.

We expect development of a viable Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) market to provide the real estate industry with another source of additional liquidity.

It will also make it imperative to promote the rental required in large-scale capital investment. We, therefore, feel there is a need to make rental business attractive for investors.

We believe that the development of organised/multi-brand retail outlets is a very capital-intensive affair and companies with strong balance sheets would be able to take advantage of the situation.

We expect the government to bring in faster decision making and open FDI in multi-brand retail, so that the retail sector can see the growth it deserves.