The realty sector is just emerging from a painful slowdown, and is looking for any signs of light at the end of the tunnel. This fact makes <keyword id="6360189" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Union-Budget">Union Budget</keyword> 2016 all the more crucial for the sector. Financial protection from project delays to introduction of <keyword id="44528" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="FDI">FDI</keyword> to the <keyword id="6354679" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="GST">GST</keyword> Bill, this budget expects these and many more. <br /><br />

	One of the major hurdles that are holding back the growth of the sector is delay in construction which increases the costs too. On purchase into an under-construction property, buyers can only claim tax benefits of Rs. 2 lakh after possession if construction is completed within three years. The benefits reduce to Rs. 30,000 if the builder delays construction beyond this. In this mess they end up paying higher interest. First-time home buyers purchasing properties for self-use additionally pay rent.
<br /><br /> “Instead of allowing home buyers tax benefits post-possession, the Union Budget should make a provision that allows these from the time they start paying interest on housing loans. This will ease their monetary burden considerably and increase the velocity of <keyword id="6354730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Home-loan">home loan</keyword> disbursements. Similarly, if an under-construction property is purchased from capital gains, its construction must be completed within three years of its sale to avail exemption. There can be delays by developer in such cases too. These deductions should be brought at par and the construction timeline should be extended from the current three years to five years,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman &amp; Country Head, JLL India in his blog. <br /><br />

	Tax deduction limits is another major issue which needs to be addressed before it’s too late. The government should increase the tax deduction limit for housing loans, especially for buyers in metropolitan cities. The current limit of Rs 2 lakh is insignificant given the ticket sizes in cities like Mumbai, where most houses are priced at Rs 1 crore and above. 
<br /><br /> “Also, tax concessions on house <keyword id="35450" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="insurance">insurance</keyword> premiums could be introduced to encourage end users to insure their homes. Similarly, the tax exemption limit should be increased by about Rs 1 lakh and be auto-set to match inflationary trends in a financial year,” added Puri. <br /><br /> Green is the solution for a sustainable future. But unfortunately most home buyers in India are averse to paying an extra premium for such projects. The Budget should increase the demand too by providing clear and convincing benefits to buyers of green <keyword id="6354553" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="real-estate">real estate</keyword> in the country. <br /><br />

	“Although the previous Budget prioritised affordable housing, the upcoming Budget should allocate an amount specifically for building infrastructure and improving connectivity in the peripheral areas of cities, especially the metros. Without this, it will be difficult to provide affordable housing in the cities. Developers entering this segment should be allowed cheaper financing options, thereby also providing a shot in the arm for government’s ‘Housing for All by 2022’ target,” he stated. 
<br /><br /> The next big thing in this year’s budget would be the GST Bill. The <keyword id="6355261" type="POSITION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Finance-minister">Finance Minister</keyword> should announce a specific date for the implementation of GST. <br /><br /> “This major reform will give the industry a very clear <keyword id="6383566" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Taxation">taxation</keyword> structure and induce a major change for the logistics architecture, since logistics will be driven by cost and not by a regulatory regime,” Puri said.<br />
	<br />
	Transparency and single window clearance is the call of the moment.
<br /><br />

	“We are pinning a lot of hopes on the upcoming budget. Getting infrastructure has been long pending demand of real estate sector and this time too we expect the sector to be given infrastructure status so that developers can avail finances at cheaper rates from financial institutions. Also, we are eagerly waiting for single window clearance system so that approvals are given in a pre-defined timelines, furthermore bringing transparency in the overall working system,” said Manoj Gaur, President, CREDAI NCR and MD, Gaursons India told to The Property Times.
<br /><br />

	Also, one should not forget the much awaited Real Estate Regulatory Bill. Maybe this budget season will see the light of it.

	<br />
	(Image credits: indiatimes)

Here’s why Budget 2016 is crucial for the real estate sector

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Apple has failed to crack the Indian smartphone market, languishing behind Chinese brands with less than a 2% share of the market.</strong></li><li><strong>During a family visit to India, I noticed Apple doesn't have much retail or advertising presence and that it mostly advertises the "cheaper" iPhone XR.</strong></li><li><strong>The iPhone XR is still too expensive for most Indians, and iPhones overall cost more to buy in India than in other countries.</strong></li><li><strong>CEO Tim Cook seems to be trying to replicate Apple's Chinese strategy in India, which has a completely different economic landscape.</strong></li><li><strong>Apple seems unwilling to offer a range of phones at different prices to appeal to a wider audience, and it's lost the world's second-biggest market as a result.</strong></li></ul><p>Apple is going very wrong in India.</p><p>In the UK, the iPhone has <a href="https://deviceatlas.com/blog/android-v-ios-market-share#uk">around 50% market share</a> and Apple is a household name in the West. Not so in India, where Apple has <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/29/why-apple-sells-just-2-point-5-percent-of-indias-smartphones.html">a market share of less than 3%</a>, beaten out by Chinese brands few in the UK have heard of.</p><p>This won't be surprising to anyone with a basic grasp of numbers. India has a huge population, much of which is quite poor. Apple, meanwhile, has kicked off the trend of the $1,000 smartphone, a sum of money that would be life-changing for some of India's most deprived.</p><p>Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, said in a 2017 earnings call that India would see the same growth as its China business - this was before Apple blamed China for its poor financial performance.</p><p>He said: "I see a lot of similarities to where China was several years ago. And so I'm very, very bullish and very, very optimistic about India."</p><p>A recent family trip to India highlighted how far Apple is from solving its problems in India, and a closer study of the numbers suggests the comparison with China is naive at best.</p><h2>India has been less successful at reducing poverty than China</h2><p>To understand Apple's plight in India, it's important to know how the fortunes of China's citizens have altered, compared to India.</p><p>The graph below is from a Credit Suisse report about wealth, and shows how wealth is distributed across different regions in the world.</p><p>In plain English, anyone with net assets of $4,210 is considered to be in the wealthier half of the world's citizens.</p><p>Look at the dark green coloured area for China. The big bulge shows that most people living in China fall somewhere in that wealthier half, an astonishing achievement for a country that was experiencing widespread famine in the 1960s.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Now look at the light green coloured area for India, and where it bulges. A big chunk of its population falls into the poorer half of the world's citizens - and they're <em>really</em> poor.</p><p>You can see that China has many more middlingly wealthy people than India does, where there is a fraction of super-wealthy people and a big, big majority of extremely poor people.</p><p>In other words, India isn't really like China. A massive shift might happen, but it's not there yet.</p><h2>Apple hasn't made pricing decisions that account for this sharp income disparity</h2><p>Here is another graph, which compares gross national income per capita between the US, UK, and India. It's a useful shorthand for people's monthly income.</p><p>You can see that Indians, on average, have much less to spend on fripperies like the iPhone than people who live in the UK or the US. The iPhone, then, is reserved for the minority of people with much more disposable income.</p><p>When I visited Pune, India's fastest-growing city and a bustling metropolis thanks to its proximity to Mumbai, I saw iPhone ads everywhere.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>That makes sense - India's elite will be located in or near cities like Mumbai and Delhi. What made less sense were that they were all for the iPhone XR, Apple's so-called "budget phone."</p><p>But who would be buying the XR?</p><p>This is where it feels like Apple hasn't given any thought to India's income inequality.</p><p>The wealthy in India are, for the most part, ultra-wealthy.</p><p>Those that choose to buy an iPhone will be able to afford the most expensive model, the iPhone XS or XS Max. The XS in India starts at 99,000 Indian rupees ($1,388). As you may have noticed, it's more expensive to buy an iPhone in India than in the US, where the XS starts at $1,099.</p><p>This isn't totally Apple's fault. India slaps import duties on mobile phones manufactured abroad, such as the iPhone. Apple has pushed its prices up to cover that additional tax. The situation may change in 2019, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-india-exclusive/exclusive-foxconn-to-begin-assembling-top-end-apple-iphones-in-india-in-2019-source-idUSKCN1OQ0M6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with Apple rumoured to be moving some high-end iPhone production to India.</a></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>But if you're buying an iPhone in India, you're really leaning into the idea that it's a status symbol. The one person I met who owned an iPhone in India was a wealthy man who runs his own business, lives in a large apartment, and drives a 4x4, probably putting him in the top percentile of that Credit Suisse graph.&#xa0;</p><p>Meanwhile, the cheaper iPhone XR starts at 76,900 Indian rupees ($1,078). You would save around 20,000 rupees ($280) by picking an XR over an XS but for a status-conscious person, this is a negligible amount.&#xa0;It also isn't a significant enough discount for a consumer who isn't all that rich.</p><p>When I visited Kolkata, a less wealthy city than Pune, I was told the most popular phone was the Xiaomi Mi5, a well-reviewed smartphone that costs about a third of the price of an iPhone.</p><h2>There's no Apple store in India, a major disadvantage</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>There are no Apple stores in India, <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/apple-india-service-repair-complaints">as outlined this week by BuzzFeed's Pranav Dixit</a>, which is less Apple's fault and more a quirk of Indian policy. But no Apple Store, as Dixit found, means its tougher for the few iPhone owners out there to get their devices repaired.</p><p>And Apple's physical stores are tourist attractions in their own right. Angela Ahrendts, Apple's ex-head of retail, once said <a href="https://www.cultofmac.com/449776/angela-ahrendts-wants-apple-stores-town-squares-communities/">she wanted the stores to be "town squares."</a> Not having a dedicated mecca to its products costs Apple brand awareness, especially to the average punter. In 2016, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-brand-awareness-in-india-under-50-2016-4?r=US&amp;IR=T">Indian brand awareness for the iPhone was below 50%</a>.&#xa0;</p><p>Asian brands had the advantage, with shops strategically placed in luxury malls as well as strong third-party partnerships to push devices to both wealthy and less wealthy shoppers.</p><p>Wealthy Indian consumers don't tend to wander around high streets like Westerners, and instead drive to cool, shiny malls, away from the hoi polloi. When I visited Pune's Phoenix Mall, I noticed OnePlus had a large, spacious and suspiciously Apple-like shop.</p><p>There were also dedicated outlets for Samsung and Xiaomi, India's two most popular smartphone makers by market share.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><h2>Apple won't win unless it can solve the pricing dilemma</h2><p>The Wall Street Journal, in its deep dive on where Apple went wrong in India, wrote in December 2018:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;">"At the heart of the issue is Apple's reluctance to change its traditional business model for selling the iPhone. Rather than make a range of handsets, it has prioritized a limited number of coveted products, sold at high prices..."</p><p>That strategy has worked well in the West, but doesn't make sense in markets where tastes and budgets differ massively.&#xa0;</p><p>Apple is reportedly thinking of opening stores for the first time in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, <a href="https://www.bloombergquint.com/businessweek/apple-is-losing-india-to-android-rivals-here-s-its-comeback-plan#gs.07Uhir3z">according to Bloomberg</a>. But with Chinese brands so far ahead, it might be too late.</p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hq2-canceled-plans-new-york-city-headquarters-2019-2">Why Amazon canceled HQ2 in New York City and what it means for everyone involved</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A short trip to India showed me just how badly Apple is screwing up in the world's biggest democracy

<br /> India’s overall <keyword id="148704" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="property-market">property market</keyword> continues to be depressed with builders sitting on piles of losses and buyers waiting in the hope that home loan rates would drop. There are a handful of green patches in the sea of red. Hyderabad is among the emerging markets, thanks to the investments it has been promised, followed by Chennai, Bangalore and the perpetual rush in Mumbai.<br />
<br /> However, that hasn’t stunted the rapid growth of <keyword id="2941153" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="online-property">online property</keyword> services. More than the numbers, it’s the optimism about changing consumer trends that’s fuelling dreams for these sites.<br />
<br />
“Online is currently a small component of the real estate business. We have a long way to go in understanding consumer needs, building confidence and engaging with a larger mass of builders to provide users greater choice, convenience and transparency”, Muralikrishnan B, COO, IndiaProperty.com agrees.<br />
<br />
India’s online property market however has boomed with several players like Magicbricks, 99acres, Housing and so on. While investors and entrepreneurs are expecting big returns, won’t the Indian buyer rather play it safe than buy property worth lakhs online, considering that may serve as serious investment or his home? The risk factor is obviously bigger than a smartphone or laptop.<br />
<br />
“Property buying has evolved into a hybrid online-offline process. It’s incorrect to assume consumer behaviors would change overnight. However, there would always be room for advisory services that would liberate the power of the internet and mobile to act as valuable research tools and would be free from potential vested interests of brokers”, Muralikrishnan observes.<br />
<br />
In its latest report ‘India goes Mobile’, India property claims it saw a 10-40% increase in mobile users searching for property between January 2014 and May this year with a hefty 69% of mobile users and 61% of desktop users between 18-34 of age.<br />
<br />
“A majority of these people belong to the upwardly mobile urban professionals who are in their first/second jobs. They have good disposable income and understand the importance of investment and tax saving. While every segment is under-tapped and has a long way to go towards maturity, the bulk still lies in affordable housing”, Muralikrishnan agreees.<br />

Where is
India buying its property?

The Cabinet on Wednesday cleared <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">Prime Minister</keyword> <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword>'s favoured 100 smart cities project in a bid to recast the urban landscape of the country to make them more livable and inclusive besides driving economic growth. <br />
<br /> It also cleared the <keyword id="2829341" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Atal-Mission-for-Rejuvenation">Atal Mission for Rejuvenation</keyword> and <keyword id="2130852" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Urban-transformation">Urban Transformation</keyword> (AMRUT) for 500 cities. The Cabinet chaired by Modi approved central government spending of about rupees one lakh crore on urban development under two new urban missions over the next five years. While the <keyword id="2738020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Smart-Cities-Mission">Smart Cities Mission</keyword> will get an outlay of Rs 48,000 crore, the AMRUT mission will received Rs 50,000 crore over the next five years. In comparison, the central outlay for nine years of the <keyword id="2829342" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="JNNURM-mission">JNNURM mission</keyword> was Rs 42,900 crore. <br />
PM Modi had announced his vision to set up 100 smart cities across the country soon after his government was sworn into power mid last year. Since then a race has been on among cities to land on the smart cities list that the ministry of urban development is compiling. <br />
Pratap Padode, Founder Director, Smart Cities Council India, said the move will give a much needed thrust to the urban renewal JNNURM programme that went cold under the previous government. "Efficiency and sustainability will be of major focus in the establishment of smart cities. Accountability will be the most important factor in fund disbursal to the states and it will based on the time bound completion of projects," he said. <br />
<br />
Under the Smart Cities Mission, each selected city would get central assistance of Rs 100 crore per year for five years. Each Smart City aspirant will be selected through a 'City Challenge Competition' intended to link financing with the ability of the cities to perform to achieve the mission objectives. "Each state will shortlist a certain number of smart city aspirants as per the norms to be indicated and they will prepare smart city proposals for further evaluation for extending central support," said a statement from the ministry of urban development. <br />
The 100 smart cities mission intends to promote adoption of smart solutions for efficient use of available assets, resources and infrastructure with the objective of enhancing the quality of urban life and providing a clean and sustainable environment, it said. <br />
<br />
Under this mission, special emphasis will be given to participation of citizens in prioritizing and planning urban interventions. This will be implemented through an 'area based' approach consisting of retrofitting, redevelopment, pan-city initiatives and development of new cities. <br />
Under retrofitting, deficiencies in an identified area will be addressed through necessary interventions, as was done in the case of downtown Ahmedabad. <br />
<br />
Redevelopment enables reconstruction of already built-up area that is not amenable for any interventions to make it smart as in the case of Bhendi Bazar in Mumbai and West Kidwai Nagar in New Delhi. Larger city-wide components could be interventions like Intelligent Transport Solutions that benefit all residents by reducing commuting time. <br />
Explaining the features of the smart cities initiative, the statement said that the focus will be on core infrastructure services like adequate and clean water supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, affordable housing for poor, power supply, robust IT connectivity, governance, especially e-governance and citizen participation, safety and security of citizens, health and education and sustainable urban environment. <br /> "The <keyword id="6355512" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Union-Cabinet">Union Cabinet</keyword> decision is a step in the right direction. The infrastructural spend that will happen by way of developing smart cities will give much required impetus to the realty sector and the residential redevelopment that will happen will also support allied industries like cement and steel," said Ganesh Vasudeva, CEO, IndiaProperty.com. <br />
<br />
<br />
The two missions approved by the Cabinet today are interlinked in many ways. <br />
 <br />
AMRUT adopts a project approach to ensure basic infrastructure services relating to water supply, sewerage, storm water drains, transport and development of green spaces and parks with special provision for meeting the needs of children. Implementation of this mission will be linked to promotion of urban reforms such as e-governance, constitution of professional municipal cadre, devolving funds and functions to urban local bodies, review of building bye-laws, improvement in assessment and collection of municipal taxes, credit rating of urban local bodies, energy and water audit and citizen-centric urban planning in cities other than the 100 smart cities. <br />
<br />
Under this mission, 10% of the budget allocation will be given to states/union territories as incentive based on achievement of reforms during the previous year.<br />
This mission will be implemented in 500 cities and towns each with a population of one lakh and above, some cities situated on stems of main rivers, a few capital cities and important cities located in hilly areas, islands and tourist areas. <br />
<br />
Under this mission, states get the flexibility of designing schemes based on the needs of identified cities and in their execution and monitoring. States will only submit State Annual Action Plans to the centre for broad concurrence based on which funds will be released but in a significant departure from JNNURM, the central government will not appraise individual projects. <br />
Central assistance will be to the extent of 50% of project cost for cities and towns with a population of up to 10 lakhs and one-third of the project cost for those with a population of above 10 lakhs. Central assistance will be released in three instalments in the ratio of 20:40:40 based on achievement of milestones indicated in State Annual Action Plans. <br />
<br />
The thinking behind AMRUT is to lay a foundation to enable cities and towns to eventually grow into smart cities. <br /> The Cabinet has also approved central <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="80" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> under AMRUT to the projects sanctioned under JNNURM but not completed. JNNURM projects relating to urban development sanctioned during 2005-2012 which achieved physical progress of 50% after availing 50% of central assistance released and those sanctioned during 2012-2014 will be supported till March, 2017. Accordingly, 102 and 296 projects respectively will get central support for balance funding to complete these projects. <br /> While the government will put in Rs 1 lakh crore under the two missions, states and urban local bodies would mobilise matching resources for development of urban areas over the next five years, taking the total flow of investment close to Rs 2 lakh crore. In addition, substantial private <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> would be mobilized by states and urban local bodies through PPP model as required to meet project costs.

You Searched For "Green tax in mumbai" and got 5 results

Here’s why Budget 2016 is crucial for the real estate sector

Usha Rani Das

A short trip to India showed me just how badly Apple is screwing up in the world's biggest democracy

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Where is India buying its property?

BI India Bureau

India to soon get 100 Smart Cities

BI India Bureau

The entire list and a brief profile of 'Delhi ke nirmata'⁠— the makers of Delhi felicitated at Kejriwal's oath taking ceremony

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