The Confederation of Real Estate Developers? Associations of India (Credai), the apex body for real estate developers, has now suggested to the finance minister P Chidambaram that the Indian income tax (I-T) department be asked to formulate a mechanism to assess the housing stock in India.
?We have told the finance minister that there is no system through which data on unsold housing stock can be arrived at,? Lalit Kumar Jain, national president, Credai, told FE.
?We have now suggested to the minister that the I-T department devise a format through which this data can be captured during filing of returns to get a realistic picture,? he said, without giving more details.
Credai had formed an in-house committee in October this year to take stock of the demand and supply scenario and had said it would be using the internet as a medium for this study.
However, it has now expressed inability to do the study for the lack of any authentic source of data available.
At the same time, builders continue to negate the central government?s data of 5 lakh units lying unsold in the country. In September, developers disagreed with the number, calling it inflated.
The secretary for financial services DK Mittal had then asked the industry to conduct a survey of unsold housing stock in cities in batches, so that the banks have a clear idea of how much funds are required in the residential real estate segment and what will be the future demand for capital by this segment.
Mittal also told commercial banks to fund partially completed residential projects on a priority basis.
Jain said that so far there has been no ?positive movement? on that from the banks as they continue to be restricted by Reserve Bank of India guidelines, which have advised banks to remain cautious of their lending to the real estate sector.
Jain also said that the developer community is willing to consider the suggestions made by the Chidambaram to unlock the value of the unsold stock. ?We have asked our members across the country to seriously consider the proposal to sell (the unsold stock) in maximum numbers,? Jain said in a statement.