By RV Verman
Indian Union Budget 2021-22: While listening to the Union Budget speech 2021-22 of the finance minister, I was recalling American sociologist Matthew Desmond’s quote “…. A national affordable housing programme would be an anti-poverty effort, human capital investment, community improvement plan, and public health initiative, all rolled into one,” and asking yourself if this year’s Budget was a missed chance, also hoping nonetheless that more announcements could come in course of the year.
Housing is undeniably the most universal item, an integral aspect of the economy, polity and the social milieu, touching all elements of human life and involving many sectors, like industrial and social. Given the existing state of the economy, a renewed thrust on reasonably priced housing was anticipated in the Budget, which seemed terribly missing. Beyond providing priority to reasonably priced housing, and (implicitly) recognising the important part and contribution of the sector to the bigger economy in terms of GDP and employment, the Budget presents valuable tiny for the sector.
The FM routinely extended by one year, the tax exemption on interest up to `1.5 lakh against person housing loans (demand side), and on notified reasonably priced housing projects (provide side). These measures seemed more like a ritual than any conscious critical design and style for reviving and supporting the trigger of reasonably priced housing for the masses and flow of sources into the sector and building business. The strategy seemed fairly casual and practically unbelievable, contemplating that the deadline year for the government’s flagship programme “Housing for All by 2022” is only a year away. So considerably more could have been carried out.
Housing presents huge possibilities for pump-priming development in terms of GDP, employment and boosting social sectors. All of these are the pressing demands in present occasions, and therefore a renewed thrust on housing would have gone a extended way in advertising development and improvement in the post-pandemic years.
India is on the path to speedy urbanisation. Migration to towns and cities is a continuous phenomenon, which keeps adding to the city population. A massive quantity of the migrant population finish up in slums, current or new informal settlements, in the absence of any formal housing remedy. In this background and studying from the pandemic, the Union Budget does reiterate the government’s intent to market, facilitate and catalyse rental housing for migrant labourers in urban centres. This is definitely is a welcome move and will produce self-confidence amongst all stakeholders, specially the migrant labour force. The corporate employers need to be produced to play a essential part in this Initiative in terms of coordination, facilitation and financing.
With interest prices ruling in the lowest ever variety, the purchasers and household seekers will favor to come out in the marketplace, supplied the provide of reasonably priced housing meets their expectations.
Bigger fiscal Incentives on the provide side such as exemption on building revenue for the builders, production-linked incentive, advertising use of effective technologies, all of these resulting in price reduction for the purchasers, had been the will need of the time. While housing is a essential driver of development and investments, but, housing shortage in the nation continues to be a challenge, requiring large order of investments.
On a positive note, the Budget has reiterated the government’s intent of according priority to housing in the larger map of urban, city and regional preparing, which can make settlements more inclusive, eco-friendly and sustainable.
The author is chairman, NHB