In India, the Budget 2022 announcement is the amongst the government’s policy documents in this direction. India Inc. is keenly looking at this year’s Budget 2022 announcement and has its own expectations. Team Estrade is in constant touch with India’s business leaders and is publishing their Budget 2022 expectations as follows,
Sandeep Runwal - President, NAREDCO Maharashtra and Managing Director, Runwal Group
“Real estate being the second-highest employment generator and contributing more than 8 percent to the economy, the expectations from the 2022-23 budget are high and the industry is awaiting big announcements that will alter the future of the real estate sector.The Central and State governments rolled out several reforms and incentives during the past year to revive the economy from the ill effects of the pandemic.
The Government will continue to put in its sincere efforts in pushing affordable housing. The cap of Rs. 2 lakh per annum against interest rate deduction under section 24(b) of the Act needs to be hiked to at least Rs. 5 lakh along with removing the 45 lakh cap from affordable housing, which will boost the affordable and mid-segment housing in a big way.
We also expect the government to continue promoting the affordable rental housing schemes by announcing tax reliefs for rental housing projects, which will fast track the pace of investments in these schemes. The Government’s commitment to boost both affordable and rental housing will help achieve their overall goal of Housing for All. We expect the Government to introduce tax sops for first-time homebuyers and look forward to re-introducing GST with an input tax credit on under-construction properties that will generate demand among homebuyers. There is a specific need for tax relief to spur significant real estate growth, along with single window clearance and lowering of home loan interest rates that will definitely go a long way in improving the market sentiments. We also urge the Government to reintroduce subvention schemes, helping the homebuyers to align their payments and encourage them to take a decision on home buying.
The quantum of the SWAMIH stress fund needs to be enhanced along with strengthening the financing institutions to generate adequate liquidity and help the completion of stuck realty projects.
In addition, the ‘industry status’ for real estate has been the long-standing demand by the sector; we anticipate that the Government can address this concern too.
Overall, the industry expects the Government to take substantial measures to strengthen the real estate sector as well as the entire economy, by addressing critical issues, ensuring job creation, and sustaining growth.”
Pritam Chivukula, Co-Founder, Director,Tridhaatu Realty + Hon. Secretary,CREDAI MCHI
The sector is seeing a strong recovery from the pandemic crisis. Residential sales in the top 8 cities have bounced back to near pre-COVID levels. While the real estate sector is looking at a robust housing demand revival in 2022. The developers expect the Union Budget 2022 to play a supportive and enabling role.
The upcoming budget shall bring a lot of hope to the real estate sector. The budget shall offer the much-needed push to the infrastructural development of the country. Falling housing inventory levels and a much healthier banking system are the perfect platforms for the budget to anchor a strategic roadmap for the next decade.
We should look at a multi-dimensional approach focused on the availability of improved & low-cost credit, forward-looking FDI inflow which allows foreign investment in completed housing, and inclusive participation in the start-up ecosystem through a dedicated fund focused on real estate innovations and digitization could go a long way in making the sector excel in 2022.
The outlook is a positive upsurge because of the strategic decisions and changes that the Government brought into action to tackle the Covid crisis that gave an overall boost to the home buying sentiment especially in these difficult times with the onset of the third wave.
Additionally, developers are hoping for provisions that will benefit the growth that includes the deduction of loss under house property, reduction in the income tax burden on rental housing and long-term capital gains on capital assets, relaxations in provisions for REITs for faster recovery in commercial real estate.
We have also written to the government to urge for a reduction in tax for investments on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and, also demanded tax-neutral consolidation of businesses through the mergers, in order to help the homebuyers who got trapped in delayed housing projects.”
Kaushal Agarwal, Chairman, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory
The year 2021 in many ways was the year of hope and revival whereas 2022 will be the year to sustain the growth momentum. The real estate sector, like others businesses, is looking forward to many positive, innovative and path-breaking announcements in the budget this year.
Expectations from the Union Budget 2022-23:
- Deviation of 20% from circle rates should be extended across the sector and not limited to homes costing upto Rs.2 crores. The same will allow developers to offload the massive build-up of unsold inventory costing more than Rs.2 crores. Currently the major part of the unsold inventory is ready-to-move-in and falls in the luxury category.
- There couldn’t be a more opportune year to accord industry status to the Real Estate sector as a whole; currently the same has been accorded only to affordable housing. This is a long-pending demand and can help developers raise funds at lower costs.
- The government needs to push the well-capitalized NBFCs and banks to extend credit and liquidity to the players in the sector who have good equity left in their stuck projects.
- The government after the decent success of its SWAMIH fund, should announce several more funds that can help target specific real estate verticals that need liquidity support and high capital infusion like township developments and large format business parks.
- Extending no tax upto an income of Rs.10 lacs to all taxpayers for a year to give impetus to demand and consumption.
- The reduced repo rate has helped reduce EMI’s for homebuyers; the government should permit further deductions in the income tax for individuals availing homes to buy affordable and mid-income homes.
- The government should declare tax free, the rent income received from any one owned house across the country. The same will see the young, new age investor pour money in Real Estate.
- The real estate sector contributes the second most to employment in the country and is expected to contribute to the tune of 11% to the nation’s GDP. Keeping the same in mind specific threshold lead incentive for developers should be announced to encourage job creation in the category.
Shraddha Kedia-Agarwal, Director, Transcon Developers
We expect the government to reduce the tax on interest income which will help accelerate capital inflows to India. Liberalizing foreign investment norms in real estate is another widely expected move.The residential real estate market in India has become more lucrative for NRIs as a result of the increased transparency due to RERA and ease in investment norms. Given their efforts towards nation building, the NRIs expect the forthcoming Budget to reward them with sops such as ease of compliance under the Income-tax Act and reduction in withholding tax rates, among other relaxations.
Real estate acts as a major growth driver for the Indian economy. The government must announce encouraging moves that can further attract foreign investments into the sector and help in huge employment generation.”
Himanshu Jain,VP(Sales,Marketing,CRM)Satellite Developers Private Limited (SDPL)
”The real estate sector was already in focus for the government in 2021, we expect a similar and a more refined response this year.The government has already played an immense role in driving the momentum of the industry with various announcements which benefited the developers and homebuyers last year. We have already addressed the positive outcome of the decisions, with a huge hike in sales all across the country.
The budget 2022 will bring further relaxation to the sector if the government plans on further extending the already introduced relaxations.
Additional benefits like GST waiver for under-construction homes hike in Rs 2 lakh tax rebate and incentives for private sector investments in the affordable housing segment; among others can be some of the measures Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should consider in the upcoming Union Budget.”
Bhushan Nemlekar, Director, Sumit Woods Limited
Lokesh Rao, Co-founder & CEO, Trace Network Labs
Sameer Kanodia - Managing Director and CEO of Lumina Datamatics Limited
“Everyone will be looking up to this year’s Budget for various relief measures. The pandemic has affected many industries, and it may continue for some time. Stimulus packages and lower interest rates have been a saving grace for the economy in the past.
The IT and ITeS industry wants the government to give out better incentives, and it is expected that supportive measures may be provided at this time.Everyone pins their hope on this year’s Budget at the industry and an individual level.
We feel happy to be part of multiple platforms that increasingly see content creation and consumption. The print segment and the traditional content platform have been under pressure, and demand for digital content will only increase. Unfavourable steps from the government may dampen the enthusiasm.
Similar headwinds are seen in eCommerce, with retail trade going digital. Physical barriers, such as lockdowns and restrictions, hamper the local stores. They are increasingly adopting the online route. Government’s stimulus to this sector will further boost its contribution to the economy.
Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby
The digital payments space has proved its mettle as a stable growth avenue during the pandemic. A positive impact was seen on digital payments due to benign taxation for self-service digital customers.
To ensure the same benefits reach the less-savvy citizens, our government could waive GST and TDS for financial inclusion services at Business Correspondent (BC) outlets across India. A GST and TDS waiver will help reduce the cost of offering seamless financial services and help high-end tech reach the technology-oblivious segment. We stand with the government’s intent of taking digitization to the last mile and passing the GST waiver benefit to end-users as this will push for greater financial inclusion and a digital economy in the country.
Moreover, low-income citizens are mostly catered to by low-earning retailers who barely cross the value of taxable income, and hence, do not file IT returns to claim a refund of TDS. Thus, TDS is only a cost to them and not a refundable deduction because they do not know how to take a refund by filing returns. We sincerely hope that TDS for income below ₹ 50,000 a year can be waived off. We are positive that this Budget will consider the grim working condition of the BC network and make the needful regulatory changes to ensure the viability of a community that has been vital in driving the cause of financial inclusion and democratization of digital payments in the country.
Bhavin Patel, Co-founder & CEO, LenDenClub
The economy is projected to gradually return to its previous trajectory, with fiscal priorities in the upcoming budget invigorating it. A regulatory body to oversee payment recovery is the need of the hour. An enhanced procedural aid to the legal recovery of repayments from digital borrowers to further protect the rights of those who lend money. Such a specialized government vehicle to oversee fintech could not only help startups run more effectively, following compliance requirements, but it would eliminate possible fraudsters.
Returns from investments in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Lending could be exempted from tax under Section 80C of Income Tax law, or a different provision could be carved out to reduce tax rates such as tax exemption for gains below Rs 20,000. This will encourage people across geographies to invest in P2P lending, making funds accessible on multiple platforms. P2P lending plays a significant role in empowering small businesses in India. Tax benefits in P2P lending will magnify the growth of businesses when capital from P2P platforms is diverted to the sector.
The pandemic has resulted in significant job losses, primarily due to people’s inability to keep up with evolving technology. The way the government is spreading awareness is remarkable. Further to that, setting up avenues for advanced technical education, for instance, could help it drive so much further. Presently, India requires professionals with technical and financial competence to conduct the Fintech revolution. More institutions that provide formal education and certifications are needed to create a skilled group of individuals required to grow P2P lending platforms and the Fintech industry.
Pre Budget-Expectations – Education Sector
In the Indian education sector, The New Education Policy came in the year 2020 (NEP) made some pivotal changes. Now according to the new structure in India is 5+3+3+4 and earlier it was 10+2. This pandemic has changed formal education ways and brought digital ways. This is one of the sectors Which has lots of expectations from the upcoming Union Budget.
Manav Shah, Co-Founder of Eduvacancy
“Over the last few years the Education sector has received significant support from the Government. Post the conceptualization of the New Education Policy there has been significant focus and traction witnessed in terms of reforms in this sector. Though the sector witnessed a key development in the form of National Educational Policy, last year, we wish to see a certain budget allocation to develop advanced and immersive technology that would give the required boost to the sector creating more job opportunities for the talent available in Tier2 and Tier 3 cities.
Emma Payne, International Recruitment Manager, University of Hull
“We are fervently looking forward to India’s Annual Budget session. The country has great potential for education and the advent of New Education Policy might take it to new heights of global education. India is laying impetus on higher education, investing more in the public sector and rendering low loans to private institutions.
The country is leading towards vocational and skill development with a holistic approach of employability of the students, India is paving the way for leaders of tomorrow.”
Raj Mruthyunjayappa, President- India, Anthology Inc
“Last year was a watershed year for the Indian start-up ecosystem that led to the birth of numerous unicorns including few in the edtech space, in a clear indication that education in India is about to witness a digital disruption. The pandemic has already kick-started that revolution with learning moving significantly online in schools and colleges across India.
With upskilling and reskilling becoming the new watchwords, there is ample opportunity for educational institutions to boost their efforts to revitalize education by adopting technology tools that will foster greater inclusivity.
Rohit Jain, Co- Founder, UFaber
“Considering the rise of edtech companies, especially in this COVID-19 era, there’s a huge chance that the education sector will evolve further in terms of technological innovations and newer teaching methodologies.
Many edtech companies will definitely be expecting the government to allocate funds to finance the sector in the Union Budget 2022. Implementing a 100 % FDI policy in the inventory-based model and lowering GST will be the key expectations of the companies.
Shivam Dutta, Co-founder and CEO of AlmaBetter
“The pandemic has affected several industries all over the world. Education industry was also hit badly as schools and campuses had to shut down.
The Edtech industry took the opportunity and improvised a lot by introducing cloud based learning solutions. Government acknowledged the work and initiatives introduced by the edtech platforms to create an adaptable route towards making quality education available to everyone digitally.
Rahul Subramaniam (Co-Founder, MD) Athena Education
“During the Iwakura Mission, Japanese leaders travelled the world to gather insights that would help Japan evolve as a growing nation, learning about aspects of Western civilization from politics and administration to the military, diplomacy, industry, and culture. India can consider a similar exercise in pursuit of national transformation.
To replicate the mission in today’s India, the government should subsidize education to elite universities abroad. These scholars should then be encouraged to return for at least five years and contribute their intellectual vigour to the country’s growth. After all, Indians have always prided themselves in learning from the world’s best institutions: Nehru at Trinity, Gandhi at UCL, and Ambedkar at Columbia and LSE.”
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