VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Federation (APCCIF) president Muthavarapu Murali Krishna wrote a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley suggesting various measures for promoting the real estate sector.

He stated that the real estate business had slowed down in the last couple of years in spite of tax incentives, and that focus on affordable housing to lower and middle-income groups and other supportive measures were needed.

Moreover, the sector was hit by demonetisation, which severely impacted sale as potential buyers deferred their purchases in anticipation of a fall in property prices.

Mr. Murali Krishna said that the Central government should take some confidence-building measures in the budget to give a boost to the real estate sector.

Mainly, the real estate sector should be given ‘industry’ status so that it could raise funds easily. Devoid of that recognition, the developers were forced to borrow at higher interest rate from financial institutions and comply with stringent sanction processes.

Giving tax relief in the form of an increase in interest deduction limit from ₹2 lakh to ₹4 lakh, reduction in or waiver of stamp duty for home registration, bringing down the level of taxation of income of Real Estate Investment Trusts, waiving capital gain tax for developers at the time of transfer of property into REIT, and imparting clarity on interest rates applicable under GST regime were among the host of steps the APCCIF wanted the government to take to remove the impediments in the growth of this sector, which was a significant contributor to the Gross Domestic Product.

[Source:-The Hindu]