Budget 2019 expectations: Rationalise taxes, boost the purchasing power of the masses, demand real estate experts

Budget 2019: Expectations are high from the Narendra Modi government ahead of the presentation of the interim Budget 2019. The real estate sector not only want sops for itself but also for the potential homebuyers. The industry experts want the government to rationalise taxes as it will create an environment conducive along with the positive sentiment to enable generate new business opportunities across the economy. 

Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, President, NAREDCO, said that he expects the Centre to bring Stamp Duty within the purview of the GST.

“Rationalization of taxes would be the one most important factor that the real estate industry would expect at this point of time from the upcoming Budget. I would also add the expectation of bringing Stamp Duty within the purview of GST; Input Credit of Construction against the output of Renting; incentivize Rental Housing to meet Housing for All commitment by 2022 and increasing limit of interest deduction, paid on the home loan, from 2 lakh to 3 lakh," said Hiranandani.

Parveen Jain, NAREDCO Vice Chairman, and CMD Tulip Infratech, said that he expects the government to take pragmatic steps to boost the purchasing power of the masses. 

"Pragmatic steps should be implemented which can further increase the investment and purchasing power of the masses, should give a further boost to Affordable Housing, should result in the desired massive growth and development of the infrastructure, road and rail network, landscaping, amenities, Housing, commercial, offices and institutions, Eco-friendly urban planning, pollution free green environment and to fructify the ultimate goal of ‘Housing for all by 2022," said Jain.

Sunil Gupta, MD and CEO, Avis India, said that the government needs to allocate much more towards infra this year. 

"India's tourism industry is growing rapidly and is expecting international tourist arrivals to reach 30.5 million by 2028, therefore the government should focus more on improving the infrastructure of the country in terms of developing more roads and maintenance of tourist places for increasing the economy from tourism. We are expecting the government to increase the infra expenditure by 30% this year," said Gupta.

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Echoing the similar sentiments, Indroneel Dutt, CFO, Cleartrip, said that the government needs to keep in mind the growing travel market while presenting the budget.

"Today, when India has achieved the position of a fast growing travel market in the world. Provisions to ensure that the growth impetus does not hit any infrastructure roadblock is key. The budget should consider supporting India’s digitization journey.  We hope that this budget will create a roadmap for ‘One GST Rate’ on accommodation services as against four different slabs. Simplification of input credit mechanism on air and accommodation services as well as of GST return filing process will give a further boost to the sector," said Dutt.

Dutt further added that airline industry operates with wafer-thin margins, and TCS (Tax collection at source) leads to blockage of working capital and operational difficulties. He said that with the airline industry being one of the most organized and tax compliant sectors, removal of TCS should be considered strongly. 

Ankur Dhawan, Chief Investment Officer, PropTiger.com said that improvement in direct tax collections have given the government a chance to make changes in the tax structure.

“Though typically governments do not change tax structure in interim budget, but this time due to improvement in the direct tax collection government can provide some relaxation to the middle class. Real estate industry will be expecting an increase in tax benefits on home loan interest from 2 lakh to 3 lakh as well as modification in tax slabs to incentivise home buying,” said Dhawan.