The 3rd edition of “India Real Estate Summit 2015”, was held in Hotel Park, Connaught Place in New Delhi

On Dec 11, 2015

The 3^rd edition of “India Real Estate Summit 2015”, was held in Hotel Park, Connaught Place in New Delhi today. The summit was hosted by Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), a national chamber of industries and traders. The theme of this year of “India Real Estate Summit 2015” was dedicated to Sustainable Mass Housing.

The entire conference was actively attended by around 125 participants fromthe industry and various policy makers from the housing sector, apart from guest speakers and some bureaucrats.

In his welcome address, Mr. Shiv SiddhantKaul, President of ICC, admired the increasing interest now being played by the private sector developers for coming out with more number of affordable housing projects. He highlighted that such a beginning could be good beginning to enable the government in achieving its target of “Housing for All by 2022”. He also pushed for increased emphasis on a larger role, which now needs to be played by housing finance segment, to consider relaxed norms for offering home financing, to lower income group population and those from economically weaker sections.

In his address on theme address of this year’s “India Real Estate Summit”Mr Santhosh Kumar, CEO of JLL, welcomed the recently approved revised bill on “Real Estate Regulations”, which said could act as an enabling catalyst for demand of higher demand of housing inn urban areas. He also highlighted that to make the mass housing affordable in the country a reality, a public-private-partnership would be required in future. He mentioned that despite of being an ambitious target, “Housing for All by 2022”, but yet a possibility that could be achieved, of all the stakeholders, like developers, government policy makers and other regulatory authorities work out together. JLL was acting as knowledge partner to the summit on mass housing. A knowledge report made by JLL on Affordable Housing was also released at the conference by chief guest, Dr.Nandita Chatterjee, cabinet secretary of ministry of urban housing and poverty alleviation with Government of India.

While addressing the summit, Mr. Sanjaya Gupta, Managing of PNB Housing, said that housing sector acts as a growth engine for the growth of GDP of the country as a whole, since housing sector has gone ahead to become the second largest employer sector in the country today. “Following some measures taken by new government, the country’s economy is expected to accelerate on a faster growth trajectory. The same may re-energise the housing sector as a whole, which is suffering from a prolonged lean phase. Initiatives like “Housing for All” further strengthen the hopes”, he said.

In his vote of thanks, Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General said “I feel that a serious thought process paid by all the stakeholders of urban housing including developers, policy makers of sector and consumers, in such conferences acts as a precursor to play an active part towards addressing the housing requirements concerned”.

The chief guest at the summit, Dr.Nandita Chatterjee, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Govt. of India, also shared the various initiatives taken by the government since announcement of “Housing For All by 2022” mission, and the various subsidies now being allowed by government for lower income group, to enable the same.

A technical discussion also followed in a subsequent session, to throw light on various aspects of economics and possibilities of addressing “Mass Housing” demand for affordable homes, in urban and rural areas to meet the shortfall of 19 million homes in urban areas, and double the same in rural areas.