With several initiatives taken to revive the realty sector, this is the best time to buy property, says Praveen Jain, Chairman & Managing Director of Tulip Infratech. Besides being the CMD of Tulip Infratech, Mr Jain is also the President of NAREDCO (National Real Estate Development Council). In an exclusive interview, he shared his valuable insights with Nikunj Joshi of QuikrHomes Bureau. Excerpts from the interview:

Tell us something about your company.

Tulip Infratech is one of the leading brand names in the present Indian Real estate sector. It is a Real Estate Development Organization in the NCR (National capital Region) and is majorly into Group Housing and commercial projects. We have about 4,800 apartments in several Group Housing projects.

The NCR property market has remained somewhat subdued in 2015 and even in H1 2016. Do you think in H2 2016 the realty market is headed for better days?

Yes. As far as Gurgaon is concerned, a lot of positive initiatives and steps are being taken for further development. The FAR along the surrounding areas of proposed Metro network shall be almost doubled benefitting landowners, developers and the end-users. The circle rates of properties have also been reduced by upto 15% bringing them closer to the market rate, which shall reduce the capital gain tax & the stamp duty. With RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Act), single window system for various clearances is in reckoning to avoid project delays.

How do you see RERA impacting the realty sector in the short and long term?

RERA mainly enjoins a financial discipline upon the builders so that the funds meant for one project are not used for another. This will ensure sufficient funds for the projects to get completed and result in timely delivery of flats to the home buyers.

RERA is a move by the government to bring in professionalism in the real estate sector. Now the government authorities have to ensure necessary infrastructure like water supply, electricity, Road network, local transport system so that quality urbanization takes place.

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Several developers today are facing high debt and liquidity crunch and thereby resulting in inordinate delays in their project delivery. How do you suggest builders overcome this situation so as to benefit the customers?

For this, RERA has now come into the picture. RERA, The Real Estate (Regulatory & Development) Act enjoins upon the builders a financial discipline so that the funds meant for one project are not used for another. This will ensure sufficient funds for the projects to get completed and result in timely delivery of flats to the home buyers.

How do you see the real estate market in NCR vis-a-vis other metros? Do you see any demographic shift in the buyers’ profile in NCR over the last 2-3 years?

As far as the real estate market and demographic shift in buyers profile is concerned, the major demand has moved more towards the apartments as the younger generation with good jobs are moving to NCR from different states. This is the result of mushrooming and expansion of both international and national offices and commercial market offering jobs at all levels resulting in influx of masses and hence increasing the housing demand.

Do you think Housing for All by 2022 and smart city projects will become a reality?

Yes, the ambitious Housing for All by 2022 and Smart City projects will become a reality if we meticulously follow the course of action having a panoramic farsighted view of all the concerned factors keeping the specified time frame in mind. The basic course of action should be to analyse the current scenario, what are the targets to be achieved by 2022, what are the short term aims and objectives to achieve the long term goals, what problems can crop up and how to solve them, what shall be the estimated population in the years to come and what necessary infrastructure and services need to be implemented beforehand.

Your advice for prospective buyers.

Buy Property Now. Considering several positive initiatives taken to revive the sector, there should not be any reason for further delay in decision making.