Realty skills imperative: Real estate leaders advocate the necessity to train and skill human resources within the real estate sector. At the CII Real Estate Conference in New Delhi, leaders stressed critical trends and future directions in the Indian realty market. 

Anand Kumar, Chair of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority for NCT of Delhi and Chandigarh, particularly stressed the imperative need for such training within the real estate domain.

He highlighted the necessity of regulating unauthorised development to optimise housing output. Kumar said, "If we curb unauthorised development, then we could have 5000 houses on the same land where we have 1000 houses," pointing out the challenges posed by unauthorised colonies in areas like Delhi, Noida, and Gurgaon.

Affordable housing expansion

Sanjay Kulshrestha, Chairperson and Managing Director of HUDCO, stressed the importance of real estate developers focusing on affordable housing in non-metro regions. He highlighted the contribution of only 3 per cent of the country's land to 60 per cent of GDP, urging developers to explore smaller, untapped geographies for affordable housing projects. 

Kulshrestha also mentioned the government's PM Awas Yojana, which aims to create millions of affordable households. He said, "We have created 3 crore households, with another 2 crore households to be created," referring to the efforts to address the housing shortage.

The event marked the release of the CII Knight Frank Report titled "India Real Estate: A Decade From Now," which emphasised the urgent need to skill human resources in the real estate sector. 

Both Kumar and Kulshrestha stressed the importance of developing skill sets for standardisation and material management, particularly in the context of affordable housing.

Neel C Raheja, Chair of the CII National Committee on Real Estate and Housing, highlighted the real estate sector's significance as the second-largest employer after agriculture and its rapid growth trajectory. 

He projected the sector's contribution to GDP to reach 15.5 per cent by 2047, underscoring its pivotal role in job creation and economic development.

Commercial success story

Sriram Khattar, Vice Chairperson & Managing Director of DLF Rental Business, highlighted India's emergence as a global office hub in 2023. He pointed out the record-breaking performance of India's top seven sub-markets in the office segment, with a sale of over 60 million sq ft.

 Khattar also noted the upbeat sales performance in the residential and retail segments, emphasising India's growing appetite for bigger apartments priced above Rs 1.5 crore.

The CII-Knight Frank Report proposed several recommendations, including rationalising stamp duties and providing incentives for green buildings to make housing more affordable. It advocated extending benefits already implemented in states like Karnataka, such as stamp duty rationalisation. 

Additionally, the report suggested providing additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR)/Floor Space Index (FSI) for green buildings to encourage sustainable development practices.