Kishor Pate, CMD – Amit Enterprises Housing Ltd:
It was not an impressive budget, especially for real estate. While the additional income tax deduction of Rs.1 lakh for home loans up to Rs. 25 lakh taken by first-time home buyers is positive, the fact is that it will not benefit the growing middle-class who are looking for centrally located homes with at least two bedrooms. Another disappointment was that there were no encouraging news in terms of personal tax slabs. Some relief for individual mid-income tax payers would have been some incentive for considering home ownership. We are happy that infrastructure has been given greater importance and allotments by the Budget and do hope that it will mean that some of the pending projects will now begin to take off.
Anil Pharande, Chairman – Pharande Spaces & Vice President – CREDAI (Pune Metro):
The Finance Minister has taken a cautious approach in this budget, which is on the whole well balanced and in tune with the current economic requirements. Real estate has not received much of a boost overall, which was a dampener. The provisions for budget homes will not be sufficient to create more demand, and high-end homes have become even costlier because of the increased service tax. The additional allocation for JNNURM to make more buses available will prove to be a boon for many emerging areas which have been suffering from lack of accessibility. On the whole, it is a balanced but lacklustre budget