Reforms Needed to Check Corruption in Real Estate: CREDAI

Mumbai: The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI) on Tuesday said there was a need for comprehensive reforms to check black money and corruption in the realty sector.

"There is a need for all round reforms to end corruption and check black money in realty," CREDAI National President Lalit Kumar Jain told reporters here.

He said that CREDAI has been advocating for single window system for project clearances to cut down time and chance for corruption.

CREDAI has sought reforms in four key areas including administration, land, taxation and banking, which impact the real estate.

"There has been a lot of talk on this, but no action. We too hate the system that labels us as crooks and breeders of black money. There is a need to realise that the various bottlenecks at government level at Centre and in several states are equally responsible for this menace," he said.

He pointed out that the economic reforms initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 20 years ago saw the end of the Licence Raj, but there are still many controls on the real estate sector, he said.

There are over 40 clearances that a developer is supposed to get, which lead to human interaction with over 150 officials at various stages, he said, adding any delay at any stage obviously gives rise to 'greasing of palms' as the developer is always anxious to finish his project in time.

"Real estate is a highly capital intensive industry and any delay would only add to the interest burden for developer who scrupulously tries to avoid it since the increased costs would lead to cut in is margins and rise in the cost for the customer," he said.