Pinarayi Vijayan sworn in as Kerala Chief Minister

New Delhi, May 25: Realtors' apex body CREDAI has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking immediate relief measures to tide over the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The association, which has around 15,000 developer members, has sought one-time debt restructuring, lower interest rate on home loans and tax sops to boost liquidity and demand in the sector.

In an open letter to the prime minister, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India (CREDAI) said, "In this distressful situation arising out of the COVID-19 calamity, we in the real estate sector seek immediate relief for our survival."

Stating that the sector contributes substantially to the country's GDP and has backward and forward linkages with almost 250 industries, CREDAI said, "Our survival, therefore, is not just desirable, it is rather crucial for the economy."

Liquidity crunch, stagnant demand and cartelization of raw materials are major impediments for the industry to kickstart, it added.

CREDAI made seven recommendations to revive the sector and sought immediate intervention from the prime minister.

Pointing out that the situation is "much worse" than global financial crisis in 2008, CREDAI said "a one-time restructuring scheme as was permitted by RBI in 2008 may be quickly instituted by all lending institutions."

Since real estate was already reeling under a cyclical downturn before COVID-19, debt restructuring needs to be allowed for all accounts which were standard as on December 31, 2019, it added.

CREDAI demanded that all banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs) should be directed to provide additional credit equal to 20 per cent of the existing real estate project related advances with no additional security and without the classification of project as NPA.

The penal interest charged by banks and financial institutions should be suspended for a period of one year or until such time as it takes for the pandemic to abate.

To revive housing demand, CREDAI suggested that "government should reduce the maximum rate of interest on new home loans to 5 per cent by subsidizing the interest component of EMIs for next five years."

The limit of principal deduction on housing loan under Section 80C should be increased to 2.5 lakh.

Interest deduction under Section 24 on housing loan for homebuyers may be increased to Rs 10 lakh, it said.

There should be no capital gains for residential properties held for a period longer than one year.

CREDAI also demanded that the subvention scheme be allowed again by National Housing Bank (NHB) and the Reserve Bank.

Under the scheme, builders used to pay EMIs on behalf of homebuyers during construction of projects.

"The economic uncertainty and job insecurity at the moment would not allow purchase of residential property at this time. A scheme whereby a homebuyer would need to pay only margin money with no EMI for 24 months will address this insecurity," the letter said.

The association pointed out that prices of cement and steel have been increased during the lockdown period, and asked for crackdown on cartelisation by manufacturers.

On the GST front, CREDAI said that the current regime of GST provides a rate of 1 per cent  for affordable housing.

"The limit of Rs 45 lakh serves as a criterion of affordability for the purpose of GST. On all other housing, GST is applied at the rate of 5 per cent without input tax credit. It has been felt that the criterion of Rs 45 lakh is too low an index of affordability anywhere across the country, and especially so in the metros," the letter said.

It will serve as an inducement to buyers in the metros if the benefit of GST at the rate of 1 per cent is extended to units costing up to Rs 75 lakh, the association said.

CREDAI pointed out that the flat rate of 5 per cent GST for under construction residential housing is causing cost build up and is acting as a deterrent for sale of under construction projects since there is no GST on completed units.

It suggested that GST rate of 1 per cent and 5 per cent, without input tax credit, should continue.

"However, an option of GST @12 per cent for normal housing/ 8 per cent for affordable housing (with 1/3rd deduction for land i.e. effective GST rate of 8 per cent for normal housing and effective GST rate of 5 per cent for affordable housing) with input tax credit (ITC) benefits in line with the scheme applicable for the works contracts for government may be revived and made applicable to the real estate," the letter said.

Lastly, CREDAI demanded that a Rs 25,000 crore stress fund for completing stalled housing projects should be deployed at the earliest.

"We shall be grateful for your much-needed intervention for the above mentioned measures required to revive the real estate sector," CREDAI said in the letter to the PM.

United Nations, May 20: Highlighting India's long-standing history of promoting inclusive and peaceful societies, a top UN official on Tuesday voiced concern over incidents of "increased hate speech and discrimination" against minority communities in the country following the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Under-Secretary-General and UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng, however, welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for unity and brotherhood in the wake of the COVID19 pandemic.

Dieng said in a note to the media on Tuesday that he is "concerned over reports of increased hate speech and discrimination against minority communities in India" since the adoption of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019.

The Indian government has maintained that the CAA is an internal matter of the country and stressed that the goal is to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries.

The CAA, which was notified on January 10, grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith.

"While the objective of the act, to provide protection to minority communities is commendable, it is concerning that this protection is not extended to all groups, including Muslims. This is contrary to India’s obligations under international human rights law, in particular on non-discrimination,” Dieng said.

The Special Adviser recognised "India’s long standing and well recognised history of promoting inclusive and peaceful societies, with respect for equality and principles of non-discrimination.”

He also welcomed recent statements by Prime Minister Modi that the COVID-19 pandemic “does not see race, religion, colour, caste, creed, language or border before striking and that our response and conduct...should attach primacy to unity and brotherhood.”

Dieng encouraged the Government of India to "continue to abide by this guidance by ensuring that national laws and policies follow international standards related to non-discrimination and to address and counter the rise of hate speech through messages of inclusion, respect for diversity and unity.”

He further reiterated that he would continue to follow developments and expressed his readiness to support initiatives to counter and address hate speech.

The hate speech and the dehumanisation of others goes against international human rights norms and values, he added.

“In these extraordinary times brought about by the COVID-19 crisis it is more important than ever that we stand united as one humanity, demonstrating unity and solidarity rather than division and hate,” he said.

Dieng also expressed concern over reports of violence during demonstrations against CAA in some regions of India.

Noida, Jan 6: A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning and firefighting was underway, officials said.

The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said.

After that, a search was done to see if anyone was trapped in the building, he said.

The cooling process is now underway.

He said the fire had engulfed the ground, first and second floors of the building, except the basement.

Police said they received information about fire at Kaveri printing press at 2:45 am, when the manager Yogesh called them. The press owners have been identified as Atul and Anuj Goyal, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, they said.

The man who died in the fire has been identified as Phool Dev, from Bihar, who used to work as a help there. Dev went inside the building in the night to sleep before the fire started and died due to suffocation, the fire department official said.

The body has been kept at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and the post-mortem will be done once the family reaches here, police said.