The real estate developers of West Bengal have hailed the Budget 2022-23 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.

Upbeat about the “very inclusive budget”, they believe that this will lay a strong foundation for the economic growth in this post pandemic era.

According to them, the current budget has a strong focus on affordable housing which will help in boosting up the industry.

Industry insiders believe that the budget is an infrastructure heavy budget, with a long-term focus on rebuilding the country and rebuilding the economy.

“This Capex heavy Budget with 35.4 per cent additional capital outlay is a futuristic Budget for promoting inclusive development and has been aptly coined as Budget for the Amrit Kaal of India. Though there have been no specific steps like increasing tax exemption limits against home loan principal or interest, this Budget will spur real estate growth in the long term,” CEO of Bengal Peerless Housing Development Company, Ketan Sengupta said.

“Commendable is the focus on infrastructure growth, with 25,000 km of highways to be completed by 2023, funding for new metro rail system ropeways, 400 new Vande Bharat trains etc. This Budget also recognises the need for development of tier 2 and tier 3 cities with 50 per cent of the Indian population to live in urban areas. This augurs well for the real estate in the long term,” he added.

“Allocation of funds and plan to develop 8 million houses under PM Awas Yojana will boost real estate growth in the affordable segment. Helping states for urban capacity planning and setting up Urban Planning Schools with the help of an expert level committee digitisation of land records, uniformity of registration procedures across the country and modernisation of building bye laws will increase transparency and augment sustainable development,” he said.

“This is a very inclusive budget laying strong foundation for the economic growth in this post pandemic era. The highlight for the real estate industry has been the additional infusions of 48,000 crore capital as also the Rs 50,000 crore for the ECLGS scheme and its extension.

“We welcome the positive mindset of the Central government to work with the state governments in order to bring down the time taken for construction related clearances and hope that concrete steps are taken in this regard at the earliest. We would have liked to see the CLSS scheme extension and expansion and are hopeful that the central government will still consider it before the expiry of the current scheme,” MD, Eden Realty, Arya Sumant said.

“The current budget has a strong focus on affordable housing. The allotment of Rs 48,000 crore for the Affordable Housing Scheme (PMAY), identification of 80 lakh households for the affordable housing scheme in 2022-23, the identification of 60,000 houses as beneficiaries for PM Awas Yojana in rural & urban areas etc shows the strong inclination of the government towards inclusive growth. We also welcome the positive mindset of the government for creating a scope for modern building by-laws as well as increased emphasis on urban planning,” Chief Marketing Officer, Shristi Infrastructure Abhishek Bhardwaj said.

“As expected, the budget is an Infrastructure heavy budget, with a long-term focus on rebuilding the country and rebuilding the economy. The trend is the same as last year’s budget with an intense focus on increased capital expenditure. An Overall 35% increase in capital expenditure is the biggest indicator of the Government’s priorities. Sectors involved in public capital expenditure are rejoicing in comparison to other sectors, who have precious little to celebrate,” Managing Director, Jain Group Rishi Jain said.