No cheer for realtors

Dubbing the central bank’s status quo on keeping the bank rates unchanged as “arbitrary” and “anti-growth”, apex developers’ body the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI) has called for opening a dialogue with all stakeholders, including real estate developers, before taking policy decisions that impact a cross section.

“It is sad and unfortunate to see the RBI taking such a stubborn stand, despite economic realities of the day,” said CREDAI national president Lalit Kumar Jain .

Nirakar Pradhan, CIO, Future Generali Life Insurance said: The RBI stance “makes us believe that it has increasingly turned dovish and will reduce the repo rate in the fourth quarter of the fiscal . However, a rise in inflation in the coming months may make this wait longer,” he added.

Sanjay Dutt, Executive MD, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield, said, “While any rate cut would have been very welcome for the real estate sector as it would have created a positive sentiment in the economy as a whole, we are not really surprised nor disappointed with RBI maintaining its rates.”

He added the real estate sector has already found reason to cheer the RBI’s move yesterday, to allow established real estate developers and housing finance companies to raise up to $1 billion through ECBs.