Black money in property deals comes down

New Delhi: The government has taken a lot of steps to clean India's real estate sector and the component of black money in property transactions has reduced, Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Manoj Joshi said on Friday.

Addressing a realty conference organised by Naredco-MAHI, the association's women wing, he said the stamp duty in property transactions has come down and it should further reduce as this plays an important role in determining whether businesses are done in a fair manner or using black money. Talking about the women's participation in real estate sector, Joshi said it in inspiring that Naredco and construction industry are trying to bring more and more women professionals and entrepreneurs in the sector.

"It's quite strange to see that women are not really there in the sector," he said. As the real estate sector becomes cleaner, the secretary said more and more women would come to work in this industry. The secretary noted that there are already signs of the real estate sector getting cleaned up. "Yesterday, a friend of mine was telling me that in the Gurgaon area, most of the transactions are now done in white. Most of the apartments or those builders apartments people are buying, almost entire payment is in white," the secretary said.

Though this is not true in a lot of other cities but in Delhi and around that's what is happening, he added. "So, the more we do fair business, you would find more women coming in it." The secretary said that the government has done a lot to have this sector cleaned up. "It doesn't really pay nowadays to play that game anymore, which people have been playing and the regulatory agencies and enforcement agencies come down quite heavily. I think that that has played a role," he observed. The secretary mentioned that gradually stamp duties are going down and rightfully they should go down much more. This is another factor which affects whether the businesses are done in a fair manner using white money or what is done in black. Joshi said the government's effort should be to bring change in the policies in such a way that there is a less and less incentive of doing wrong business by all stakeholders. "I consider women's presence in the sector as a barometer of how fair the business is happening. So I would continue to hold that view," he said.

Joshi also spoke about human aspects in urban planning. He noted that quality of life is better in smaller cities and efforts should be made to make large cities livable. Similarly, he said there is a need to create employment opportunities in the smaller cities. Whether it is a small or big city, he said the people should be able to reach offices from home within 15 minutes. The secretary said the budget has laid a lot of emphasis on urban planning.