The Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley’s third budget in a row has many positives for housing, infrastructure, roads and transport.
Housing
Complete waiver of service tax for houses and apartments constructed within a floor area of 60 sq. m in the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai and 30 sq. m in other cities under any scheme of the Central or State governments.
Relief by way of 100% deduction of profit for arriving at the taxable income of the promoter-developer during the first three years, subject to the condition that the projects should be undertaken between June 2016 and March 2019.
Additional deduction of Rs. 50,000 interest paid on home loans up to Rs. 35 lakh and total value not exceeding Rs. 50 lakh, for first time home buyers .
Interest /dividend from investments in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) will be exempted from tax.
‘Rent’ benefits
Those who live in rented houses can benefit from the huge rise in deduction of rental allowance up to Rs. 60,000 under Section 80GG.
Digitalisation of land/property records
Real estate in generalwill benefit from the Land Records Modernisation Programme. Legal scrutiny of title of properties for obtaining loans can be made easy in a digitalised environment. Property records can also be obtained on the spot without hassles.
Other initiatives
100% FDI in real estate.
Waiver of estate duty on ready mix concrete manufactured at site for use in construction work.
‘Start up’ ventures may claim tax holiday.
Setting up of ‘Dispute Settlement Authority” for settlement of disputes in PPP programmes (Public-Private Partnerships).
Infrastructure
The slogan ‘Prosperity thro’ roads’ has been reiterated in the budget. It is stated that 85% of stuck road/highways projects have been revived so far. A massive allocation of Rs. 55,000 crore has been made for the purpose. In addition, Rs. 15,000 crore will be mobilised from NHAI bonds. The proposal is to build 10,000 km of roads every year. The total allocation for roads and railways comes to Rs. 2.18 lakh crore. During 2015-17, the total allocation for all infrastructure comes to Rs. 2,21,246 crore.
Modernisation of major ports, linking of waterways and development of 160 regional airports will give further surge to transportation. Running of bus services by private entrepreneurs on select routes has been proposed.
