‘Housing, construction got benefits in budget’

Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs, Venkaiah Naidu
Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs, Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: The housing and construction sector got various tax reliefs in the 2016-17 budget despite not being accorded the infrastructure status, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu has said.

The sector got benefits of infrastructure status even without being formally declared so, the Urban Development and Housing and Poverty Alleviation Minister said here.

Highlighting the implications of the budget proposals for the urban sector, Naidu said various tax concessions and reliefs announced would go a long way in meeting the long standing demand of the construction sector for infrastructure sector status.

Referring to social media campaign by consumers and potential home buyers seeking early passage of Real Estate Bill, Naidu urged all concerned to enable early passage of this Bill which aims at promoting confidence among consumers and credibility of real estate sector.

Naidu said the budget for the next financial year proposed several measures to enable flow of investments for affordable housing and construction in the country.

He said despite focus of the Budget on agriculture and rural development, urban sector got its due as against the increase of 15 per cent in the total central plan outlay for 2016-17 over revised estimates for the current fiscal, the plan outlay for the urban sector has been increased by 55 per cent.

The share of urban sector in the total central plan outlay for the current fiscal and the next fiscal, however, remained at about 5 per cent. -PTI