“A budget should reflect the values and priorities of our nation and its people” … Mary Landrieu.
“This budget is of the people, for the people & by the people” …Nirmala Sitaraman.
Mary Loretta Landrieu is an American entrepreneur and politician who served as a United States senator from Louisiana for nearly two decades! No need to introduce the second name as the lady who has just delivered 8th consecutive Union Budget, our very own Finance Minister of India! Both women may be worlds apart literally, yet both are from politics & see the similarity between what they express about budget, the only difference if emotions just the way there is between Hollywood Movies & our Desi movies (exception Disney movies). The sentiments which Mary has put in professional language, have been expressed by our honourable finance minister Ms NS (Short Form for sharing, no offence) only in simpler language. Well, enough of word play which definitely is not object of sharing & I am bad at it as I am not a politician nor a trader, I am a civil engg & a builder, so the sharing is about Union Budget & you must have already read enough doses of the same but this is not about decoding of union budget, so don’t worry! I am not a financial expert nor even an accountant yet budget is the key word for any business so is for mine & in both ways, i.e. from the provisions in it when it’s for our country of which I am a part & to make my team as well readers (young ones) know importance of this term!
First about the union budget, well when my journalist friend (yes, a journalist can be a friend too) asked me to write something about the budget, my first reaction was looking around, Who, Me? As I have just started understanding my own company’s balance sheet a bit, that too after running it for nearly two decades, not a great thing to brag about definitely, yet the reason is they don’t teach you a single thing about money in engineering nor in that field when you start working! Another aspect is I don’t understand why a budget has to be made in the most complex way so as a common man (like me) has to be dependent on the Finance Gurus’ (most self-proclaimed) for understanding it! May be its same way why a common man can’t buy even few gunthas(few sq fts) of land on his own & get plan sanctioned & completes his own home, just to allow some builders to make money, here also the same logic applies though the money earner is not builder but some fraternity, may be Chartered Accountants! One thing is sure whoever or whichever segment may get benefitted from the budget the end winner is always the govt & Hon FM will say it’s a way to help people as unless govt earns money how can it help people, right? Hundred percent right but which people earn & who lose, as common sense is someone’s gain is someone’s loss, this also is a logic, right? Unfortunately, from the times I have started reading or knowing about budget its always the real estate which is at loss, is what my perception & this is why I thought of writing about budget even though I don’t understand it much!
Here I will mention a story of a learned Pundit (sorry a Pundit is always supposed to be learned) & a Boatman. In a remote part of the country a village's only connection with the pouter world is by a ferry boat & a local villager used to run that ferry who was illiterate. One day a Pundit came to his ferry & asked the boatman to carry him to the village across the river in his ferry. As the journey started Pundit was carrying many books with pride in the ferry & he asked the boatman, have you read Veda (Sacred Books), on which the boatman replied no sir. On this, the Pundit says, a quarter of your life has been wasted! After some time, Pundit asks the boatman, have you read Upanishads (philosophical books), and the boatman replies he has never even heard of such books & Pundit says half of your life has been wasted! After some time again Punit asked have you even read Panchatantra (books of folktales), on this, the boatman shyly answers that he doesn't even know reading. Hearing this Pundit says three fourths of your life has been wasted. In the meantime, the season changes & suddenly there was turbulence in the water & a heavy storm occured with the boat starting to wobble heavily. The Pundit gets afraid & the boatman asks him, does he know swimming, Pundit replies no, he doesn't know swimming. Hearing this boatman says, Punditji full of your life has been wasted!
Well, I don’t want to disrespect any Pundits over union budget & neither I am a boatman but the analogy is when you are doing any business or earning any rupee in any way (even as housewife) the you have your own takeaways which you understand how such things are going to affect it & I know my business just the way boatman knew his! So, this budget has nothing for real estate or making the homes affordable in any direct way is my take away from the budget! There may be statements from many Pundits that the provisions are such that there will be saving for the middle class which will make them able to invest in the homes & there will be rental income with lesser tax or two properties can be claimed for tax rebate or something like that but none of this is going to help to save the real estate or say help the real estate the way it wants to get helped! Here, many will say why real estate needs to be helped in the first place as the builders have earned enough for decades & I don’t blame them but that was past & those builders are no more in the industry or most of them have perished is a fact! I am talking about helping real estate & that means everybody associated with it, even the buyers, is my subject of sharing!
I have already cleared that I am not a fiancĂ© guy but like the boatman I have some very basic questions in my mind as I have been watching/ reading outcomes from the budget over last decade & they are, why real estate is not being given as industry status when it’s one of the largest jobs creating sector. Why real estate’s brains (there are still a few alive) are not ever called by Hon FM or her team to discuss our issues before budget proactively for understanding this business. Why no direct benefit such as GST reduction on basic raw materials for construction is given if we want to make affordable Homes for the people. Why there is such disparity in the GST policies about real estate that No GST on ready possession homes while fixed 5% GST on Homes in making & that too on Home’s agreement price which includes the land/tdr price which plays major role in price of a Home i.e. up to 75% in same cases so the GST is actually nearly 30% on construction cost if you say land is exempted from GST! Gain tax is one such pinching issue as when there is Income Tax, how can there be Gain Tax again that too only for real Estate Industry, as Gold also people invest for appreciation why not on Gold there is Gain Tax then! Real Estate business probably needs maximum NOC’s & has to deal with most govt depts, why there is not a single window system suggested & applied for this sector in any budget ever! Why there no benefit of export (is what my CAs’ tells me) for any foreigner/ NRI buying property in my projects by paying me in foreign currency! Why there is no direct fund provision (Barring Urban Challenge Fund, which is not clear about its use & governence) for acquiring reservation lands in all the towns & cities as because of that thousands of reservation lands remain undeveloped & eventually fall prey to encroachment (slums) which again is a big threat to the real-estate which are doing it in legal way & makes legal homes unaffordable! Why don’t the banks (read as SBI, Maha bank etc) considers real estate as priority sector & allocate funds at low interest for it1 Why don’t Hon FM guides (read as orders) banking sector to consider cost of land which makes nearly 70% of the project costing also part of project finance while the very same banks do mortgage the same land for meagre finance they do! Why not abolish TDS, GST, Gain tax, Income Tax & all such & have one simple tax system for entire real estate! So many “why” comes to my mind when I read the figures of lakhs crores of rupees being given for this industry & that purpose while real estate’s bag always remains empty except some meagre rental TDS types announcements, is my subject of sharing! I know the experts will call me a fool with all my doubts but then the Pundits always think the Boatman is a fool, so be it!
Till then, coming back to another budget which we neglect in a great way at our end & that is proper budgeting of everything when it comes to expenses. This aspect or part of sharing is especially for Maharashtrian builders who think sale is their profit (sorry, no region offence)! Hon FM may bless us or not but we must have a keen eye, ear, nose & everything when we spend even one rupee & that is possible in a right budget about expenses we are supposed to do. Budget is something which many organizations claim they have but either the budget is with loopholes or its not being tightly followed. That way a budget is like a red signal on the road, it may warn the vehicles to stop but can’t stop them from jumping it yet the outcome is an accident someday for sure! So dear real estaters, taxes will be there & you will always be a step-child for the govt but you can have your own budget for your work & respect it for your own protection is what I will share!
Finally, I am a wild lifer too (by heart if not by business) & the union budget makes me unhappy here also as hardly any headlines (I read those only) were there about sizable provision for wildlife protection or forest dept. We need land for wildlife (tigers) which needs money, we need big staff to protect wildlife again money, we ned to make people around forests aware & have jobs which again needs again money, though homestays are going to be promoted as per budget but it means loan & we all know what happened with loan system from farmers suicides, right? Hon FM, a war is going on between humans & entire wildlife (read as forests) & the humans have you to make provisions for them to win the war as you only have said the budget is, by the people for the people of the people. But whom the tigers & deer should look at as their people for money provision for their protection is the war with the humans, is the question I will ask to you, adios with this question!
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Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
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https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2024/12/right-home-buying-in-2025.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
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