Builders seek support from RBI to deal with second wave of covid

NEW DELHI: Builders have urged that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) considers allowing loan restructuring, interest moratorium, and additional liquidity support for the real estate sector.

This comes after RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday announced covid relief measures for small businesses, individuals and MSMEs.

CREDAI urged and expected that similar measures which shall address concerns of large businesses and labour-intensive sectors like real estate will be announced in days to come.

“We strongly believe that measures that make accounts classified as SMA 1 and SMA 2 also eligible for restructuring and interest moratorium coupled with additional liquidity under ECLGS 3.0 passed onto real estate projects will kick-start the engines of economy and job creation which are most important to offset the effects of the second wave,” said Harsh Vardhan Patodia, president, CREDAI.

“The RBI Governor announcing a number of schemes including the second round of loan restructuring and other relief measures are steps in the right direction; the hope is that he will also consider industries like real estate, which need similar support during these challenged times, We look forward to actions that are sequenced, calibrated and well-timed so as to reach out to industries like real estate,” said Niranjan Hiranandani, president, NAREDCO.

The RBI Governor in his announcements mentioned a slew of measures and schemes, such as second round of loan restructuring and other relief measures as also term liquidity facility of Rs 50,000 crore for healthcare and SLTRO for Small Finance Banks.

The central bank also recognised the hardships faced by individuals, small businesses and medium and small enterprises due to the lockdown and provided Resolution 2.0 measures for restructuring loans to small borrowers up to Rs 25 crore.

“Other than individual borrowers, this will provide major relief to real estate linked SME players especially suppliers of input material for the sector,” said Samantak Das, chief economist and head of Research & REIS, JLL India.