Hit hard by the nationwide lockdown imposed to prevent spread of coronavirus (Covid-19), real estate developers in Andhra Pradesh have decided to request the finance ministry for a relaxation in income tax through the state government. They also want the state government to ease a few charges imposed by state-level agencies.
Members of Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (Credai) in Andhra Pradesh organised a meeting through teleconference on Friday to discuss their course of action.
“We are not requesting the government to exempt construction works from the lockdown considering the present situation. Rather, we have decided to urge the state government to relax a few charges, including income tax, as a compensatory measure. The lockdown has had a serious effect on the real estate industry,” former president of the Vizag chapter of Credai Koteshwara Rao told TOI.
Developers said that earlier the finance ministry had eased income tax in 2010 as part of a government scheme to promote big residential and commercial complexes. But that was only for developers who had constructed and sold land measuring one acre or more.
“We are going to ask for relaxations on a few other charges like the one we pay for getting property plans sanctioned. The detailed list will be prepared shortly,” Rao said.
“Hardly a few people sold or invested in new properties in March and everything closed down once the lockdown was imposed. Moreover, no construction work is going on and a few labourers got stranded at the sites and now we had to take care of their expenses,” said M Murali, a developer.
Recently the government had exempted construction work in Agency areas, developers could not resume works mostly because there’s no supply of raw material owing to the lockdown. “Small time players like us don’t depend on finances. We sale or take advances from our customers and invest the money on our projects. Because of the lockdown the cycle has been disturbed heavily,” Murali added.