The real estate experts have declared the government’s announcement for the calibration of custom duty on specific products and raw materials of steel and iron a timely move. They expect that this move will help boost the availability of raw materials domestically.
Moreover, the real estate developers said that a decrease in import duty of steel intermediates and iron ore will help control the surge in the price of construction projects.
On Saturday, 21 May, the union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted, “Measures are being taken up to improve the availability of cement and through better logistics to reduce the cost of cement”.
“Similarly, we are calibrating customs duty on raw materials & intermediaries for iron & steel to reduce their prices. Import duty on some raw materials of steel will be reduced. Export duty on some steel products will be levied,” she further tweeted.
Harsh Vardhan Patodia, President, CREDAI, said that this significant move by the government to decrease custom duties on steel products would render relief to all stakeholders. The finance ministry’s commitment to enhancing logistics, reducing customs duties on coal products and ensuring the availability of cement domestically will affect the commodity cost positively.
“We are pleased with the finance minister and the government’s intervention to control the rise in the cost of raw materials and in turn control inflation as the Indian economy had stayed resilient while grappling with the strains of cost inflation of raw material prices but had disrupted the growth of the real estate sector in the last 18 months,” said Mr Patodia.
The Indian real estate sector has been witnessing higher construction costs due to a surge in the price of raw materials. The government has taken sensible steps to handle these challenges, like reducing tax on fuel and decreasing custom duties on vital raw materials, resulting in lower construction costs.
