India needs $1 trillion for housing, infra projects: Report

Mumbai: India will require investments of USD 1 trillion over the next 5-7 years to meet demand from infrastructure and housing with banks, private equity and NBFCs likely to be main sources of funds, says a report.

Around 70-80 per cent of the demand for investments will be from housing, while the balance from smart city projects, infra-linked real estate projects like airports, railways, urban transport and development of industrial corridors, according to the report based on a survey jointly conducted by PwC, Naredco and APREA.

PwC is a leading consultancy firm, while Naredco and APREA are real estate-related bodies.

The report titled 'Building the Economy Block by Block', released at the Real Estate and Infrastructure Investors' Summit 2016 organised by Naredco, said banks, private equity, NBFCs and REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) are expected to be the major sources for financing infrastructure projects.

"Constant percentage of banks' commercial real estate credit to total credit over the years is an indicator of the lack of intent on the part of banking institutions to increase their exposure in the real estate sector development, hence making it necessary for developers to explore other sources for financing," the report said.

Among various sources of funding, private equity has gained increasing success in the real estate sector over the years, it said.

"With greater transparency owing to government policies and initiatives transforming the sector to a dynamic and organised market, it has boosted the investor confidence leading to such results," the report added.

The report said there has been a significant increase in lending from NBFCs to the sector in last few years. "There are number of domestic and foreign owned NBFCs specialising in lending to the real estate sector and currently their investment is more than Rs 1.1 trillion."

It noted the capital-intensive nature of the infrastructure sector and limited options available to real estate developers and owners for raising funds, REITs will also offer a way forward.