NAREDCO MAHI aims to increase women participationin realty by 4-5 %

We believe in any society where there are womenfolk, it can only do better. I thought this would be the right time to make the realty industry a better place, says Naredco's women's wing president on launch of NAREDCO MAHI

In India, women entrepreneurs in the real estate sector constitutes a miniscule number with the industry being dominated by men for decades. However, government schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and laws such as RERA is shaping the industry to make it more inclusive towards women as homebuyers and realty entrepreneurs. In a major move towards empowering women in the real estate sector, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), established 'NAREDCO MAHI', the women's wing of the realty body. Bizz Buzz spoke with NAREDCO MAHI's newly appointed, Founder President, Tara Subramaniam, to know the scope of women as developers and brokers in the much male dominated realty sector

What are your thoughts on the launch of NAREDCO MAHI and why it took so long to launch a women's wing in the realty association?

Realty has always been a male dominated industry. The atmosphere, was such, that was not considered proper for women to be in because there were lot of elements and things which we had to do which was not conducive for women being here. I think in the last 10 years, there has been a huge change in accepting women in various forces. Real estate has gone through its trouble, its grief, and we had to see a right time to launch this. The industry had to come to terms with their own pain.

So that when we thought of launching NAREDCO MAHI. Also, we believe in any society where there are womenfolk that are introduced, it can only do better. I thought this would be the right time to make the realty industry a better place.

I read a study that says that in India there are 13.5 million to 14 million women entrepreneurs, but unfortunately, we can count the women in this (real estate) industry on our finger tips. So, I'm hoping that in the next five years, we increase the womenfolk in the industry on a higher pedestal at least by another 4 to 5 percent. So, that's how we formed NAREDCO MAHI, we will not only mentor and guide women, but also introduce them to other women industry experts to learn from their success and mistakes.

What are some of the existing challenges, for a women entrepreneur (in real estate), in India?

Some of challenges are the men and their mindset in the industry, their family members to take orders from women and things like that. It takes, probably another decade, for them to accept women in higher positions. And also, the industry itself has the kind payments that need to be paid in certain sectors, I think it's a delicate thing. I think they feel it would be little awkward considering the gender difference when women have to deal with other men when you have to get certain things done, which I would call speed money. But things have changed so much now, being streamlined and things like speed money have narrowed down.

How has RERA paved the way for ethical business conduct, for women, in the real estate?

RERA has brought in huge amount of credibility with the developers. Unfortunately, what happens is that developer today doesn't get the same amount of respect as an industrialist, or manufacturing personnel get. RERA is paving the way for respectability and I think a certain amount of clarity, openness is going to go a long way to make this industry more credible, making it easier for women to align themselves with realty sector.

What are you plans of operations with NAREDCO MAHI?

What we are trying to do is get women to be members of NAREDCO MAHI where we would have training programmes for them, panel discussions, meetings with Secretary and authorities. Right now, there is no platform for them to learn. So, this is the kind of platform we are trying to put up for women.

I do not believe in numbers. Right now, we have about 25 members, even if it goes upto 30-32 members, I just want every member of MAHI to take back something that is going to be useful for her. I am at the end of my working career, I'm here to give people what I've learnt over the last 35 years. So, some of us are here to only give to the industry, and I want as many women to be successful in the real estate sector.

From homemakers to homeowners, women are taking a lead as consumers. Your take on women's participation in realty industry for investment opportunity.

The number of women who are working, gold, shares and other investment opportunities such as mutual funds, real estate is something that should be considered as a key, viable investment option even for women. Other than being homebuyer and homemakers, we want women to be able to invest in real estate, and that's where RERA is going to help us.

Have investments into real estate taken precedence over investments like gold or fixed deposits?

No. This is something which will never be exclusive because unfortunately real estate is not as liquid as gold and bonds or other investment opportunities that can be traded. You can get your money instantly, but investment into real estate is going to be long term, more sustainable. People have become savvier, and the authorities and developers too have realised that there isn't too much room where unnecessary increase in prices are going to happen. Now-a-days, real estate is a buyer's market. Earlier it used to be paucity of units to buy, so developers could raise money as and when he wants, but with the kind of inventory that is available now, pricing is extremely important and sensitive.

Women homebuyers have received some benefits such as low home loan interest rates and stamp duty relaxation? What more provisions could be done to attract more female home buyers?

We are going to try everything, whether it is low interest or stamp duty. But we need to introspect what else can be made attractive to women homebuyers. One thing I can think of is tax benefits. Right now, certain percentage of when you are paying your EMI on interest rate and principal amount, in case where women are the owners and they are earning, may the percentage they can save on the tax level could be higher. This is just an example as to what can happen. Only when we work at the ground level, we can know what is truly required.

Your thoughts on the impact of schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. And what scope of expansion does it hold?

There is always going to be further scope of improvement. It is only when we launch project that's when we learn what can and can't be done. Ground rules are different from paper to when it is implemented. The government has done a great job with housing plans, and housing for all is happening. But my wish is that in Tier 1 cities, land can be made more available at a lesser cost in the affordable housing. And that is what will take off for most people to get a home.

In cities like Mumbai or Delhi, Rs 40-50 lakh doesn't get you anything. There is lots of land which is unused now, or can be reused, can be released for affordable housing.

What has been the impact of other housing scheme by entities like SBI, HDFC and Tata Housing. What has been the impact of scheme by private entities?

The advantage of private developers is that they already have a kind of relationship with most of the institution. Any good developer has a certain line or connections to pick up finance to complete a project. With government, there are so many ifs and buts and somewhere in the past people questioned the quality of the government housing schemes. But things are changing now.

Frankly, it is not government's job building homes, they should facilitate house building.