Realty major DLF may withdraw from the much-hyped affordable houses, stating low margins under the scheme are unattractive as the firm grapples with 25 per cent rise in net debt to Rs 18,463 crore.
Talking to analysts, DLF executive director Saurabh Chawla said that along with other realty firms and associations, the company has approached the government for possible tax incentives to develop affordable houses, but have not got any.
“We are very focused on margins… If it doesn’t make sense, we will not be launching the projects,” he added.
Entering the race for low-cost housing, the company had planned to build 1,00,000 affordable homes at a price below Rs 20 lakh at major cities across the country and the first such project was to come up in Gurgaon.
“Today, the whole real estate industry has same tax rates and there is no difference (of taxes) between luxury houses and development of slums,” Chawla said.
The other industries, such as automobiles, there are different tax structures between mass and premium products, he pointed out.
The company had planned to come out with an affordable housing project in Gurgaon, but it is getting delayed because of regulatory issues, Chawla said.
“We may still come out with one or two projects depending on the markets. Also there may be some cases, where we will change the project into a luxury one,” he added.
On its future projects, he said: “Going forward, we will be launching projects if we get all regulatory approvals and it will depend on absorption capacity of the markets… We are also concerned about inflation and we want to doubly sure that we make money.”
