The Hindu : FICCI seeks infrastructure status for housing

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 25, 2003

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FICCI seeks infrastructure status for housing

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI FEB. 24. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has suggested that housing should come under the ambit of infrastructure and enjoy all the benefits now accorded to that sector. It notes that the existing statutory definition of infrastructure does not specifically mention housing and needs to be changed. The chamber points out that in China over 55 per cent of the foreign direct investment in the initial years had come from FDI extended to the housing sector.

Further, there is need to enlarge the scope of infrastructure to include sites, establishment of townships, water purification facilities, pipelines and sewerage systems, it says.

In a statement issued today, the FICCI says that since 1995 the housing sector has contributed greatly to the economy. This could be attributed to substantial thrust given to housing sector in the past few budgets, spurt in demand due to entry of multinationals, expansion of the service sector with commensurate increase in supply of houses by private developers. Despite these positive developments, it feels the desired impetus has not been given to this sector.

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