The much needed impetus to the housing sector, especially affordable housing has been well formulated

- Dinesh Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, Anchor Electricals Dinesh Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, Anchor Electricals, on Union Budget 2017-18: As was expected, the Budget has focussed on galvanising the rural economy, which will create enhanced demand for products of basic need. The much needed impetus to the housing sector, especially affordable housing has been well formulated by giving them infrastructure status, and thus reducing the cost of borrowing for developers and bringing-in more private investment in this area and creating avenue for more foreign funds in this sector. Refinancing of individual loans by NHB, reducing the holding period for capital gains tax, changing definition of low-cost housing based on carpet area,  creation of 1 crore affordable houses by 2019 are some more key steps in this direction. These initiatives, coupled with the positive effects of demonetisation and GST, will help the building construction industry immensely in the coming years.