CREDAI seeks regulators for steel/cement industry sectors

The top officials of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (CREDAI) told the media referring to the runaway prices of steel and cement; real estate developers hope that the central government sets up a regulator for these two sectors. They also said that the possibility of importing cement should be noted as the rise in the prices of construction inputs squeezes out their margins and might have to be passed on to the customers. Pankaj Goel, the Secretary, told the media that the price hike in steel might be because of a shortage in supplies as the plants are focused on producing oxygen for Covid-19 patients. Goel said that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposed a penalty of about Rs 6000 crore on the cement companies before cartelisation, and the matter is under appeal. The officials told the media that the cement prices went up by 20% and the steel prices by 40% in recent times. CREDAI officials said the imports of cement could be challenging given the clout that the cement manufacturers have. CREDAI has urged the government to infuse financial stimulus and initiate progressive measures to help the sector's recovery. The officials said that a survey report has been made with the participation of 4,813 developers from 217 cities and is the latest ground report on which the government should base its decisions. As per the survey report, over 95% of developers feel inevitable project delays if no urgent relief measures are injected into the sector by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). These delays are caused by various factors, like project approval delays and labour shortage at construction sites. As indicated by the survey, 98% of the developers face reduced customer enquiries, and 42% of the developers experience a 75% decline in customer enquiries. Additionally, the report reveals that the second wave of the pandemic has caused 95% of customers to postpone their purchase decisions. Image Source Also read: Rising steel, cement prices to impact real estate Also read: Steel prices: In a year, HRC up 40%, TMT 30%; Consumption to grow 10%