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Union Budget 2022: Tax rebates in Budget for realty vital for salaried class

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Currently, one-third of India’s population reside in cities and it is estimated to go up to 50 per cent by 2030. There is a steady rise in the number of households with a shift towards nuclear families and increased urbanisation.

The 66 per cent young population – below 35 years of age, are emerging as young millennial borrowers of home-loans. It is also true that home-loans market is driven by young borrowers within the age group of 26-35 years – about 25 per cent and also by people in the age group of 36-45 years – about 28 per cent. These are all active home-loan audience and jointly account for 53 per cent of annual originations.

The average ticket size of a home-loan of young borrowers has continued to increase over the last 5 years, with a CAGR of 6.2 per cent. The ticket size continues to increase more for women than men. The cumulative active home-loan base of these borrowers has seen continuous growth over the last 3 years at a CAGR of 3.5 per cent.

These young borrowers have been the reason for change in the home-loan market.

Within the affordable segment, volume growth in home-loans of Rs 15-35 lakh, over the last 4-5 years, indicate shifting preferences of buyers towards higher ticket sizes. Rural Housing demand for mid-range and higher ticket sizes has continued to increase over the last 5 years too. Share of annual originations (volume) of Rs 35-75 lakh ticket size has increased by 4 per cent in the last 5 years. Share of annual originations of Rs 75 lakh plus ticket size has increased from 0.37 per cent to 0.87 per cent in the last 5 years.

Share of annual originations of Rs 15 lakh ticket size has declined over the last 5 years, largely due to falling demand for very small ticket size segment of Rs 2 lakh.

The dearth of disposable income has been a deterrent factor for salaried class towards taking home-loan and buying real-estate. Since the input cost in real-estate has increased the rates, the salaried class is left with no other option but to approach for home-loans from financial institutions. Interestingly, the tenure of repayment of home-loan is fluctuating between 11-30 years.

There is also a deterrent factor for salaried class in home-loans and EMIs. The EMIs are no more supportive since the financial institutions first draw larger part of interest in the EMIs and principal component is kept less in more than first 50 per cent of the EMIs. As the EMIs near completion, the interest component becomes negligible and principal component is much higher.

Even if the buyer has the provision of pre-payment of home-loan, he ends up paying the larger portion of principal amount rather than saving on the interest. Further, the financial institutions also levy heavy fees on pre-closure of loans. In case the buyer opts for higher tenure for loan repayment, it then makes it difficult for the buyer to invest in second property.

One question that has been asked frequently is – “If the principal and interest amount are predefined, why the EMIs can’t have equal amount throughout the tenure.”

Coming to tax benefit, repayment of principal amount in a home-loan qualifies for deduction under section 80C, which has an upper limit of Rs 1.50 lakh per annum. Since the same section – 80C, accounts a number of other investments including PF, PPF and life insurance policies etc, it becomes impossible for a buyer to take advantage of any benefit out of this section.

Buyers are looking forward to increase in this limit in Union Budget-2022 since this limit has not been increased in last many years.

On the tax benefit for interest payment, since under section 20(b) of the Income Tax Act, there is a cap of Rs 2 lakh per annum on the interest part of the home-loan, home-loans being larger in size, the buyers are unable to take much benefit of the same too. To extend tax benefit to the buyers the government has also added few sub-sections 80EE, 80EEA under the Income Tax Act but the volume of loan is not allowing buyers to gain desired additional benefits out of these sub-sections.

What perhaps needed in the Union Budget 2022 is to bring dynamic changes in the income-tax slabs and increase the rebates under section 80C, 80EE, 80EEA and 24(b) of the Income Tax Act.

One of the greatest philanthropists Andrew Carnegie said – “Ninety percent of all millionaires become so through owning real-estate.” Andrew Carnegie is one of the five people who built America, the other four being Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Henry Ford. Harv Eker, an author and businessman, known for his theories on wealth and motivation said – “Don’t wait to buy ‘real-estate’, buy real-estate and wait”. These two statements said all about owning real-estate and what it could mean to a buyer.

Globally, investment in real-estate is directly related to the future of a buyer and also growth of the economy, and so be in India.

Business

CBI books Reliance Commercial Finance, its promoters in Rs 57.47 crore bank fraud case

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Mumbai, Dec 9: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday said it has filed a criminal case against Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL) and its promoters and directors over allegedly causing wrongful loss of Rs 57.47 crore to Bank of Maharashtra.

The case has been registered against RCFL — a company of Reliance ADA Group, its promoters/directors and unknown bank officials, on the allegations of criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal misconduct and thereby, the CBI said in a statement.

According to the statement, the loan account of Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd was declared an NPA by the bank on March 25, 2020 and also as fraud on October 4, 2025, for causing wrongful loss of Rs 57.47 crore to Bank of Maharashtra.

“RCFL was availing loans to the tune of Rs 9,280 crore from 31 banks/ FIs/NBFCs/Corporate Bodies, etc., including Bank of Maharashtra. A thorough investigation will be conducted into the allegations of defrauding all the banks/FIs, etc. by the accused company,” said the CBI.

The probe agency obtained search warrants from the court of a Special CBI judge, Mumbai and commenced searches at the official premises of RCFL at Mumbai and the residential premises of Devang Pravin Mody, Director of the company, at Pune, on December 9.

“Several incriminating documents have been observed and are being taken into possession during searches. Searches are in progress,” the CBI said.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a supplementary charge sheet against Reliance Power Ltd and 10 others, in the case of fake bank guarantees of Rs 68 crore submitted by Reliance Power Limited to the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for the purpose of securing a tender issued by it. ED attached the proceeds of crime worth Rs 5.15 crore as well.

Reliance Power Ltd said in a statement that “ED allegations have not yet passed through judicial scrutiny and the Company has not been held guilty of any wrongdoing”.

“As per law settled by the Supreme Court, the company will get an opportunity to put across its case and facts before the court, even before cognisance, so filing of this complaint does not affect the affairs of the company in any manner,” said the company in an exchange filing.

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Business

IndiGo Crisis Day 8: Mumbai Hit Hard As Flight Chaos Enters Day 8; Over 30 Cancellations Snarl City’s Air Travel

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Mumbai: air travel operations remained disrupted on Tuesday as IndiGo’s nationwide aviation crisis stretched into its eighth consecutive day, causing large-scale cancellations and commuter chaos across the country. But Mumbai, one of IndiGo’s busiest and most critical hubs, continued to bear a brunt of the meltdown, with passengers facing uncertain schedules and repeated last-minute cancellations.

By 9:30 am, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport had already logged 31 IndiGo cancellations, including 14 inbound flights and 17 outbound departures. Long queues, anxious passengers and repeated rescheduling announcements dominated Terminal 2 through the morning peak hours, leaving thousands scrambling to adjust their plans.

Across India, more than 200 IndiGo flights were cancelled today. Bengaluru topped the list with 121 cancellations, followed by Hyderabad (58), Chennai (41) and Kerala with four. But for Mumbai passengers, many of whom rely on IndiGo for frequent business and leisure travel, the interruptions continued to be especially disruptive.

The turmoil, which began last Tuesday, has snowballed into a full-blown operational crisis. Over 4,500 flights have been cancelled between last week and Monday. Even though IndiGo claimed on Sunday that operations were ‘stabilising,’ the airline saw over 500 fresh cancellations on Monday alone, leaving passengers stranded overnight at multiple airports, including Mumbai.

The root of IndiGo’s meltdown has been linked to the airline’s inability to implement the second phase of India’s updated Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), which came into effect in November. The revised norms, aimed at cutting pilot fatigue and extending rest periods, required IndiGo to restructure crew rosters. However, the airline has reportedly been struggling with a pilot shortage, leading to a mismatch between the new regulations and its available manpower.

To reduce pressure on airlines and mitigate the ongoing disruption, aviation regulator DGCA temporarily relaxed certain night-duty and weekly rest requirements for pilots. This relaxation is expected to help airlines stabilise operations through emergency rostering flexibility.

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu told Parliament that IndiGo did not raise any concerns during a crucial meeting on December 1, just a day before the cancellations spiralled. He attributed the chaos to the airline’s internal system rather than regulatory pressure.

The government has now decided to sharply cut IndiGo’s winter schedule. The airline, which operates 2,200 flights a day and commands nearly 60 per cent of the domestic market, will see its schedule curtailed, with several routes handed to other carriers to prevent further passenger inconvenience.

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Business

LT Foods drops over 6.5 pc, other Indian rice stocks also slide

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Mumbai, Dec 9: Shares of leading Indian rice companies fell sharply on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump hinted that he may impose fresh tariffs on agricultural imports, specifically targeting Indian rice and Canadian fertilisers.

The statement triggered immediate selling in stocks linked to the rice trade. LT Foods was the biggest loser, with its share price slipping 6.85 per cent to Rs 366.55.

Shares of KRBL also declined, falling 1.14 per cent, while GRM Overseas dropped 4.46 per cent.

The sudden slide reflected investor concerns that any new US tariffs could hurt export demand and impact earnings for these companies.

Trump made his remarks during a White House event where he announced new support measures for US farmers.

His comments come at a time when trade tensions between the United States and India continue to resurface.

India remains the world’s largest rice producer, with an output of 150 million tonnes and a 28 per cent share in global production.

It is also the top exporter, accounting for 30.3 per cent of global rice exports in 2024–2025, data from the Indian Rice Exporters Federation showed.

Despite this large global presence, India’s rice exports to the US are relatively small.

According to the India Brand Equity Foundation, India shipped around 234,000 tonnes of rice to the US in the 2024 financial year, which is less than 5 per cent of its total global basmati exports of 5.24 million tonnes.

West Asian countries remain the biggest buyers of Indian rice. Among the varieties exported worldwide, the Sona Masoori variety is especially popular in markets like the US and Australia.

The US, under Trump’s leadership, has already imposed steep tariffs on India, including a 50 per cent tariff — its highest — along with a 25 per cent levy on India’s Russian oil imports.

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