The city today witnessed the 3rd Annual Edition of Real Estate and Construction Legal Summit (RCLS) 2014, conceptualized and organized by Lex Witness – India’s first Magazine on Legal and Corporate Affairs. A platform for the stakeholders of the Housing, Retail, Hospitality, Commercial and Construction professionals of the country, the one day summit saw an interesting debate take place on the complex regulatory and legal hassles discouraging the sector from growing at a beneficial pace.
Real Estate is the India’s second largest employer in the economy, after agriculture, contributing about 6.3 per cent to country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The foreign direct investment (FDI) in the segment is expected to touch US$ 25 billion in the next 10 years from its current US$ 4 billion. On the other hand, the construction development sector, including townships, housing and built-up infrastructure garnered total FDI worth US$ 22,671.95 million in the period April 2000–August 2013.
Some of the factors contributing to the evolution of the sector include rapid urbanization, an increasing trend towards nuclear families, positive demographics, rural–urban migration, ever-developing infrastructure and housing demand. However, at the same time realty market is facing a lot of operational challenges, subdued sales, heaps of unsolved inventory and situations where builders are going bankrupt as economy remains under stress. Realty prices have also been surging in an exceptional manner unlike income levels which are not rising.
Experts present at RCLS 2014 shared the need of a comprehensive approach aimed towards healthier process of operations in India realty market with due cooperation from governing authorities and forthcoming contributions of developers and other stakeholders in this sector.
The summit focused on key areas for discussion which included analyzing the current legal, regulatory and compliance effecting value chain for real estate, construction and infrastructure companies; Land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement Bill, 2013 - Industry Implication; Companies Act, 2013 and it impact on real estate and construction companies; Bribery and corruption issues; Practical advice on land acquisition due diligence with respect to the land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement Bill, 2013; Proceed with due diligence' - What does it mean in construction contracts and development agreements; Due diligence for avoiding future disputes and litigation in purchase of government owned land and infrastructure and development projects and developing a tangible due diligence checklist.
Sharing his views on the Summit and discussions undertaken during the day, PBA Srinivasan, Editor-in-Chief, Lex WITNESS said, “Indian real estate sector has traditionally been an unorganized sector but is slowly evolving into a more organized one. The historic passing of the Land Acquisition Act is a significant development as it will now guide all land acquisitions of central and state governments, bringing in stricter norms and increasing landowners’ compensation. All the voices at RCLS 2014 echoed the need to address the critical issues affecting the larger wing more aggressively.”
The expert speakers’ panel at the summit included Geetu Singh - Associate Director, PwC; Hardeep Sachdeva – Partner, AZB & Partners; Dr. Sanjeev Gemawat - Senior Vice President and Head - Legal & Secretarial, DLF Rentco Group and DLF Holdings; Sushil Aggarwal - Vice President (Co. Affairs & Legal), MVL Limited; Amitabh Chaturvedi - Managing Partner, Mine & Young Advocates & Consultants; Shweta Girotra - DGM – (Legal) & Company Secretary, Bharti Realty; Sunil Mantri – CMD, Sunil Mantri Group; Chetan Dutt, Vice President - Legal, at M3M India Ltd; R.D. Khullar - Head Legal, SREI Infrastructure Finance; Tushar Chawla - India General Counsel and Director at Jones Lang LaSalleand many more industry luminaries.
Sharing his thoughts on the Summit, Akshay Alagh, Group Business Head, Lex Witness said, “Lex Witness ever since its inception has always believed in creating platforms to discuss the legal challenges of various industry sectors. This has been through the mighty space of the magazine as well as a series of knowledge based summits so far in various sectors like the Banking&Finance, Pharma, Media & Advertising, Information Technology and this being Real Estate & Construction. We at WITNESS look forward to creating even more interesting formats in the times to come.”
RCLS 2014 initiative was supported by PWC as GRC Partner, AZB & Partners – Advocates & Solicitors as Principal Partner, Mine & Young Advocates & Consultants as Knowledge Partner, Deepak Sabharwal & Associates as Kit Partner, BLACKPEN LCC as LitCom Partner, Society of Indian Law Firms, Indian Corporate Counsel Association as Fraternity Partners, IOD – Institute of Directors as Supporting Partner, Lawyers Club India and CA Club India as Online Media Partners.
About Lex Witness
WITNESS is a high quality monthly magazine with the power of fresh and original content that deals exclusively with subjects on legality. Some of India top-notch practitioners and experts contribute in WITNESS on subjects relevant to all stakeholders in this profession.
WITNESS, has become India's most credible platform for the legal luminaries here to opine, comment and share their views. With an interesting blend of opinion pieces, commentary, reportage, analysis, interviews and movements, Lex Witness is a monthly magazine that reaches out to the entire fraternity of General Counsel/ Corporate counsel and lawyers and law firms besides key decision makers, luminaries, experts, policy makers, bureaucracy and the industry captains in India. (www.witnesslive.in)
For more details on the Summit visit www.rcls.in
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