Lex Witness – India’s 1st Magazine on Legal & Corporate Affairs successfully completed its 8th Annual Real Estate & Construction Legal Summit 2019 on 17th May 2019 at Le Meridien, New Delhi. With over 30 industry veterans as Speakers and 100 delegates from Real Estate & Construction Fraternity, the summit proved out to be a commendable knowledge base for the industry.

AN ALL-NEW INDIAN REAL ESTATE FACIA

Real estate sector in India is expected to reach a market size of US$ 1 trillion by 2030 from US$ 120 billion in 2017 and contribute 13 percent of the country’s GDP by 2025. Retail, hospitality and commercial real estate are also growing significantly, providing the much-needed infrastructure for India's growing needs.

Sectors such as IT and ITeS, retail, consulting and e-commerce have registered high demand for office space in recent times. Commercial office stock in India is expected to cross 600 million square feet by 2018 end while office space leasing in the top eight cities is expected to cross 100 million square feet during 2018-20.

Gross office absorption in top Indian cities has increased 26 percent year-on-year to 36.4 million square feet between Jan-Sep 2018. Co-working space across the top seven cities has increased sharply in 2018 (up to September), reaching 3.44 million square feet, compared to 1.11 million square feet for the same period in 2017.

THE INVESTMENT INKS

The Indian real estate sector has witnessed high growth in recent times with the rise in demand for office as well as residential spaces. Private Equity and Venture Capital investments in the sector have reached US$ 4.1 billion between Jan-Nov 2018. Institutional investments in India’s real estate are expected to reach US$ 5.5 billion for 2018, the highest in a decade. Source – The Indian Brand Equity Foundation, 2019

THE ROARING REAL ESTATE SCENARIO

It’s been 2 years now and the nation has undoubtedly gotten together to ensure a transparent, committed and sincere sector to poise forth with. RERA started with a trumpet and has possible been able to achieve some bits as of now. Amongst many other concerns is the lack of unison when it comes to states implementing the Act compared to the nation as a whole. Additionally, while the sector has been gripped with cash crunches and distressed assets, there has also been a splurge of action on the funding, alternative investments, REITs and many other models that have been able to bring back a good investment sentiment in the sector. Technology has also marked its own benchmark where AI, AR and other automation processes are being perused to bring out the best possible sales models with lesser human time being used. So whether it is the Block Chain technology or any other piece, the sector has its tech checks in place to move forth as much.

While, on one hand there remains a very negative and discouraging tone due to the struggles the sector would have gone through, another segment of the market is all geared up to unleash the best out of the promising times to come.

It was in this context, the summit proved to be an interesting mix of legal, regulatory and compliance tropical issues, with focus on following sessions:

India’s Real Estate 3.0 – Nazar Nahn Nazariye Ki Baat?
The Fanatic Funding & Investment Cres – Ache Din Ayenge?
Dispute Resolution – Behas Se Samjhaute Tak!
The Regulatory Menace – Apna Time Ayega :)
The RERA Report Card – Pass Ya Fail ?

KEY NOTE SESSION – INDIA’S REAL ESTATE

3.0 – NAZAR NAHN NAZARIYE KI BAAT?

Gaurav Pandey, Business Head - North Zone, Godrej Properties – MODERATOR
Deben Moza, Executive Director - Head of Project Management Services, Knight Frank (India)
Hardeep Sachdeva, Senior Partner, AZB & Partners
Jogy P Thomas, CEO, Kore Communities
Sudhir Goenka, CFO & CS, Hero Homes

FOCUSSED PRESENTATION BY SUMIT MAKHIJA, PARTNER – FORENSIC, FINANCIAL ADVISORY, DELOITTE INDIA

THE FANATIC FUNDING & INVESTMENT CRIES – ACHE DIN AYENGE?

Sudhir Goenka, CFO & CS, Hero Homes – MODERATOR
Atul Banshal, CFO, Experion Developers
Ram Kolli, Head - Developer Finance, Fullerton India
Ravi Bhasin, Partner, AZB & Partners
Vikas Wadhawan, Group CFO, PropTiger.com, Housing.com & Makaan.com

DISPUTE RESOLUTION – BEHAS SE SAMJHAUTE TAK!

G. Madhusudhana, Senior Vice President - Shared Services, RMZ Corp – MODERATOR
K.P.S Kohli, Partner, Dhir & Dhir Associates
Niraj Singh, Partner, RNS Associates
Nishant Nigam, Head Commercial Litigation and Employment Laws, Chamber of Nigam & Nigam
Pooja Tiku, DGM (Law), IFCI
Pradipta Chowdhury, Legal (Real Estate Affairs), Tata Communications
S. Ravi Shankar, Senior Partner, Law Senate
Sandeep Sangwan, Associate Director - Counsel, CBRE South Asia

THE REGULATORY MENACE – APNA TIME AYEGA :)

Shubha Singh, Company Secretary, Omaxe Limited – MODERATOR
Abhishek Awasthi, Partner, AZB & Partners
Amit Bansal, Partner – Forensic, Financial Advisory, Deloitte India
Girish Rawat, Partner, Dhir & Dhir Associates
Sanjay Gulati, Group Vice President Corporate Tax- GST & Litigation, GMR Group
Shweta Girotra, AVP Legal & Company Secretary, PayTM Money
Subodh Prasad Deo, Partner, Saikrishna & Associates

THE RERA REPORT CARD – PASS YA FAIL?

Nimish Gupta, Managing Director – South Asia, RICS – MODERATOR
Anjana Bali, Head of Legal, Emaar India
Jagdish P. Agarwal, Head Legal, Adani Enterprises

Nilanjna Guha, Senior Legal Counsel, InterGlobe Hotels

The summit ended with an exciting lucky draw with an Amazon Echo Dot Speaker as the Grand Prize, followed by Philips Bluetooth Speaker and JBL Bluetooth Speaker for 1st and 2nd runner ups.

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Ruhini Dey, Arbitration Lawyer, Law Senate

Pinakpani Mahanta, Asst. Manager Legal, Emaar India

Sandeep Singh Cheema, GM Strategic Investments, HT Media

The 8th Annual Real Estate & Construction Legal Summit 2019: Is India Ready for A Facelift?

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