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India Is Now At The Cusp Of Becoming A Transparent Market

By Rishabh Chamoli | 2022-10-14

RERA and digitisation of real estate transactions have pushed Indias score higher on the Global Transparency Index, reveals latest report

Indias improvement in its composite transparency score between 2020 and 2022, was higher than some of the top 10 transparent markets like the UK, Australia, Canada, and Ireland, mentions JLLs India Excerpts and Perspectives Global Real Estate Transparency Index report.

Digitisation leading to improvement in data availability as well as overall market fundamentals, a developing REIT market and new sustainability regulations, have been key to Indias push towards transparency.

India is the biggest improver in APAC second year running
India is among the top global improvers, with institutional investment and the growing numbers of REITs helping increase market data and drive better professionalisation of the sector, regulatory initiatives, and digitisation of land registries (through the Dharani and MahaRERA platforms).

Sustainability
Sustainability hasnt been one of the major areas for change over the last couple of years for India, but investors and occupiers are driving this change. Several initiatives are underway at either the national or local level that includes the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct from 2021, with reporting for the largest 1,000 companies by market cap expected to be compulsory from 2022 to 23, and local plans such as Mumbais Climate Action Plan (MCAP), released in 2022, which is expected to establish a system to conduct regular energy performance benchmarking of buildings by 2025, and mandate a building energy management system in all new buildings.

Regulatory and legal
A host of new regulatory reforms aimed at enhancing transparency through better reporting of beneficial ownership, anti money laundering regulations, Model Tenancy Act and digitisation of land records through the Dharani platform for example are new initiatives. Regulatory initiatives from previous years like Real Estate Regulation and Development Act 2016 (RERA), GST, Benami Transaction Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 2016, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, continue to be improved upon.

Market fundamentals
The only parameter in which India ranks among the top 20 globally and has improved its position and composite score in 2022.

APAC countries were among the biggest improvers in this parameter, ahead of even the most transparent markets, with India at the joint-top spot among its APAC counterparts.

Transaction process
This was the parameter on which Indias score improvement was the highest in GRETI 2022. With reforms also creating the push for better professional standards for property agents and an environment for weeding out illicit finance through stringent anti money laundering regulations, the transaction process in India has improved a lot. Indias improvement in this parameter was just behind Vietnam and Malaysia among other APAC countries.