Exempting proceeds from the sale of a residential property from Capital Gains tax if they are invested in equity or equipment of an SME definitely provides home owners with more reinvestment options. Previously, the only route for exemption was purchase of another property or tax saving bonds and at the same time, this move could also result in a lowering of sales volumes on the secondary sale market.

He believes that it is difficult to see the raising of the personal income tax exemption limit from Rs 1.8 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh as anything more than tokenism. It is certainly not relevant for the aspiring Indian middle-class home buyer. The expected exemption limit of Rs. 3 lakh would have had some significance. Although, the 1% tax rebate for home loans of up to Rs.15 lakh on homes costing up to Rs. 25 lakh will prove beneficial for developers in this segment.

Also the postponement of a firm decision on FDI in multi-brand retail gave disappointment. We seem to have missed yet another opportunity to boost the Indian economy by ways of significant foreign capital inflows.  On the other hand, the increased spend on warehousing will certainly help the retail real estate sector, since more storage capabilities will help retailers to expand into more cities and towns.

Even the increased service tax rate from 10% to 12% will increase the cost of production for developers, who are already reeling under high input costs which means that this increased burden will be passed on to end users.

Joint secretary in the finance ministry KP Krishnan said government is likely to revisit norms for VC funds and talks have already been held with the market regulator SEBI towards this end.

Efforts are also on to create a legal framework so that venture fund investments should not land in a few sectors only and equitable distribution takes place. The government is specifically worried about huge fund inflow in sectors like real estate, which has affected investments in other hi-tech sectors like software and biotechnology. At the same time, it has led to appreciation in the prices of real estate in the country.

Government, it is learnt, is considering to give some new tax incentives to venture funds and PE funds to invest in high-risk areas.

Venture funds invest in the equities of high growth companies to earn hefty returns. At present, foreign funds have an advantage over their domestic counterparts under the existing tax system of the country.

Head of financial services at PWC India, Punit Shah said foreign VC funds are at an advantageous position against domestic ones, while investing other than nine hi-tech sectors like biotechnology, software and nano technology. Government gives tax sops (no capital gains tax on profit) to domestic funds if they invest in these nine sectors but not others.

But sectors like real estate is not included in this list. Therefore, when a domestic venture fund invests in an unlisted real estate company, he pays tax on the capital gains earned while exiting the company, Shah added.

But, foreign funds registered in tax heavens like Mauritius and Cyprus do not pay any tax on the capital gains earned such transaction because of the double tax avoidance treaty. The new initiative, according to Krishnan, would ensure that same tax rule apply on both foreign and domestic VC, PE funds to achieve a level-playing field. Besides, the move will also make the investments by these entities transparent. For this purpose, the government would like to redefine VC, PE and hedge funds.

On its part, SEBI will make it mandatory to register VCs and PEs after compiling data about their investments in sectors like real estate, ITeS, education. SNI director TC Nair said that at present the market regulator has no definite source about the exact investments of PEs and VCs.