Building a New India. The blueprint address.
An address by RIRIC Chairman Manoj C. Benjamin to the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India — setting out the FDI, deregulation and single-window reforms required to modernise India's urban infrastructure and housing sector.
“According to Government of India estimates, approximately US$200 billion will be required over the next 7–10 years for basic infrastructure projects.”
Delivered in New Delhi in 2000, Chairman Manoj C. Benjamin's address to NAREDCO framed the defining economic question of the decade: how would India finance the physical and digital infrastructure of an emerging superpower? The answer, then as now, was foreign direct investment channelled through a reformed, transparent framework — the very playbook RIRIC would spend the next quarter-century executing on the ground.
The Opportunity
An 80-million-unit housing shortage — 40 million urban — and an infrastructure base built for a nation of a different era, now facing a population set to surpass China's by 2050.
The Deficit
Since 1980, China attracted ~US$350B in FDI to India's US$18B. Public monies for infrastructure are scarce; private capital and large-scale FDI are the only viable answer.
The Prescription
Deregulation and privatisation — a transparent, single-window, investor-friendly framework that channels global capital into urban infrastructure and housing.
“There can be no growth without reforms.”
Eleven reforms to unlock FDI.
- 01.Open the nation to greater foreign ownership in urban infrastructure and housing.
- 02.Create sustainable corporate tax incentives — infrastructure status and a 10-year tax holiday for township development.
- 03.Align state-level policy with central FDI policy.
- 04.Institute a true single-window clearance system with professionally trained staff.
- 05.Reduce tariffs on advanced building equipment, production systems and construction technology.
- 06.Modernise labour law so developers can respond to market and technology changes.
- 07.Liberalise exit barriers so firms can enter and restructure with appropriate safeguards.
- 08.Continue liberalising banking — construction, raw-land and subdivision finance; introduce REITs.
- 09.Build institutional presence on the ground to link FDI to domestic equity and debt.
- 10.Develop clear, transparent, sector-specific policy frameworks.
- 11.Establish promotion offices in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major capital markets.
Read as a policy artefact, this 2000 address is remarkable for how completely it anticipates the reform agenda that has since defined Indian urbanisation — REITs, single-window clearance, infrastructure status for townships, and the invitation of long-term global institutional capital into commercial and residential property.
Benjamin, Manoj C. Building a New India. Address to the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India. New Delhi, 2000. Royal Indian Raj International Corporation.
Suggested attribution when quoting or referencing this whitepaper.