Having stayed away from the real estate sector till now, the private lender ICICI Bank Construction finance is all set to woo builders with regulatory services. inventory Funding and lease rental discounting as the fastest growing segment with built-in safeguards like a regulatory framework.

ICICI Initiatives Bank Provides instant generation of account number for registration with Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) to builders, better statutory payment efficiently and also enables them to manage payment Liability to vendors, employees and utility providers.

“We are changing our approach towards the real estate sector as RERA has led to developer discipline. We have been tracking the sector for some time now and we see that large developers have got listed and their debt has come down ‘

“Developers now have to seek approvals, ringfence cash flows and improve compliance. Besides, with Covid, the inventory levels have come under control,” he said. Digital Stack also provides Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), including services for digital archiving, reconciliation, surplus. Distribution and custody services.

REITs are trusts that manage a high-quality real estate property portfolio, collect rent through lease income and distribute surpluses to investors. AIFs invest privately pooled money in various asset classes including the real estate sector. Both REITs and AIFs need digitally robust collection, reconciliation and surplus distribution services.

Bagchi said the bank has also changed its approach on construction finance, a segment it had shied away from for some time.

“We were certainly cautious on construction finance, as there were a lot of issues pre-RERA, there are still less than 20 builders doing sales of Rs 1,000 crore every year,” Bagchi said. “Our risk parameters haven’t changed, but many more builders are now qualifying with our rules.”

Bagchi said that ICICI Bank will develop the construction finance book in a risk-calibrated manner without any compromise underwriting standards.

He added that the real estate sector is showing a reduction in inventory levels, although absorption by these units continues.

“We are seeing one-third of the earlier inventory levels, new launches are low and prices are rising,” he said. “I would say the haze has cleared in the real estate sector.”