Transforming Realty Landscape with Larger Women Footprint

The first ever convention of NAREDCO-MAHI (women wing of NAREDCO), themed, ” Realty Women-The Transforming Catalyst to Real Estate’, held in New Delhi on February 25, 2022, brought into spotlight the significant role the women realtors can play in leading the pandemic-hit real estate’s transition into a more technology-oriented and sustainable sector.

Addressing the convention, Secretary, Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) Shri Manoj Joshi said that women stakeholders in India’s real estate sector including developers and urban planners can play a major role in bringing about urban planning across the country. While exhorting the industry to focus on environment, water and transportation, he pointed out that since we need more and more urban planning capacities, it opens up greater scope for women. He further added that the government’s reformist policies are promoting fair business practices in the industry that involves women in large numbers.

Addressing the convention through a video message, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Housing and Urban Development welcomed the greater participation of women in the real estate sector He was of the view that the real estate sector has demonstrated resilience amid pandemic and by empowering women in this space, the sector will be further strengthened.

Gautam Chatterjee, Founder Chairman, MahaRERA said that although there is lesser representation of women in the management of real estate companies, the sector cannot be termed as male-dominated. He said that there are several surveys that suggest that companies with higher percentage of women in leadership roles perform better. He stressed on the need for faster adoption of technology in the real estate space.

Tara Subramaniam, Founder President of NAREDCO MAHI mentioned that though real estate is a male-dominated sector, through MAHI an attempt is being made to bridge the gender divide. She said that a vast change can be made through skilling and imparting sector-specific knowledge to women across the country. Stressing the need to work towards climate protection by adopting green building practices, she said that women should think of progressive ways for driving the sector’s growth.

Founder President Elect of NAREDCO MAHI, Dr. Ananta S Raghuvanshi said that the announcement of skilling of women could not have come at a better time when Covid has impacted the overall employment scenario. This, she said will have a trickle-down effect, in turn supporting the growth of evolving real estate sector and the economy as a whole.

NAREDCO President Shri Rajan Bandelkar while emphasizing on further empowerment of RERA authorities said that women have taken a lead in transforming and spurring growth in several sectors and real estate is set to benefit from their knowledge, insights and industrious attitude.

Smt D. Thara, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)stressed on the need for women to bring about different and new dimensions into property development and architecture. Emphasizing on creating new opportunities for women and breaking traditions, she called for promoting women masons and sub-contractors to benefit the sector.

Perin Devi, Joint Secretary (IFD) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Surina Rajan, DG, HIPA, Niranjan Hiranandani, Vice Chairman, NAREDCO, Rajeev Talwar, Chairman Emeritus, NAREDCO and Alok Gupta, Director General, NAREDCO also addressed the event that also  highlighted the impact of women in the transformation of the facility management sector in India.

The convention brought into focus NAREDCO MAHI’s aim to increase the women participation in management level positions. It is eyeing the 10% growth rate across junior, middle and higher management levels. Further, apart from the emphasis on a better gender parity in managements, NAREDCO MAHI plans to go big in terms of supporting the pink collared workers in realty, comprising largely the labourers. It plans to upskill at least 1,000 women every year and enhance the annual addition to the skilled labour base in times ahead.

The convention will hasten the process of preparing a roadmap for the industry to restructure itself in order to become more inclusive and empathetic.

Torbit Realty 2021 Book Cover Launched at NAREDCO-MAHI Convention