Home Price Rises Slow in India Thanks to Modi’s Cash Ban

  • New law, tax add to industry woes as sales, launches decline
  • Developers predict recovery in months; analyst sees more pain

Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg

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India’s property sector was already battling a slowdown last year, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s crackdown on cash quashed any hope of an imminent revival.

Removing 86 percent of cash, at the time a key part of many real-estate transactions, dented sales and new launches of residential projects, which make up 80 percent of the market. The government’s clean-up measures have since continued, with new home-buyer protections rolled out in May and a nationwide sales tax in July, both further constraining the industry as developers focused on compliance.