The Promise Betrayed: When Dreams Become Nightmares
In the concrete jungles of Mumbai’s suburbs, Priya Sharma stares at an incomplete 15-story structure that was supposed to be her family’s new beginning. Five years ago, she and her husband, both IT professionals, invested their life savings and took a hefty home loan for what the glossy brochure promised would be their “dream home.” Today, that dream stands as a skeletal reminder of broken promises—windows without glass, walls without paint, and hope without foundation.
Priya is not alone. Across India, over 4.12 lakh families like hers are trapped in a cruel cycle of paying EMIs for homes they cannot live in while simultaneously paying rent for the shelters they actually inhabit. The Supreme Court has now declared that the right to secure and timely possession of one’s home is a facet of the fundamental right to shelter under Article 21, transforming what was once viewed as a commercial transaction into a constitutional guarantee.
The Human Cost of Systemic Failure
The numbers tell a story of unprecedented distress: ₹4.08 lakh crore worth of stalled projects, affecting middle-class families—teachers shaping young minds, doctors saving lives, soldiers protecting our borders, and bureaucrats serving the nation. These are India’s backbone, yet they find themselves crushed under the weight of a system that treats housing as speculation rather than shelter.
The Supreme Court’s recent landmark judgment in “Mansi Brar Fernandes v. Shubha Sharma” has finally acknowledged what millions of homebuyers have endured in silence: that “housing is neither a luxury nor a commodity for speculation—it is a fundamental human need.” This recognition comes at a critical juncture as India embarks on its journey toward Vikasit Bharat 2047, where the promise of developed nation status must begin with the basic dignity of a roof over every citizen’s head.
A Ray of Hope: SWAMIH’s Success Story
Yet amid this crisis, there are beacons of hope. The SWAMIH Fund has already touched the lives of 50,000 families, delivering completed homes to those who had almost given up hope, while SWAMIH Fund-2 with its ₹15,000 crore allocation aims to complete an additional 1 lakh affordable housing units.
When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman handed over keys to homebuyers from projects including Avant Hillways, Vision Heights and Shubham Trident in Mumbai, those weren’t just keys—they were symbols of restored faith in the system. Each key represented a family’s journey from despair to joy, from uncertainty to security.
The SWAMIH Investment Fund brings hope to India’s real estate sector, addressing one of its hardest challenges—stalled housing projects, rescuing countless homebuyers from financial limbo. This government-backed initiative has proven that when institutional will combines with human empathy, miracles are possible.
The Constitutional Awakening
The Supreme Court’s recent intervention represents more than legal doctrine—it’s a moral awakening. By elevating housing to a constitutional right, the Court has recognized that in a nation aspiring to be developed, no citizen should be forced to choose between paying for a home they cannot live in and affording basic necessities for their family.
The Court’s comprehensive directions spanning infrastructure upgrades to systemic reforms provide a roadmap that aligns perfectly with Prime Minister Modi’s vision of Vikasit Bharat 2047. The court has suggested the creation of a revival fund through NARCL or by expanding the existing SWAMIH Fund to offer bridge financing for viable projects undergoing insolvency proceedings.
Beyond Numbers: The Ripple Effect of Revival
When real estate projects revive, they do more than provide homes—they restore faith in institutions, revive local economies, and rebuild communities. Every completed project means:
- Children who can finally have their own rooms instead of cramped rental accommodations
- Families who can celebrate festivals in their own homes rather than temporary shelters
- Senior citizens who can find peace in the security of owned property in the twilight period of their life
- Local vendors and workers who regain employment as construction resumes
- Banking sector stability as NPAs reduce and lending confidence returns
The construction and real estate sector supports over 500 allied industries—from steel and cement to furniture and electronics. When projects stall, the pain cascades through the entire ecosystem, affecting everyone from daily wage labourers to white-collar professionals. On top of that, Real estate is the biggest wealth creator across the world. Maximum number of people have become rich in the developed world on account of growth of value of their homes.
Real Estate Sector was behind China’s consistent and stupendous growth of approx. 10% over a period of 20 years from 1993 to 2013 which made it number two economy in the World. It was the services sector which contributed the most to this growth and Real Estate was the major component of services sector.
The Amitabh Kant Committee: A Blueprint for Dignity
The seven-point framework recommended by the Amitabh Kant Committee isn’t just policy prescription—it’s a charter for restoring human dignity:
- Mandatory RERA Registration: Creating transparency so families know exactly what they’re investing in.
- De-linked Registration: Ensuring homebuyers aren’t penalized for developers’ failures.
- Accelerated Certificates: Removing bureaucratic bottlenecks that hold families hostage.
- State Rehabilitation Packages: Acknowledging that housing is too important to leave to market forces alone.
- Professional Administration: Bringing competence where negligence once thrived.
- Structured Financing: Making last-mile funding available when families need it most.
- Strategic IBC Use: Ensuring resolution processes serve homebuyers, not just creditors
Institutional Innovation: Building Trust Through Action
The success of institutions like SWAMIH Fund and the emerging role of NARCL, the Bad bank in rehabilitating stalled infra projects demonstrate that Indian institutions can deliver when they prioritize human welfare over bureaucratic processes. With a total corpus of ₹25,000 crore, the SWAMIH funds ensured completion of of more than 50,000 housing units and aiming to complete another 30,000, directly helping distressed homebuyers and reviving the real estate sector.
The Corruption Epidemic: The Hidden Cost of Broken Dreams
The systemic corruption plaguing India’s real estate sector operates as an invisible tax on every homebuyer’s dream, adding an estimated 15-30% to project costs while extending completion timelines by 2-3 years on average. From the initial approval stage, builders must navigate a labyrinthine system where “greasing multiple palms” becomes a prerequisite for basic clearances, with bribes demanded for environmental and zoning approvals that should be routine administrative processes. This corruption creates a vicious cycle where bureaucrats deliberately introduce red tape to extort more bribes, lowering investment efficiency and affecting economic growth while innocent homebuyers bear the ultimate cost.
The corruption web extends far beyond simple bribery, encompassing internal cartels within real estate companies where senior functionaries create their own networks, leaking sales leads to brokers and distributing kickbacks across sales, marketing, and corporate communication departments. Each approval—from land clearance to building permits to fire safety certificates—becomes an opportunity for extraction, with scrutiny fees of Rs 33 per square meter for residential projects and Rs 66 for commercial ones, plus development charges of Rs 350-700 per square meter representing just the official costs before unofficial demands begin. Environmental clearance delays alone have impacted over 200 projects in Mumbai, leading to increased costs, timeline extensions, and overall uncertainty that ripple through the economy by slowing construction activity and job creation.
The human cost of this corruption is devastating for middle-class families who watch their hard-earned savings disappear into a black hole of bureaucratic greed. The numerous approvals required from different divisions make the process time-consuming, resulting in delays in project completion, while families continue paying EMIs and rent simultaneously. State corporations like BMC, MMRDA, DDA, and HUDA have transformed from public service entities into rent-seeking operations where every certificate, every clearance, and every approval becomes a revenue opportunity at the expense of homebuyer welfare. This systemic failure represents not just financial theft but a fundamental betrayal of the constitutional promise that housing is a right, not a privilege to be purchased through bribes.
A Vision for 2047: Homes as Foundations of Development
As India approaches its centenary of independence, the transformation of real estate from a source of exploitation to a foundation of empowerment will mark a defining achievement in our developmental journey. Vikasit Bharat 2047 cannot be built on the tears of homeless homebuyers or the foundations of broken promises.
The Path Forward: Five Pillars for Transformative Change
- Expanding Financial Architecture Beyond SWAMIH’s Success
Building on SWAMIH’s proven track record of completing 50,000 homes, a transformative National Real Estate Revival Fund with ₹50,000 crore corpus can operate as a comprehensive solution addressing the full scale of India’s housing crisis. This fund would be strategically distributed across the most affected regions, with Maharashtra receiving ₹15,000 crore given that 44% of distressed projects are concentrated in the NCR and Mumbai regions, while Karnataka would receive ₹8,000 crore to address Bangalore’s stalled IT corridor projects that have left thousands of professionals in limbo. Haryana, notorious for Gurgaon’s project delays, would be allocated ₹7,000 crore, and Tamil Nadu would receive ₹5,000 crore to cover Chennai and its surrounding regions.
Providing super priority to such funding over all other claims is the fundamental approach for success of any such scheme. The fund may also try to widen their scope by funding projects which may not have a surplus available by seeking additional FSI from the state Govt. which can then be liquidated in the market to recover their dues.
Such innovative funding structure would require states to contribute equally through their substantial stamp duty collections from real estate transactions, drafting policies which lead to resolution of distressed projects such as allowing concessions in height restrictions, concessions in state duties and development charges, creating shared responsibility and ensuring sustainable financing while aligning state interests with homebuyer welfare. This approach recognizes that states, being the primary beneficiaries of real estate development revenues, must also share accountability for project completion. The immediate impact would be transformational, with potential to rescue 2 lakh additional housing units over the next three years, directly benefiting 8 lakh family members who currently live in the painful uncertainty of incomplete homes.
2. Revolutionizing Transparency Through Digital Integration
Learning from the recent launch of India’s unified RERA portal, a comprehensive digital ecosystem would create unprecedented transparency and accountability in real estate development. This integrated platform would feature real-time project dashboards offering live construction progress through drone-enabled monitoring, monthly updated financial health indicators, consumer complaint resolution tracking within 30 days, and automated alerts for any project delays or fund diversions that could harm homebuyer interests.
The system if also integrated with the Information Utility (NeSL) database would create a seamless stakeholder integration network where RERA registrations link directly with bank lending data, IBC proceedings connect with project monitoring systems, building approval status flows from municipal corporations, and environmental clearances integrate from state pollution boards.
Transparency features would include public access to developer track records and financial statements, escrow account monitoring with automated fund release triggers, consumer rating systems for projects and developers, and mobile applications allowing homebuyers to track their investment progress in real-time.
3. Creating Specialized Institutions for Human-Centred Solutions
The establishment of specialized financial institutions would address the unique challenges of real estate distress that traditional banking systems struggle to handle effectively. A dedicated Housing Distress Resolution Corporation, operating either as a subsidiary under NARCL, or as a new bad bank type entity, can be staffed with construction, legal, and financial experts who truly understand project completion requirements rather than just asset liquidation. This institution would possess authority to take operational control of stalled projects and maintain fast-track approval powers for necessary clearances, breaking through the bureaucratic bottlenecks that often doom revival efforts.
Community-centric housing finance companies would emerge as banks with significant real estate NPAs contribute equity to create institutions focused on completion financing rather than traditional construction loans. These specialized entities would operate with a mandate to prioritize homebuyer welfare over maximum returns, maintaining regional presence to understand local market dynamics and regulatory environments. Risk-sharing mechanisms would include government guarantees for completion financing up to 80% of project cost, insurance products specifically designed for homebuyer protection, and penalty structures for developers that automatically trigger alternative financing when projects face delays.
4. Harmonizing Regulations for National Standards
The critical challenge of regulatory harmonization would address the reality that states like West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab have significantly diluted RERA provisions for political convenience, creating an uneven playing field that disadvantages homebuyers. A standardized national framework would ensure identical consumer protection across all states, implement standardized penalty structures for non-compliance, establish unified dispute resolution mechanisms, and enable cross-state project monitoring capabilities that prevent developers from exploiting regulatory arbitrage.
Coordination protocols between IBC and RERA would include joint training programs for officials from both systems, shared case management platforms, standardized homebuyer priority mechanisms in insolvency proceedings, and time-bound coordination requirements with maximum 30-day response times for inter-authority communications. The corruption elimination framework would leverage digital approval systems that eliminate human discretion in routine clearances, establish time-bound approvals with automatic deemed sanctions, create public grievance mechanisms with built-in accountability measures, and ensure regular rotation of officials in approval authorities to prevent the entrenchment of corrupt practices.
5. Learning from Global Excellence
International collaboration would draw from proven global success stories, particularly European models that have successfully addressed similar crises. Spain’s SAREB model, created after the 2008 financial crisis, successfully resolved €107 billion in real estate assets while completing thousands of housing projects, providing a blueprint for large-scale intervention. Ireland’s NAMA experience offers insights into effective portfolio management and project completion strategies, while Germany’s social housing integration demonstrates how public-private partnerships can ensure affordable housing completion without compromising quality or timelines.
Best practice implementation would incorporate lessons from Iceland’s mortgage relief program, which has been studied extensively by the IMF for its innovative approach to breaking vicious cycles in housing distress through temporary forbearance and strategic restructuring. Singapore’s Housing Development Board provides a systematic model for treating housing as a fundamental right rather than a market commodity, while South Korea’s Housing Finance Corporation offers a specialized institutional framework specifically designed for housing distress resolution.
Knowledge exchange programs would facilitate deep learning through annual India Real Estate Resolution Summits bringing together international experts, officer exchange programs with successful global housing agencies, technical assistance partnerships with the World Bank’s Global Program for Resilient Housing, and research collaborations with institutions like IFC’s Distressed Asset Recovery Program. The Govt may also allow international players to enter distressed Real Estate and mass housing project to develop professional market practices with tight regulation. The implementation timeline envisions establishing institutional frameworks and launching pilot programs in three states during the first year, scaling successful models nationally while integrating digital platforms in the second year, achieving completion of 50% of currently stalled projects by the third year, and ultimately eliminating homebuyer distress by 2047 while establishing India as a global model for housing rights implementation.
The Human Imperative
Every stalled project represents more than financial loss—it represents shattered dreams, broken families, and eroded trust in institutions. When we speak of resolving distressed real estate projects, we’re not discussing asset recovery or corporate restructuring—we’re talking about restoring dignity to millions of Indian families who dared to dream of a better future. The Supreme Court’s recognition that housing is a fundamental right under Article 21 transforms every incomplete building from a commercial failure into a constitutional violation. This shift in perspective—from seeing homebuyers as consumers to recognizing them as rights holders—is fundamental to building the New India envisioned in Vikasit Bharat 2047.
Conclusion: From Crisis to Constitutional Promise
The convergence of judicial wisdom, institutional innovation, and political will creates an unprecedented opportunity to transform India’s approach to housing. The success stories emerging from SWAMIH Fund prove that when government acts with empathy and efficiency, miraculous transformations are possible. As we stand at this inflection point, the choice is clear: we can continue to treat housing as a commodity where profits matter more than people, or we can embrace it as a constitutional guarantee where every Indian family’s dream of a home contributes to our collective dream of Vikasit Bharat.
The keys that Finance Minister Sitharaman handed over in Mumbai were more than just metal and plastic—they were symbols of a promise kept, a trust restored, and a future secured. The challenge now is to multiply this joy a hundred thousand fold, ensuring that by 2047, no Indian family waits in vain for the keys to their constitutional right of dignified shelter.
The foundation of Vikasit Bharat must be built not just with steel and concrete, but with justice, empathy, and the unwavering commitment that every Indian deserves not just a house, but a home—a place where dreams take shape, families flourish, and the promise of a developed nation becomes a lived reality for all.
By Mr. Sanjeev Pandey, CEO, AIPE