The Centre for Social and Economic Progress hosted the seminar on House Prices in India: How High and for How Long? on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, from 4:00–5:30 pm. Attendees joined in person at the CSEP Auditorium (6 Jose P Rizal Marg, 2nd Floor, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi – 110021) and via Zoom. The seminar was streamed live on YouTube.

About the event

Access to decent housing is a prerequisite for a good quality of life. Despite its importance, housing remains unattainable for a large section of India’s population—close to 17% of all urban households live in slums. The situation is especially grave in larger cities—41% of households in Greater Mumbai, 30% in Kolkata, and 29% in Chennai live in slums. Given the pervasiveness of the problem and its debilitating impact on the wellbeing of individuals, the Government of India has launched several schemes over the years to address this challenge, such as the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana with a central outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore. In light of the importance and scale of this housing deficit, and the consequent public resources devoted to it, it is important to get to the root of the issue and ask—How expensive really is housing in India, and why? Further, what factors have driven house price growth in India over the past few decades? Answering these questions will help formulate targeted reforms that address the core of the problem and provide a holistic framework essential for policymaking in the future.

Welcome Remarks

•  Laveesh Bhandari is President and a Senior Fellow at CSEP. He has been leading climate change and sustainability research at CSEP, and has published widely on subjects related to sustainable livelihoods, industrial, economic and social reforms in India, economic geography, and financial inclusion. He has taught economics at Boston University and IIT Delhi. He has been the managing editor of the Journal of Emerging Market Finance and worked at the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi.

Panelists

• Nandita Chatterjee has been a career civil servant for nearly 44 years, having served in different capacities in West Bengal at the federal level, in the Government of India at the union level, in international organisations such as UNDP and WHO, and as a Member/Judge in Service Tribunals. During her tenure as the Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, the Government of India had initiated the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana both for urban and rural areas.The Real Estate Regulation and Development Act (RERA) 2016 and its associated Rules were also enacted during her tenure.She was the team leader in designing the Reproductive Child Health II for India which was later adapted as the National Rural Health Mission. Under her leadership, the World Bank funded India Population project VIII was recognised as an international best practice. She also served as a Capacity Development Advisor in Central Asian countries while working with UNDP.She was elected as the Vice-President to the Bureau of the 25th Governing Council of UN-HABITAT at Nairobi and led the country delegation for India at the HABITAT III conference which had resolved on the “New Urban Agenda”. Presently, she is appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations as an Advisor in the realm of Local and Regional Governments.
• Rishi Raj is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Max Estates Limited. As the COO, he drives business strategy, growth and execution (Commercial and Residential business vertical), strategic partnerships, cross functional strategic initiatives and, overall P&L of Max Estates Limited (MEL). He has 23+ years of experience in research, analytics, consulting, corporate strategy, business strategy and P&L/Operating role. Prior to joining MVIL, he was with Max India Limited leading Strategy and Corporate Development function for the Max Group.
  
  Before joining Max Group, he worked at McKinsey & Company for 17 years. As a global COO of McKinsey’s Center of Excellence (COE) for Strategy and Corporate Finance Practice, Rishi led a global team of 70+ client service professionals. As owner of P&L, managed delivery to clients across continents, and, implemented product, process and people related innovations & transformations in collaboration with global and regional firm leaders, helping them expand their geographical footprint. In his individual capacity, Rishi has guided strategy for clients across sectors and geographies. He is also passionate about training and has served as senior faculty for capability building programs for consultants and clients globally.
  
  
• Pritika S. Hingorani is CEO (India) at Artha Global. She also leads Artha’s work on cities and sustainability. Pritika has close to 20 years of development sector and consulting experience, having spent the last 10 years helping build and scale IDFC Institute, a Mumbai-based think/do tank, as Director and Research Fellow. Before IDFC Institute, Pritika was Senior Vice President at IDFC’s Policy Advisory Group, and was a consultant to the Indian Institute of Human Settlements. Prior to her work in India, Pritika spent several years in economic consulting with Charles River Associates across their Financial Economics, International Trade, and AntiTrust practices in Washington D.C., and London.
  
  Pritika has a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a dual Bachelors degree in Economics and Political Science (Honours) from Bryn Mawr College. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees for SaveLife Foundation, on the Board of Reviews for CEPT University, and on the Judging Academy of the World’s Best School’s Prize. She is also the recipient of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Excellence in Public Service Award.

Concluding Remarks

• Om Prakash Mathur is Visiting Senior Fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) and Senior Fellow, Global Cities Institute, University of Toronto. He has served as a Senior Fellow and Chair, Urban Studies, at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi and held the position of IDFC Chair Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi. He was also Director, and subsequently Distinguished Professor, at National Institute of Urban Affairs.
  
  He was on the technical staff of the UNDP, heading the Decentralization Project of the Imperial Government of Iran, and later served as a senior faculty at the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Nagoya, Japan. He has served as a member of the UNDP’s Advisory Panel on Urban Management Programme, a member of the UN-Habitat’s Advisory Group of Experts on Decentralization, and a member of the ADB-GIZ Advisory Panel of the City Development Initiative for Asia.
  
  He was a member of the former Prime Minister’s National Review Committee on Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, a member of the High-Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure Investment Requirements and a member of the Advisory Panel of McKinsey Global Institute (India). He served as Editor, Environment and Urbanisation Asia, Sage – Asia, and a member of the Editorial Board, Review of the Urban and Regional Studies, Japan. He is currently a member of the Editorial Board of Urbanisation, a bi-annual, peer-reviewed journal, Sage Publications.
  
  He has written extensively on urbanisation, urban governance, and urban finance, and authored several books and papers published in peer-reviewed journals. He has a Master’s in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and attended graduate courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.

Presenters:

• Nandini Agnihotri is a Research Analyst in the Economic Growth and Development vertical. Her primary research focus lies within urban economics. Her previous research has explored the impact of mandatory disclosures on reducing information disparities in the Indian housing market. She has also studied factors influencing the reporting behaviour of English language media in the context of land and property conflicts. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.
  
  
• Annie George is a Research Assistant at CSEP. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. She has also served as Research Fellow at Goutham Krishna Research Institution, a fellowship programme at St. Stephen’s Department of Economics wherein she focused on measuring unpaid work done by women in the state of Kerala. She has also interned with EY in their tax practice department.

Moderator

• Shishir Gupta is a Senior Fellow and Chief Operating Officer at CSEP in New Delhi. His work focuses on many aspects of Indian economy ranging from economic growth, governance and institutions to urbanisation and sub-national reforms, among others. Prior to joining CSEP in August 2020, Shishir was with the McKinsey Global Institute for 14 years. He is an economist by education, with an MA and MPhil from the Delhi School of Economics.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.