Build in India: Inside the great construction boom
₹15,000 crore. Whitefield, in short, is a microcosm of the huge spurt in construction across Indian cities—even in smaller towns. The evidence is in numbers.
The construction sector grew 13.3% in the September quarter of 2023-24 from a year earlier in terms of gross value added (GVA), estimates from the National Statistical Office, released on 30 November, showed. About 15,68,281 residential units were under construction in the top seven tier-1 cities between April-September 2023, as per Liases Foras Research, a real estate research company. In the years leading up to the pandemic, the pace of real estate construction was slow.
Developers faced weak sales and cash flows leading to huge project delays. And then, during the pandemic, most construction activity came to a standstill. The pick-up in construction started in the last quarter of 2021, gained some momentum in 2022, and further pace in 2023.
What led to this spurt? An ongoing residential real estate boom. As companies started asking employees to head back to the office after allowing work from home during the pandemic years, the demand for homes in cities shot through the roof. On the other hand, transport infrastructure projects have picked up pace, too.
“This year, the maximum construction activity in infrastructure is in railways and highways/roads. About 40% of the Union budget for infrastructure ( ₹10 trillion) was allocated towards these sectors. Projects that were going slow till 2022 have picked up significantly.
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