Real estate sector’s full digital banking solution is ICICI Bank’s STACK for real estate.

Almost 7% of India’s annual GDP is generated by one of the fastest-growing industries in the nation: real estate. Following the epidemic, there is a much higher demand for real estate, particularly residential housing. To meet this growing demand, ICICI Bank created a digital banking STACK for real estate, which enables builders, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and alternative investment funds (AIFs) to carry out financial transactions quickly and conveniently on a single platform by combining digital and physical solutions.

Real estate stakeholders can handle their financial activities more effectively thanks to the real estate STACK, a safe, streamlined, and integrated banking platform. It provides REITs and AIFs with services for the digital collection, reconciliation, distribution of surplus, and custodial services.

The STACK improves the financial and operational efficiencies of the developers by providing a single dashboard to manage all the services, including the digital generation of account numbers for RERA registration, construction financing, lease rental discounting, collection, and refunding of all the projects. Additionally, it offers developers specialized collecting solutions that are designed for both projects pre- and post-launch.

“There is a huge growth momentum in the real estate business across the country, including tier I, II, and III cities,” said Sumit Sanghai, Head- of Large Clients Group, ICICI Bank. Although more than 80% of residential transactions in India still take place in the top seven cities, demand from tier II and III cities has been very strong as well. This is mostly due to the development of digital architecture and infrastructure, which is fuelling significant end-user demand, particularly for residential real estate.

It is essential to have solutions that enable bulk payments, digital collections, and other financial services that facilitate the efficient operation of the organization in order to meet this demand. In light of this, ICICI Bank has introduced the real estate STACK, a ground-breaking program built around the whole real estate ecosystem. It was developed to meet the demands of all parties involved and to aid in the expansion of the industry as a whole.

The ‘ICICI STACK for Corporates’, which the Bank introduced last year to offer a customized set of banking solutions for corporates and their complete ecosystem, is expanded by the ‘Real Estate STACK’. The Bank provides builders with construction financing, regulatory services, inventory funding, and lease rental discounts through the real estate STACK (LRD).

Sanghai continued: “A “Phygital” solution, real estate STACK combines the advantages of the physical and digital worlds. The goal is to offer a solution for the complete ecosystem, greatly simplifying the consumers’ journey. Although consumers can access all of these services digitally, there are some portions of the journey that require physical interaction, which is handled through our branches and distribution partners.”

Additionally, the STACK gives the stakeholders the ability to easily manage their payment responsibilities to other stakeholders including suppliers, employees, utility providers, and statutory payments.

For any family in India today, owning a home is both a necessity and an aspiration. Therefore, I believe that the banking and real estate sectors should work well together. To fulfill the demands and expectations of families, the banking sector must work closely with developers, who must concentrate on forming the best partnerships possible “Sanghai stated.

The launch of STACK is a significant step towards digitalization and transparency for the real estate sector. It has the potential to transform banking in the real estate sector and might play a significant role in the sector’s expansion.