Is My Car A Real Estate Issue?

Suresh Rana, 23, was a bright and hardworking employee working with a leading information technology company. His bosses acknowledged this and soon Rana saw himself leading a team of 20 people, and becoming the boss of people much senior to him in age as well as experience. His old motorbike, thought Rana, was much below his current station in his professional life. So, he bought a fully financed car.

Interestingly, it was extremely easy for Rana to do so. In less than 15 days, Rana was driving a brand new car, much to the awe of his colleagues.

Rana is not alone in aspiring to graduate to a four-wheeler. The number of registered vehicles on India's roads, official data show, doubles every seven years.

For many like Rana, the impact that their vehicles will have on the traffic condition of roads is going to be the least of their concern. Worse still, this population would also not venture into thinking about the parking space.

Only a select few in Rana's office are allowed to park their cars in office parking lot. Rana is forced to park his much-loved vehicle in an unofficial parking lot while paying more for it. Things only get worse when he reaches home. His lives in a humble rented accommodation, and there was no deal with the landlord to provide Rana with a parking space. He has to enter into arguments on a regular basis with his neighbours to park his vehicle.

When Rana grows richer and buys a house in one of the fancy apartments, things may not get better. He would own two cars then — he would be much senior in the profession at that time and it would only be fair to keep another vehicle of a higher brand — while his society would allow him parking for only one.

Buying a car might be our personal choice, but the bearing of our personal decision could be of national significance. Road infrastructure is a crucial part of a nation's real estate and so are parking lots. The parking lots in Delhi's central business district Connaught Place, for instance, are property counted among the most expensive globally. Their hourly rent would be much higher than you pay for parking your four-wheeler.

As there is no law to ban people from buying cars or to stop them from doing so when they hit a particular number while they go on the buying spree, authorities have been spending millions to manage traffic and parking issues major India cities are becoming infamous for.

Resorting to “whimsical” or radical ideas such as the odd-even road space rationing — which was implemented in national capital Delhi in two phases — failed to yield the desired result. It won't be surprising if India formulates a law curbing vehicle ownership in the times to come.