Kolkata’s real estate sector is at the centre of a national debate over construction safety, regulatory compliance and approval delays, with more than 1,000 real estate professionals, including over 800 developers, gathered in the city for CREDAI-NATCON 2026.
The discussions come amid renewed scrutiny of construction practices and regulatory processes, with the Taratala building collapse adding urgency to concerns over safety and compliance in the city’s real estate sector.
The three-day convention, held from October 2 to 4 at ITC Royal Bengal, comes months after the Taratala warehouse collapse triggered a sweeping audit of high-rise construction projects across the Kolkata Metropolitan Area.
CREDAI’s national convention has brought together developers, investors, policymakers, financial institutions, architects, engineers, and legal experts at a time when the industry is grappling with a fundamental question: How can cities ensure safety without allowing regulatory uncertainty to stall legitimate construction?
Sushil Mohta, president, CREDAI West Bengal, said the state government welcomed organised developers and viewed Kolkata as an investment destination. He said reforms in land-related laws could accelerate development, improve infrastructure and reduce costs.
“Some steps are required in the archaic land laws. The Land Reforms Act came into effect in 1956, when the economy was largely agriculture-based. Today, the economy is urban-driven, and for better urban development and infrastructure, we require township laws like Gujarat’s. We also need the scrapping of urban land ceiling provisions and resolution of issues related to farmers,” Mohta said.
{{/usCountry}}“Some steps are required in the archaic land laws. The Land Reforms Act came into effect in 1956, when the economy was largely agriculture-based. Today, the economy is urban-driven, and for better urban development and infrastructure, we require township laws like Gujarat’s. We also need the scrapping of urban land ceiling provisions and resolution of issues related to farmers,” Mohta said.
{{/usCountry}}He said several other reforms could bring greater speed and ease to the development process and reduce costs.
“The crux is land-related laws, township provisions, scrapping of urban land ceiling restrictions and resolution of farmers’ issues. A few crore lakh of investment can come from other cities immediately,” he said.
Mohta said around 1,200 people were attending the conference.
Nikhil Shah, secretary, CREDAI Howrah-Hooghly, said the real estate sector in West Bengal had consistently focused on transparency, compliance and responsible development.
“Following the unfortunate incident at Taratala, the Government of West Bengal took the initiative to undertake a comprehensive scrutiny and audit of real estate projects across the state. For nearly 45 days, the concerned officers and committees meticulously examined projects across multiple parameters, ensuring that statutory compliances, safety aspects and other critical requirements were duly considered,” he said.
Shah said the exercise also provided an opportunity to strengthen confidence in developers and their projects.
“We wholeheartedly acknowledge and support the government’s initiative. We particularly appreciate the efforts of the officers and committees who undertook this exercise with diligence while facilitating clearances on an individual-project basis with considerable speed,” he said.
He added that such a transparent and robust process would strengthen public confidence in the real estate sector and contribute to safer, more accountable and credible development in West Bengal.
Tamal Ghosal, president, CREDAI Howrah-Hooghly, said the government’s objective was to recalibrate projects and ensure everything was in order following the incident.
“CREDAI also looked into the issue. There were a few projects, and we met the chief minister because of delays. There were about 20 projects, and they were unrelated to CREDAI. We were asked to take tests from government institutions. In one way, all our projects were doubly certified,” Ghosal said.
He said the biggest challenge after the construction stoppage was the loss of labour, which created a ripple effect on project timelines.
“When labourers go away, they do not wait. There is a ripple effect of around four months. The work was stalled for 45 days, and there is also a four-month RERA timeline. We requested an extension of the RERA timeline,” he said.
Also Read: Kolkata home sales rise 5% in Q1 2026 to 4,043 units, prices jump 3% YoY
Kolkata’s construction freeze
Kolkata’s experience is particularly striking because of its scale. Following the Taratala warehouse collapse in June, the state government ordered an audit of 706 under-construction projects across 18 urban local bodies and block areas.
Of these, 604 projects came under scrutiny after exclusions such as government projects and buildings that had already received completion certificates. All projects except 26 executed by small-time developers in the suburbs, none of whom were CREDAI members, had been cleared, allowing construction to resume at the majority of the sites.
Earlier in August, CREDAI had said 100% of projects belonging to CREDAI members that underwent the safety audit were structurally sound and compliant, with the scrutiny also examining deviations from sanctioned plans and other compliance parameters.
For developers, however, the prolonged stoppage had implications well beyond construction schedules. A halt affects contractors, construction workers, suppliers, lenders and, eventually, homebuyers waiting for possession. It can also increase financing and holding costs and delay project completion timelines.
Mohta has argued that the audit process and proposed regulatory reforms could provide a more predictable framework for the sector.
“We welcome the state government’s proposed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to improve building safety and regulatory compliance. The government has made significant progress in a short span of time. We have asked for an eight-month extension of approvals and completion validity,” Mohta said in August.
Mohta had also said that allowing time-bound undertakings for minor deviations was a pragmatic approach that could enable construction to resume while developers completed compliance requirements.
Mumbai vs Kolkata: two routes to a construction freeze
The issue has a parallel in Mumbai, where the Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) suspended 1,905 housing projects in January 2025 after developers failed to respond to notices seeking updates on projects whose completion deadlines had lapsed.
The action covered 51 projects in Mumbai and 111 in Mumbai’s suburbs, while bank accounts of the affected projects were frozen.
The Mumbai action was primarily a regulatory-compliance exercise, unlike Kolkata’s safety audit, which followed a fatal construction accident. Yet both cases highlight the same pressure point for India’s real estate sector: a project can be disrupted not only by market conditions but also by regulatory scrutiny, delayed approvals and non-compliance.
In Mumbai, MahaRERA had issued notices to 10,773 lapsed projects, with 1,905 ultimately placed under suspension after developers failed to respond. The consequences included restrictions on transactions and freezing of bank accounts.
Kolkata’s freeze, meanwhile, followed a physical safety disaster and led to project-by-project technical scrutiny. The government’s audit process was intended to determine whether projects should be cleared, required rectification or had serious violations.
The difference matters for homebuyers. In Mumbai, the regulatory action sought to force developers to update project information and comply with MahaRERA requirements. In Kolkata, buyers were affected by a temporary construction stoppage while the government verified whether buildings under construction complied with sanctioned plans and safety requirements.
The common lesson is that compliance cannot be treated as an end-stage exercise. For large housing markets, continuous monitoring, transparent approvals, and clearly defined correction mechanisms can prevent an entire group of projects from being suddenly suspended.
NATCON puts Kolkata’s realty framework in the spotlight
The developments make Kolkata an unusually relevant host for NATCON 2026. CREDAI describes the convention as a platform for strategic dialogue on the future of Indian real estate, including sustainability, technology and progressive policy frameworks.
The convention is also putting Kolkata’s regulatory framework, local housing demand and investment potential under the national spotlight. Mohta said the event would bring national attention to Bengal’s regulatory frameworks, local demand and regional investment opportunities.
The timing also places Mumbai and Kolkata in the same conversation for another reason: redevelopment. CREDAI-NATCON leadership has described Mumbai as a leading example of redevelopment, while Mohta has said Kolkata can learn from Mumbai’s experience in identifying old housing societies and slum areas for redevelopment.
For Kolkata, therefore, NATCON comes at a critical moment. The city is not merely hosting a national real estate convention; it is bringing to the table a live regulatory experience involving hundreds of construction projects.
The challenge now is to ensure that safety scrutiny strengthens confidence rather than creating prolonged uncertainty. For developers, that means predictable approvals and clearly defined compliance pathways. For regulators, it means enforcing safety standards consistently. And for homebuyers, it means greater assurance that a project cleared for construction has passed both regulatory and safety tests.
Kolkata’s 700-project episode and Mumbai’s large-scale MahaRERA enforcement show two different routes through which real estate projects can be stopped. The larger question emerging at NATCON is whether India’s major property markets can build regulatory systems that identify problems early—before a crisis halts an entire construction pipeline.