pune the real estate sector in the pune metropolitan region on monday expressed optimism over finance minister ajit pawars announcement of a 1 concession of women homebuyers during his budget speechlarge real estate players and collectives in the region felt that the reduction in stamp duty would give a muchneeded fillip to the sector which went through a rough patch due to the pandemic last yearwhile the market enjoyed a purple patch of sorts in the last quarter of 2020 due in large part to the 3 reduction in the stamp duty the rate was increased by 1 from january the concession is to be phased altogether from march 31 an uneasy prospect for some in the real estate sectorin his budget speech on monday pawar said the 1 concession coinciding with international womens day was an empowerment measure the move is expected to cost the exchequer rs1000 crore and the government has raised taxes elsewhere particularly on indianmade foreign spirits to make up for thisthis the concession will not only help the construction sector but is also an important step towards womens empowerment poonam gokhale director of gokhale constructions saidcredaipune metro also lauded the proposal and noted that this had been a longpending demand in fact credaipune metro had earlier requested the state government to offer a discount on stamp duty if a flat is registered in the name of a woman so in a sense our demand has been accepted suhas merchant president of credaipune metro told toi