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Sachin Sandhir underlines the need to ensure a high degree of professionalism in the real estate sector

The real estate professional services have not quite matched the expectations of clients resulting in a tarnished image. As land, property and construction sectors across the world are becoming intrinsically linked and interwoven, more and more organizations and clients are seeking business partners, vendors and their representative professionals with a certain level of technical expertise, at par with international norms and greater assurance of quality standards.

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Most international investors for example, expect professionals operating in the Indian real estate and construction sector to talk the language of international real estate. Being relatively new to the domestic market, they seek genuine business advice from reputed and credible people.
Given the state of the industry today, it becomes a tough ask to sift out the so-called ‘black-sheep’ from the flock and ensure that they work with people who possess a certain level of knowledge, experience and competence.
This establishes the precedent for ensuring a high degree of professionalism in the realty sector, as is seen in several other professions like accountancy and medicine, which are large international multi-disciplinary practices highlighting consistency of service and culture.
To draw parallels to accounting, in India, chartered accountants are regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The ICAI ensures that accountants who possess a certain minimum level of competence, gauged through a three level examination and months of rigorous training, are only awarded the well established title ‘Chartered Accountant’.
The ‘CA’ designation or equivalents such as ACA, FCA, AICWA, FICWA, CMA, etc are therefore respected as a mark above the rest in the accounting profession.
In many ways, this practice of employing qualified professionals is a key feature of modern business management’s realization that the singular pursuit of profit is not the only business objective and does not always serve the client’s interest.
Being part of the service industry, organizations realize the need to win customer confidence and trust, which can be consistently achieved through self regulated professionals. This lends organizations the power to provide a level of protection to clients, as professionals who imbibe these qualities continually campaign to raise the perception of integrity.
In such a scenario, self regulatory professional bodies become all the more relevant as they provide property professionals with a chartered qualification in the form of globally recognized designations; equip them with technical knowledge, extend continuous learning and development opportunities and through regular monitoring, also ensure that a strict code of ethical conduct is adhered to at all times.

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