Higher costs and delays in approvals & clearances are adding to the real estate sector's woes, but government's more efficient support can help accelerate the sector's growth, Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Association of India (Credai) chairman Lalit Kumar Jain said.

Mr.  Jain said a large number of housing projects were stuck just because of delays in approvals and clearances by the governments; while soaring construction and labour costs added to developers' woes.

He stressed that timely approvals and clearances would drag the total cost of projects down by as much as 40 per cent.

Speaking on the topic, He added, "Today, real estate sector is the largest generator of economic activity contributing 6.3 per cent to GDP and has the ability to drive the economy to a double-digit growth."

He suggested that 'single window clearance' would help accelerate growth of real estate sector.

Mr.  Jain also expressed his concern over loss of white-collar jobs in the sector.  He said 8-20 per cent of white-collar workers, including architects, sales personnel, designers and engineers, had lost their jobs over the past nine months.

Indian real estate sector directly employs 7 crore people, of which 50lakh to 56lakh are in white-collar jobs and the remaining are in blue-collar jobs.