Organising the unorganised: role of platform intermediaries in the Indian real estate market

Abstract

A large component of the Indian economy is still in the unorganised (or informal) sector. The emergence of new intermediaries leveraging the Internet has contributed significantly to organising the hitherto unorganised sector. We discuss the case of the Indian real estate industry and elucidate how Internet-based intermediaries have mitigated the problems associated with the unorganised nature of the industry. The three primary problems associated with the unorganised nature of the industry are adverse selection, moral hazard, and weak contract enforcement. Leaders representing four leading real estate platforms discuss how organising the real estate business as a platform business model helps mitigate these risks.