NHB ties up with 131 institutions to build more homes

Aims to promote 'Housing for All'

Against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to build 20 million houses by 2022, and to meet the demands of the urban population, the National Housing Bank (NHB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI has joined hands with 131 institutions to promote the credit-linked subsidy for home finance.

Talking to Deccan Herald, National Housing Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sriram Kalyanaraman said, “To achieve the vision of the new scheme of the government ‘Housing for All: Mission 2022’, we have joined hands with 131 institutions including banks, Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).”

According to a report, the prime minister plans to build 20 million houses by 2022 to meet the demands of the urban population that is projected to swell 600 million by 2031, up from 377 million in 2011.

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) Housing for All (Urban) Scheme Guidelines 2015 was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 17, 2015.

The PMAY has four verticals, ‘In Situ’ Slum Redevelopment; Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy; Affordable Housing in Partnership; Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction.

 The second vertical Credit Linked Subsidy is the central sector scheme, wherein NHB and HUDCO have been identified as the central nodal agency (CNA) for the implementation of the scheme through Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs).

The salient features of the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) are as follows — Beneficiary Family — Economically Weaker Section (EWS — Household income of up to Rs 3 lakh) and Low Income Group (LIG — Household income of above Rs 3 lakh and upto Rs 6 lakh) family not owning a pucca house in the name of any family members in any part of India.

Eligibility criteria

Geographical Coverage — All 4,041 statutory towns as per Census 2011. Interest subsidy eligibility at the rate of 6.50 per cent for a maximum tenure of 15 years for loan amount up to Rs 6 lakh. The maximum subsidy amount is about Rs 2.20 lakh. Carpet area of the house/flat is up to 30 sq metres for EWS, and 60 sq metres for LIG.

When asked if the target was achievable, Kalyanaraman said, “Every target looks difficult, and the government has set up a very ambitious target. Now, at least, we don’t want to give up by saying it is not achieveable. We are working with various stakeholders in the Centre and states to facilitate this goal.”

NHB feels that housing as a whole is not as much affected as other sectors by NPAs (non-performing assets).

“We refinance to institutions. Our NPAs are below 1 per cent, and some of which is also owing to some projects getting delayed. At this point of time, we don’t look at a major loss situation in any of the accounts,”  he said.

On raising funds, Kalyanaraman said, recently, NHB has received Rs 1,000 crore capital from the RBI, which can be leveraged by it, and utilised for refinancing on housing or any government projects.

Kalyanaraman also added that all options of raising further resources are being looked into and would be decided at the appropriate time keeping in mind the fully loaded cost to NHB.