MHFC hopes to exceed Rs 400 crore loan book by fiscal end

The Micro Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC), which provides loans to the affordable housing segment, is hoping to exceed a Rs.400 crore loan book by end of the current fiscal, a top official said on Tuesday.

It is also expecting that the demand for affordable housing will grow up owing to introduction of the credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS).

"We are hoping to exceed Rs.400 crore loan book by end of this fiscal (2015-16). We should be able to disburse Rs. 200 crore by end of this month. Our loan book was Rs 220 crore last year (2014-15)," MHFC director Madhusudhan Menon said at a programme here.

The scheme was launched in June last year aiming to boost institutional credit flow to the housing needs of urban poor, particularly in the segment of economically weaker section (EWS) and low income group (LIG).

To avail the scheme, the house owner should either be a woman or she can be a co-owner. The owner having bank accounts and Aadhar card should not have a registered property in her name in India to get the benefit of the scheme. The applicant under the scheme can get maximum of Rs 2.20 lakh subsidy on home loan given upto Rs 6 lakh.

Menon said: "The real demand should come from the 90 percent of the population who do not have the affordability to buy these houses. That is why we are looking for more partners (real estate developers) across the country to increase the supply in the affordable housing segment."

MHFC is presently working with 350 developers, out of which close to 50 are active, Menon said.

Nationally, about 1,200 loans have been qualified under the scheme till December last year, of which, 350 loans were given through the corporation, Menon said.

He also ruled out the risk involved in providing finance to this segment.

"Every single customer of ours are repaying on time. It is not true that low income households are not able to afford or repay loans," he said at the launch of some housing projects of city based developer BGA Realtors.