NHB head meets top HFCs to boost rural demand to meet 'Housing for All by 2022'

Looking to achieve the target of housing for all by 2022, the National Housing Bank (NHB) Tuesday held a meeting with top housing finance companies to give a fillip to rural housing, according to a source.

Representatives of top 15 housing finance comoanies (HFC), which capture about 90 per cent of the market, today met with Additional Secretary, Finance, Dakshita Das, who is also the interim Managing Director and Chief Executive of NHB to understand the "challenges in rural housing and how demand can be boosted in this segment of the market", the source said.

NHB which governs the housing finance companies in the country is owned by the Reserve Bank.

NHB asked the players to have a focussed approach in boosting demand for rural masses so that the government's Housing for All scheme is achieved by 2022.

The government's ambitious 'Housing for All by 2022' has been implemented under two broad categories -- Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin).

The scheme was launched in June 2015 with a vision to enable pucca house for all by 2022.

It also gives subsidy under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) through its Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) for the four sections--urban, rural, economically weaker section/low income group (EWS/LIG) and middle income group (MIG).

To begin with, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are among the five states, where the HFCs have been asked to target 5,000 units in each state to increase home loan penetration in rural areas, according to the person cited above.

To boost the rural housing sector in India, the government has allocated Rs 23,000 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Gramin) to promote affordable housing not only in cities but also in rural areas.

The government intends to complete 10 million homes by 2019.

Besides, the Ministry of Rural Development has launched the Rural Housing Interest Subsidy Scheme (RHISS) under Housing for All by 2022 to provide easy access to institutional loans to needy households for construction or modification of their dwelling units who are not covered under PMAY (U) or PMAY (R).

NHB is the central nodal agency for the CLSS for the PMAY (U) and RHISS under the Housing for All by 2022.