NHB to disburse Rs 500 cr though micro-finance route in a year

Mortgage finance regulator National Housing Bank (NHB) today said it aims to disburse Rs 500 crore in a year through micro-finance route to one lakh borrowers.  

"We have set a target of offering micro-finance to one lakh borrowers this year. The average ticket size in our micro-finance scheme is Rs 50,000," NHB Chairman and Managing Director S Sridhar told PTI on the sidelines of a real estate seminar here.  

Besides its head office in Delhi, NHB's five regional offices market the micro-finance scheme through micro finance institutions and non-government organisations, he said.  

NHB launched the scheme almost a year back to help the urban poor and a few months ago started dolling out funds under it in rural areas. It has so far sanctioned Rs 75 crore under the scheme.  

 

It has tied up with 15-18 agencies to market the scheme. Now, to reach out to the rural poor aggressively, the bank is talking to 25 agencies for similar associations, K Muralitharan, General Manager (micro-finance), NHB, said.  

According to NHB estimates, there is a shortfall of close to 32 million housing units in the country and more than 70 per cent of that is among the economically weaker sections (EWSs) and low income groups (LIGs).  

"Even at a conservative estimate, this requires close to Rs 10-lakh crore investment," Sridhar said.