IFC fixes Rs. 14079cr for low cost housing

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is currently negotiating with various real estate players and housing finance companies to build affordable housing projects in India on a massive scale, has fixed Rs. 14079cr ($ 3billion) per annum investment for the next three years. Of the Rs. 16425cr ($ 3.5billion) that it had committed earlier, over Rs. 12202cr ($ 2.6billion) have already been invested in various projects across the country, said Director South Asia, Paolo Martelli.

He added that if the projected housing deficit in India is 25 million units then such a huge requirement may not be tackled completely from a real estate point of view. The IFC can help the country with advice as how affordable housing requirement has been tackled in other countries including Mexico and the Corporation is also holding talks with Homex and Mexico for repeating similar projects in the Indian housing sector. In India IFC is currently continuing to go by its three pillar strategy of inclusive growth including climate change and regional integration. In regard to micro finance, he pointed out that 75 per cent of the industry is still in four southern states and the Corporation is trying to focus on the low income states.

In India, the IFC is concentrating on the development of infrastructure like power, cold chains, renewal energy, climate change, trade finance and micro finance and in both the past fiscals the IFC has the highest exposure of Rs. 16425cr ($ 3.5billion) in India. The corporation is currently talking to various groups including Tatas and other corporate companies and is keen to build one of its projects in the next six months. About 22 per cent of the IFC’s exposure in India consists of equity and debts, he claimed.