Cabinet clears ₹25,000-cr window to start stalled realty projects

The Centre has opened a ₹25,000 crore special window to provide last-mile funding facility to about 1,600 stalled projects requiring about ₹55,000-80,000 crore for completion. The Cabinet has given its nod for setting up Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) for financing affordable and middle-income housing projects, projects classified as NPAs, and where National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) proceedings have already started. In the latter case, however, the project should not have gone into liquidation. The Government will act as the sponsor of the fund infusing ₹10,000 crore to provide relief to developers with unfinished projects and ensure delivery of homes to buyers, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. SBI, LIC and other public sector financial institutions will also pump money into the fund, taking the figure to around ₹25,000 crore. The government expects sovereign and pension funds to contribute at a later stage.

The FM added that the scheme will cover dwelling units of up to ₹2 crore in Mumbai, ₹1.5 crore in Delhi-NCR, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and up to ₹1 crore in other parts of the country. This move will provide relief to more than 4.5 lakh homebuyers as against the government's earlier estimate of 3.5 lakh. Real estate developers have wholeheartedly welcomed the decision. National president of developers body Naredco, Niranjan Hiranandani, urged the government for quicker implementation. Chairman of ANAROCK, Anuj Puri, said that the timeline for setting up the fund and its implementation is critical. Abhay Upadhyay, President of the Forum for Peoples Collective Efforts - a homebuyers' body which has been pushing for a stress fund for quite come time, called upon the government to identify projects that will receive funds so that the hard pressed homebuyers could get some relief.