Govt injects ₹10,000-cr in affordable housing

The government has announced a funding bonanza of ₹10,000 crore for the individual housing loan segment. The National Housing Bank (NHB) will make available a liquidity infusion facility of similar amount for the Housing Finance Companies, as additional liquidity for individual housing loans for affordable housing. The Finance Ministry statement said that this will be over and above the two existing refinance schemes of the NHB. Issues related with affordable housing loan along with those of MSMEs, retail and automobile sectors will be taken up during the meeting of the Finance Minister with heads of all banks (public as well as private) scheduled to take place shortly. The meeting will also dwell on areas of priority for the banking sector in the coming months for accelerating the GDP growth. In addition, the Ministry also announced that the government has approved the modalities on one-time partial credit guarantee to public sector banks for purchase of high-rated pooled assets of financially sound NBFCs, as announced in the Budget. The Financial Services Department will put in place an overseeing mechanism for this scheme.