Nirmala Sitharaman approves Rs 8,767 cr for 81 stressed housing projects; Read More-

New Delhi, July 24: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviewed the performance of the special fund to revive the stressed housing projects in the country. She announced that so far approved Rs 8,767 crore for 81 stressed residential projects under this special fund. This will enable the completion of nearly 60,000 houses across India.

 

The Minister for reviewing the progress of Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH)with Secretaries of Ministries of Finance and senior management team of the State Bank of India, SBI Capital Markets Limited, and SBICAPS Ventures Limited (SVL).

 

The SWAMIH Investment Fund I projects are spread across a mix of markets including large cities such as NCR, MMR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and also Tier 2 locations including Karnal, Panipat, Lucknow, Surat, Dehradun, Kota, Nagpur, Jaipur, Nashik, Vizag, Chandigarh, etc. Amongst these projects, investments in 18 projects have been given final clearance and disbursement is at various stages across 7 residential projects, while applications from 353 stressed projects are under examination for provision of assistance.

 

 

 

It was also highlighted that activation of these construction sites by the Special Window would provide employment opportunities for various skilled and semi-skilled laborers. Additionally, the fund is actively evaluating options to provide relief to 15,000 home buyers in certain long-stalled projects which are pending before the Honourable Supreme Court for resolution.

 

The recent initiative by the Fund to reduce the cost of capital to 12% has resulted in an increase in the number of projects that meet the funding criteria laid out under the Special Window. The Minister suggested that both private and public Banks, NBFCs and HFCs should see the Special Window as a stakeholder and increase support early completion of stressed projects.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the control mechanisms being built in by the Fund to monitor project progress and ensure prudent utilization by calibrating investments in line with project progress. These steps would also bring in greater transparency in the sector in terms of accountability of project cash flows and eliminating diversion of funds.

 

During the meeting, the Finance Minister asked the Department of Economic Affairs to closely monitor the performance of the fund in order to ensure that the capital raised by the Fund is rapidly committed to resolving stressed projects and remove any impediments that could arise in this process. She also wanted speedy efforts to complete the construction of projects for which last-mile funding has been sanctioned.

 

The opportunity provided by the special mandate in this Fund combined with active support from existing project financiers should be directed towards this objective of providing immediate relief to homebuyers.SmtSitharaman stated that this Special Window was an unprecedented initiative that has provided extraordinary support to the real estate sector and poised it at the cusp of a turnaround despite such turbulent economic times.