NHB to raise Rs 4,500 cr in next 6 months

NEW DELHI: Housing finance regulator National Housing Bank (NHB) today said it will raise about Rs 4,500 crore this fiscal to fund housing activities.

"We have already raised Rs 4,500 crore and Rs 4,500 crore will be raised during the remaining period of the current fiscal," NHB Chairman and Managing Director R V Verma told PTI on the sidelines of a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) event here.

The bank, which is wholly-owned by RBI and follows the July-June financial year, has fixed the refinancing disbursement target for 2011-12 at Rs 12,500 crore against Rs 11,723 crore in last fiscal.

The funds will be raised from different channels like bonds, LIC, banks and financial institutions and international financial institutions and utilised for refinancing housing loans of housing finance companies and commercial banks.

RICS today presented a concept of an affordable house, which uses ready-made materials and reduces the time of construction by up to 90 per cent, mainly for the Tier-II and -III cities. The prototype of the house is expected to be ready in the next one year.

With latest technology and materials, such affordable houses incur construction costs of Rs 900-1,200 per sq ft.

When asked if NHB will give spacial consideration to buyers of such projects, Verma said: "We may have a role in advocating such houses with fiscal benefits once we are convinced that these are economically viable... May be, we will involve in a dialogue with the government to promote this concept of housing."

Source: EconomicTimes