“The Loan and Project Agreements for World Bank (IDA) assistance of $ 100 million for low-income housing finance project were signed between Government of India/National Housing Bank (NHB) and the World Bank here yesterday,” the Finance Ministry said in a release today.

The agreement was signed by Department of Economic Affairs Joint Secretary Nilaya Mitash, NHB Chairman and Managing Director RV Verma and World Bank (India) Operations Advisor Michael Haney, it added.

The objective of the project is to provide access to sustainable
housing finance for low-income households to purchase, build or upgrade
their dwellings, it added.

Financing under the project aims to
create incentives for lenders to focus on lower-income households
through a net all-in reduction of the lenders’ cost of funds of about
200-300 basis points, the release said.

“It is a financial intermediary loan for an implementation period of five years. NHB is the implementing agency,” it added.