There are major shortages in India’s housing stock, with a backlog in 2012 estimated at 19 million units. Developers tend to avoid entering the low-income market due to the perceived risk – which can be attributed to low-income residents’ lack of access to conventional finance. As a counter to these issues, India’s Low Income Housing Finance Project aims to provide sustainable housing finance to low-income households, particularly those with informal incomes or living in informal dwellings, in order to purchase, build, or upgrade dwellings.
In order to provide support and incentives to lending expansion for lower income groups, this project has three mutually dependent components. First, a focus on capacity building of the National Housing Bank (NHB), Qualified Intermediary Institutions, and QPLIs; second, financial support for NHB to refinance low-income housing loans; and third, the establishment of a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) responsible for helping NHB implement, monitor, evaluate, and manage the project.
Source: World Bank Project Appraisal Document. (2013) World Bank. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/781631468293092708/pdf/768290PAD0P119010Box374388B00OUO090.pdf