NABARD May Raise Up To Rs 10,000 Crore In FY18 For Modi’s Housing For All Scheme
NABARD to raise funds to contribute to Modi’s housing for all dream.
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) may raise Rs 7,000-10,000 crore this financial year to support the central government’s rural housing for all programme – Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, a senior executive said.
The funds, which will be raised through debt instruments, will be given to a wholly owned special purpose vehicle of the Government of India, the executive said on the condition of anonymity since discussions on the proposed move are still ongoing. The lender is in talks with the ministry of rural development, the executive said.
The Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, which was launched in July 2015, aims to provide housing for all by 2022. The rural leg of the scheme proposed to provide assistance for construction of one crore houses over three years starting 2016-17, according to a statement in March 2016.
NABARD is primarily engaged in funding agricultural development, for which it will raise around Rs 32,000 crore this year. A total of Rs 2,000 crore will be required for dairy projects, Rs 5,000 crore for micro-irrigation projects, and Rs 25,000 crore for long-term irrigation projects, the executive said.
NABARD has so far provided funds for refinancing loans meant for construction of houses, but has not done so for fresh construction.
Lending Targets In 2017-18
At the end of March 2017, NABARD’s loan book stood at Rs 3.08 lakh crore, 16 percent higher than a year ago, said Chairman HK Bhanwala at a press conference on Tuesday. The growth, he said, was supported by an 18 percent rise in long-term credit. The development bank has managed to raise the share of long-term loans to 24 percent in 2016-17 from 19 percent three years back, he said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in the Union Budget for 2017-18, set the target for agricultural lending at Rs 10 lakh crore. Bhanwala expects banks to exceed the target, just as they have done in the financial year ended March 2017.
In the previous financial year, the government had set a target for banks to lend Rs 9 lakh crore to the agriculture sector. According to Bhanwala, banks have likely lent around Rs 9.5 lakh crore to the sector.