New Delhi, India, January 27, 2010
─IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is working with key stakeholders including government, regulatory bodies, private sector developers, and financiers to help make affordable housing available for low- and middle-income populations in India.
As part of this initiative, National Housing Bank and IFC are hosting a two-day conference that started today on
Affordable Housing and Housing Finance
for government officials, regulators, financiers, bankers, housing specialists, and developers. Issues relating to pro-poor housing initiatives, alternate approaches to affordable housing, and the role of government in securitization of low-income housing are the key themes being discussed.
Estimates indicate that more than 14 percent of South Asians have no home or live in inadequate housing such as urban slums and squatter settlements. While the region’s housing and housing finance markets are dynamic, they are limited in their outreach, catering primarily to upper-income groups.
Affordable housing potentially is a $250 billion market (average cost of $10,000 per unit with NHB estimates of a shortage of 25 million housing units) and would require substantial investments to meet needs through 2012. This conference aims to help developers, financiers, and regulators develop a framework to tap market opportunities.
The opening session, chaired by Abdul Qadeer Fitrat, Governor of Central Bank, Afghanistan, with Kamran Shehzad, Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan and Khan Prachuabmoh, President, Government Housing Bank of Thailand as panelists. Other members of the
eminent panel included Reserve Bank of India’s Executive Director, V K Sharma; R Gopalan, Secretary in Government of India’s Ministry of Finance; Kiran Dhingra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India; Arun Maira, Member Planning Commission, Government of India; S. Sridhar, Chairman and Managing Director, National Housing Bank, Government of India and IFC South Asia Director Paolo Martelli.
Martelli, IFC Director for South Asia, said, “Access to housing and affordable home financing plays a critical role in creating jobs, enhancing incomes for the less privileged that are part of the base of the pyramid, strengthening financial markets, and triggering sustainable and inclusive growth.”
IFC’s global experience in the housing finance sector includes similar programs implemented in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Mexico. Its Global Mortgage Toolkit helps institutions build capacity to deliver low- cost housing finance products. IFC has supported the growth of mortgage originators in India, including HDFC, Dewan Housing Finance, and Sundaram Home Finance.
IFC is the only international financial institution focused exclusively on the private sector, the engine of sustainable development in emerging markets. Along with IBRD, it is currently seeking a capital increase to strengthen its ability to create opportunity for the poor in developing countries—including by supporting the development of affordable housing for the poor in India.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
