IIFL HFL, digital first home finance company, announced it has signed a $68 million loan with ADB to improve financial access to affordable green housing for lower-income groups in India.
The funding comprises a direct ADB loan of up to $58 million and a $10 million concessional loan by the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia (CFPS). From ADB’s loan, 80 percent will be earmarked for lending to women borrowers or co-borrowers and 20 percent will be allocated to financing mortgages for green-certified homes. The CFPS loan will support IIFL HFL’s green housing portfolio, specifically towards incentivising developers to adopt green certification standards in building affordable housing, the statement said.
Monu Ratra, MD & CEO, IIFL HFL said, “Funding from ADB will help us to improve the penetration of green affordable housing in deeper markets of India and fulfill the dreams of many Indian families to own their own homes.”
“By leveraging IIFL HFL’s focus on financial inclusion and CPFS’ leadership on climate-resilient housing, ADB can help low-income communities to manage the impacts of climate change,” said ADB Director General, Private Sector Operations Suzanne Gaboury. “We are pleased to support IIFL in demonstrating to the construction industry that you can build both affordable and green-certified housing for low-income households.”
In alignment with Government of India’s commitment towards ‘Housing for All’, IIFL HFL provides affordable home loans to Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG) and Middle Income Group (MIG). Home loans have been disbursed to over 1,40,000 borrowers as on September 30, 2021, it added.
The loan agreement is supplemented by a technical assistance (TA) grant of up to $1 million for supporting the green building ecosystem in the affordable housing sector in the country. This is ADB’s first such private sector agreement in the country.
Aiming to enable activities addressing some of the key identified obstacles for building the ecosystem for green certified and affordable housing. IIFL HFL shall also contribute an additional amount of up to $1,50,000, for supporting the above mentioned activities and objectives as described in the TA agreement.
IIFL HFL said it has already been propagating green affordable housing in India through its platform ‘Kutumb’, which is a green building initiative addressing the affordable housing projects regarding issues relating to financing, technical know-how of green construction and certification and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliance.
