Lafarge, a world leader in building materials, launched the Indian chapter of ‘Housing Microfinance Academy’ in Mumbai earlier this week. It will enhance availability of housing credits for the low-to-middle income segment and promote the exchange of information about potential product design, provide funding support and construction designs. A McKinsey report on the global affordable housing challenge estimates that 330 million urban households around the world live in substandard housing or are struggling financially due to housing costs. Some 200 million households in the developing world live in slums; while more than 60 million households in the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Australia, are financially stretched by housing costs. Based on current trends in urban migration and income growth, the report estimates that by 2025, about 440 million urban families around the world – at least 1.6 billion people- would occupy crowded, inadequate, and unsafe housing, or will be financially stretched. Lafarge’s ambition is to support the urban metamorphosis by participating in the construction of towns and cities that offer decent and affordable housing for all by offering products and solutions. Helping build towns and cities that are more compact, more durable, more beautiful and better connected. The ‘Housing Microfinance Academy’ initiative was launched in partnership with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector.