IIFL HFL inks $68 mn loan with ADB to fund affordable green housing

IIFL Housing Finance Limited (HFL), a digital-first home finance firm, declared that it has inked a $68 million loan with Asian Development Bank (ADB) to enhance financial access to affordable green housing for lower-income groups in India.

The funding includes 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% will be allocated for lending to women borrowers or co-borrowers, and 20% will be assigned to financing mortgages for green-certified houses. The CFPS loan will help IIFL HFL’s green housing portfolio, especially towards incentivising developers to adopt green certification standards in developing affordable housing, as per the statement.

Monu Ratra, MD & CEO, IIFL HFL, told the media that funding from ADB will support them in boosting the penetration of green affordable housing in deeper markets of India and meet the dreams of many Indian families to own their homes.

By leveraging IIFL HFL’s emphasis on financial inclusion and CPFS’ leadership on climate-resilient housing, ADB can support low-income communities to handle the influence of climate change, as per ADB Director General, Private Sector Operations Suzanne Gaboury. They are pleased to help IIFL in explaining to the construction industry that they can develop both affordable and green-certified housing for low-income households.

In alignment with the Government of India’s commitment towards ‘Housing for All’, IIFL HFL renders affordable house loans to Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG) and Middle Income Group (MIG). Home loans have been disbursed to more than 1,40,000 borrowers as of September 30, 2021.

The loan contract is supplemented by a technical assistance (TA) grant of up to $1 million for helping the green building ecosystem in the affordable housing sector in the nation. It is ADB’s first such private-sector agreement in the nation.

Striving to allow activities addressing some of the major identified obstacles for building the ecosystem for green-certified and affordable housing. IIFL HFL shall even add an amount of up to $1,50,000, for helping the above-mentioned activities and objectives as described in the Tentative agreements (TA).

IIFL HFL said it has already been propagating green affordable housing in India via its platform ‘Kutumb’, which is a green building initiative addressing affordable housing projects concerning problems relating to financing, technical know-how of green construction and certification and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) compliance.

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