IFC enters agreement with Tata on affordable housing projects

Here is some Good news for low income families who are planning to buy houses in the country. The IFC has signed an agreement with Tata Value Homes to invest $25 million or Rs 160 crore to provide affordable houses to people across India.

The investment by IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, would help develop about 16,800 homes over the next ten years, the company said in a release.

"Tata Value Homes will help lower and middle-income households and young professionals in urban and semi-urban areas access quality, affordable housing," said Vipul Prakash, IFC's Director, Global Corporate Coverage.

He said the investment would be the first step towards a longer-term partnership to facilitate the development of affordable housing in India, where there is high demand for housing.

The demand is high due to urbanization, rising trends of having nuclear families, and rising incomes. There is an estimated shortage of over 19 million housing units, as per an Economic Times report.

"Our partnership with IFC will help increase availability of affordable, value housing in India," said Brotin Banerjee, CEO and MD, Tata Housing.

"Over the past few years, we have delivered over 5,000 apartments in the price range of $8,000 to $50,000 (Rs 500,000 to Rs 30 lakh) across various townships. This partnership with IFC will help us become India's largest home provider in the value and affordable housing segment by 2018-19," he said.

Tata Value Homes has introduced two pan-India brands - Shubh Griha for value homes and New Haven for affordable homes.
(Image: Reuters)