NHB to provide Rs.10,000 cr  liquidity infusion facility to HFCs

The housing sector regulator National Housing Bank (NHB) opened a liquidity infusion facility of Rs.10000 crore for Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) to improve liquidity in sector. The move is taken to unveil measures to boost lending and accelerate growth.

About Liquidity Infusion Facility

This decision by NHB to infuse an additional Rs.10000 crore into Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) would enable companies to provide individual loans for affordable housing. This new facility is over and above two existing refinance schemes of NHB.

Reason: This liquidity infusion move comes before the meeting of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with heads of all public sector banks to review issues linked to credit growth against the backdrop of a slowdown in several sectors. These various key sectors of economy include medium and small industries (MSME), retail, automobiles, affordable housing, non-banking finance companies (NBFC), housing finance companies (HFCs) to boost growth.

Importance: This is an important measure to ease fund flow to housing sector and would serve as additional liquidity for individual housing loans in affordable segment.

National Housing Bank (NHB)

It was established in 1988, under National Housing Bank Act, 1987. It is an All India Financial Institution (AIFI).

Function: It is an apex agency that operates as a principal agency to promote housing finance institutions both at local as well as regional levels. It also provides financial and other support incidental to such institutions and for matters connected therewith.

Month: Current Affairs - August, 2019