India: FM Unleashes Alternate Investment Fund for Real Estate

Much in line with her promise to bring relief to the realty sector, the FM announced that an INR 10,000 crore fund has got the Union Cabinet nod.

To be used for last-mile funding of stuck affordable and mid segment projects, this is a critically important move which eliminates the ambiguity which surrounded the timelines for setting up the fund, and its actual implementation.

Finally, countless aggrieved homebuyers will see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

This move couldn't have come at a better time because the delay was causing serious apprehensions. The delay in the on-ground deployment of the stress fund gave rise to severe apprehensions about the main issues – that of stuck and delayed projects – that had remained unaddressed so far. The timeline for setting up this fund and its actual implementation is quite critical.

Also, the special window will get investments from institutions like LIC, SBI and others which will take the corpus to nearly INR 25,000 crore. The fund will also be open to other sovereign funds to add to the corpus. More importantly, several NPA projects and those facing bankruptcy proceedings under NCLT shall also be included provided they are not referred for liquidation. This will bring in even more stalled projects into the eligibility criteria and give relief to more aggrieved homebuyers.

As per ANAROCK data, a total of 5.76 lakh units (launched in 2013 or before) across budget segments are stuck in various stages of non-completion in the top 7 cities alone.