Relevance: Prelims: Economy
Why in news?
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, reviewed the performance of Special Window for Affordable and Mid Income Housing (SWAMIH).
The SWAMIH Investment Fund has progressed from a policy announcement to an operational initiative on the ground.
It has approved 81 projects that will enable the completion of almost 60,000 homes across India.These projects are spread across a mix of markets including large cities such as NCR, MMR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and also Tier 2 locations including Karnal, Panipat, Lucknow, Surat, Dehradun, Kota, Nagpur, Jaipur, Nashik, Vizag, Chandigarh etc.( Annexure 1).
Amongst these projects, investments in 18 projects have been given final clearance and disbursement is at various stages across 7 residential projects( Annexure 2). Applications from 353 stressed projects are under examination for provision of assistance.It was also highlighted that activation of these construction sites by the Special Window would provide employment opportunities for various skilled and semi-skilled labourers. Additionally, the Fund is actively evaluatingoptions to provide relief to ~15,000 homebuyersin certain long- stalled projects which are pending before the Honourable Supreme Court for resolution.
The recent initiative by the Fund to reduce the cost of capital to 12% has resulted in an increase in the number of projects that meet the funding criteria laid out under the Special Window.
The Team also apprised the Finance Minister about the control mechanisms being built in by the Fund to monitor project progress and ensure prudent utilisation by calibrating investments in line with project progress. These steps would also bring in greater transparency in the sector in terms of accountability of project cashflows and eliminating diversion of funds.
The Department of Economic Affairs will closely monitor the performance of the SWAMIH Investment Fund I in order to ensure that the capital raised by the Fund is rapidly committed towards resolving stressed projects and remove any impediments that could arise in this process.
Speedy efforts to complete construction of projects for which last mile funding has been sanctioned. The opportunity provided by the special mandate in this Fund combined with active support from existing project financiers should be directed towards this objective of providing immediate relief to homebuyers.
This Special Window was an unprecedented initiative that has provided extraordinary support to the real estate sector and poised it at the cusp of a turnaround despite such turbulent economic times.
For more such notes, Articles, News & Views Join our Telegram Channel.
Click the link below to see the details about the UPSC –Civils courses offered by Triumph IAS. https://triumphias.com/pages-all-courses.php