MRHF working with govt for providing housing to villagers

A leading Indian housing finance company has said it is working with the government to provide housing for the rural villages in India.

Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Ltd (MRHF) wants to be the preferred partner in housing schemes in India where providing accommodation for the poor is the biggest challenge, said its managing director Anuj Mehra.

"We would like to position ourselves as the preferred partners of the government to work on housing schemes," said Mehra, after addressing ResponsibleBusiness Forum on Sustainable Development held in Singapore this week.

MRHF is working with the government and states in housing for the rural villages. It has a book size of Rs 3,800 crores in financing and 450,000 customers. MRHF is adding confidence to the rural poor by financing housing, Mehra said.
 

Among the challenges faced by rural Indians is the mutation of land for home owners who are usually settled on their ancestors' site but are wary of bureaucracy in updating their records.

"We have a team of lawyers helping to settle land records for these poor people," he said of the people lacking confidence in undertaking land-legality transfers.

"Once the home owner has a proper record and right to his land, it gives him confidence," he said.

Mehra also welcomed the latest scheme'Housing for All' in rural areas, saying it would help provide proper accommodation and raise the living standards of the people.

He noted that the government was serious about tackling the housing issues in the country even though at times it seems a big challenge.

"The sense of confidence a person gets with the house is huge - I think that is the biggest impact we make on the people's life," Mehra said.

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd has 87.5 per cent stake inMRHF with the balance held by National Housing Bank, a regulator for this businessfully-owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India.

The forum held on November 22-24 addressed a wide range of social issues with a call on the private sector participation in sustainable development across Asia.