Housing Finance Evolution and Reach in India: Y. Saritha Dr.P.V.Narsaiah
Housing Finance Evolution and Reach in India: Y. Saritha Dr.P.V.Narsaiah
Dr.P.V.Narsaiah**
Abstract-
Housing being one of the three basic needs of life always remains in the top priorities of any
person, society and economy. As a human being, an individual needs his own space and privacy,
which can be provided by the ownership of a house. The home is the basic unit of the society.
Home provides a platform to the family and the family is the most important social institution,
which leaves its imprint on an individual for whole life. Thus housing deserves significant
attention in the context of developing policies and strategies for human development. But still the
majority of human populace lives in slums, shanties and temporary shabby shelters in rural areas.
The shortage of housing is a big impediment in the healthy development of an individual and
consequently the society, and the nation. The problem of space, privacy, security and sanitation
leads to social, economic and environmental degeneration. The perpetual strife for space and
house-ownership leads to personal and social disorganization, which is detrimental for the society
and the economy. A developing nation like India has to focus more on housing sector to cater to
the housing needs of burgeoning population and to accelerate the economic growth. The housing
sector has been globally used as an engine to propel the economic growth as it generates
employment and demand in the market. Last one decade has witnessed the authorities giving
significant focus on the housing sector in India.
*
    Research Scholar, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati,
**
     Professor, Dept. Of Commerce, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY                                    The Government of India had recently made the
                                                           development of the housing sector.
         To analyse the housing finance in India in
          general and Andhra Pradesh in a particular;      STRUCTURE OF THE HOUSING FINANCE
         To examine the perceptions of customers of       SYSTEM IN INDIA:
          HDFCL, Nellore division, Nellore district
         Identifying the major factors determining the
          home loan beneficiaries in Nellore division.
         To identify the problems in HDFC housing
          finance in Nellore division.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
industry. The setting up of National Housing Bank as       shifting of rural population to the urban areas, the
a fully owned subsidiary of the RBI, and as an apex        need for development of housing sector has been
institution was the culmination of the fulfillment of a    emphasized. It is always a dream to own a house
long overdue need of the housing finance industry in       however a majority of the population does not have
India. The system has also been characterized by the       the required financial assistance to own a house.
emergence of several specialized financial                 Eyeing this as an opportunity, many firms have opted
institutions, which have considerably strengthened         for extending housing loans not only to boost their
the organization of the housing finance system in the      bottom lines but also to reduce the prevailing demand
country. In 1990's the pace set in the earlier decades     and supply gap. The genuine demand arising out of
was carried forward. Many HFCs were set up under           the individual need for housing, together with the
the directions of the NHB. The process of                  present boom in the housing sector it is all set to
liberalization covered the retail housing finance          provide a platform for the housing finance companies
sector substantially. The most significant 48 change       to carve out a piece of fortune.
was the enhancement of the amount set aside by the                  What remained as a very low-profile sector
commercial banks for their lending to the housing          in India is suddenly witnessing activity that is
sector from 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent (Union budget       promising a bright future. Out of India‟s new housing
1999-2000). Chart is given to reflect on the               units, 20 percent are financed through the housing
classification of housing finance in India.                financing institutions. With the gap between the
                                                           required number of houses and the actual,
                                                           government identified housing sector as a core and it
                                                           is only with the timely in intervention of the
                                                           government that housing finance has become a major
                                                           industry in India. With the establishment of National
                                                           Housing Bank, the government has provided the
                                                           much-needed boost to this sector. At present out of
                                                           380 odd HFIs in India, 42 housing finance companies
                                                           are registered with the National Housing Bank out of
                                                           them 20 are valid for acceptance of public deposits
                                                           and remains are not. This number is going to increase
                                                           in the near future with the industrial growth.
                                                           Throughout the second part of the last decade, this
                                                           sector has witnessed a growth of over 30 percent and
                                                           promises to grow the same rate in the next couple of
                                                           years. Recognizing the growing need of housing
          Traditionally in India, most people depend       finance in India, the government has emphasized on
on their provident fund and gratuity amounts received      housing and housing finance in the ninth five year
after retirement for buying a home. However, with          plan to know that there is a short fall of more than 20
the emergence of housing finance as a major business       mission house units. This is the first time that India
in the country, an increasingly large number of people     has emphasized on the housing sector.
are going in for home loans. Socially too, India has                Even the Asian development Bank has
changed, and there is no stigma attached today for         embarked on a two-fold strategy for India‟s housing
borrowing funds. Five-year plans have been                 sector. One is focusing on providing funds to
emphasizing on the need for promoting housing              financial intermediaries who in turn, lend to
finance schemes particularly for the poor and weaker       individual borrowers at the household level. The
sections of the society.                                   second objective is combining slum upgrading and
HOUSING FINANCE IN INDIA:                                  micro credit schemes for lower income groups in its
          In the first 25 years of post-independence,      state level specific integrated urban development
India has concentrated on agricultural development         projects. These latest development in the housing
only after the industrial revolution and the continuous    sector has made housing finance one of the growth
drivers for the Indian economy in the last decade                  companies, other financial institutions and budgetary
what earlier remained as an isolated segment has now               allocations. From the available data it has observed
transformed itself into a core sector. Housing finance             that the banks, housing finance companies, and
in India is getting recognition as a specialized finance           cooperative sector institutions had disbursed an
product, thanks to the efforts of housing finance                  amount of Rs. 1.73 lacs crores during the period
companies and the subsidiary outfits of banks,                     2002-05. Overall contribution of these three
specializing in this area.                                         institutions i.e. banks, HFCs and cooperative sector
                                                                   institutions, would be around Rs. 3.60 lacs crores
LOAN DISBURSEMENT BY NHB                                           during the 10th plan period 2002-07 as shown in Table
                                                 Cumulative        2.
     Year              Disbursement          Disbursement                                                 Co-op.
                                                                                Commerc-
2006 – 07             5,500                 31,425                   Year
                                                                                 ial Banks
                                                                                                HFCs      Instituti   RRB’S      Total
                                                                                                              ons
2007 – 08             8,587                 40,012
                                                                    2006-07        4,250        1,085         10        0        5345
2008 – 09             10,854                50,866
2009 – 10             8,108                 58,974                  2007-08        7,328        1,189          0
                                                                                                                        0
                                                                                                                                 8517
2010 – 11             11,723                70,697
                                                                    2008-09        3,447        7,055          0       202       10704
2011 – 12             14,390                85,087
                                                                                                                       185
2012 – 13             17,542                102,629                 2009-10        4,150       3,543.8        40                 7918
         The gender wise breakup of beneficiaries                        Interest rate on the loan taken by the
given in Table3 reveals that 66.27 per cent are males                beneficiaries from HDFC. Interest rate are awareness
and 33.72 per cent are females.                                      of users. The floating rates may change from change
                                                                     from time to time.
            Main Occupation
                                                                            Main Occupation                Number         Percentage %
         The occupation of the beneficiaries also
influences the habit of taking loan from HDFC.
Mainly permanently occupied people may go for
                                                                              Govt. Employee                 32              37.20
loans to own a house.
                      Table 4: Main Occupation
                                                                              Private Employee               18              20.93
         Table 4 manifests that 47.20 per cent of the
beneficiaries of HDFC are government employee.
23.25 per cent are in business/profession and 20.93
                                                                                  Business                   20              23.25
per cent are in private employment. Meanwhile only
18.60 per cent of the samples are agriculturists.                                Agriculture                 16              18.60
            Awareness
                                                                          Interest Rates         Number             Percentage
     The education of the beneficiaries is a crucial
                                                                          of HDFC
factor in choosing the source of loans. Uneducated
persons often choose non-institutional source and                         Aware                  48                 41.28
land themselves in trouble later on. On the other
hand, educated persons compare the different sources                      Partially aware        24                 27.90
and select the most reasonable one.
    Educational                Number           Percentage                Unaware                14                 16.27
    Qualification
                                                                          TOTAL                  86                 100
    Graduates                  19               22.09
                                                                              Table 5: Awareness of Rate of Interest
      Floating rate interest     29          33.72               beneficiaries. Lack of income and other family
                                                                 problems compel the beneficiaries to make default
      TOTAL                      86          100                 with the repayment.
    There are different reasons for taking housing                           Table 8: Difficulties for repayment of Loan
loans from HDFC by the beneficiaries. The main
reason for availing loan from HDFC is the easy                             Table 9 reveals the difficulties for repaying
accessibility.                                                   the loan taken by beneficiaries. The main difficulty
                                                                 faced by them is the 32.55 per cent insufficient
    Reason                        Number       Percentage        income to remit the monthly installment. Next to it is
                                                                 the tight repayment schedule 26.74 percent, 24.41 per
    Law rate of interest          24           27.90
                                                                 cent frequently charges in EMI and 16.27 percent
                                                                 HDFC will charge high p
    No loan limit                 15           17.44
                                                                 REFERENCES:
     Table 8 shows categorization of beneficiaries on
                                                                 [1]Tenth five year plan documents 2002-2007
the basis of reason for availing loan from HDFC.
Majority of them have taken loan from HDFC                       [2] Bedi, H.L., Haridikar, „V.K., Housing and Urban
because of its 27.90 percent of low rate of interest,            Development Corporation‟, Practical Banking Advances,
                                                                 9th Edition, 1997.
followed by 20.93 per cent Difficulty in getting loan
from other, 19.76 percent Low EMI, 17.44 percent                 [3] “Report of the Task Force on Cooperative Housing,
No loan limit and 13.95 percent Simple loan                      Third Draft”, 2005.
procedure for the borrowers from HDFC.
                                                                 [4] Charles Abrams, „Housing in the Modern World-Man‟s
            Difficulties for Repayment of the                    Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World‟, Faber,
                                                                 London, 1969, p. 106
            Loan                                                 [5]‟The Function and working of the reserve Bank of
    There are various types of difficulties for the              India‟, July,1970.
timely repayment of the loan availed by the                      [6] Ibid.