The National Housing Bank (NHB) has joined hands with the French Development Agency (FDA) and the European Union to launch the SUNREF Housing India programme as part of efforts aimed at scaling up green housing projects in India.

SUNREF (Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance) Housing India will provide financing of €112 million to NHB, through a credit line of €100 million with AFD and a grant of €12 million financed by the European Union. The credit facility and grant agreements were signed with the NHB in July 2017.

The three partners on Thursday presented the details of the SUNREF Housing India Programme to housing sector stakeholders in the presence of Alexandra Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India, and Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the European Union to India.

Speaking on the occasion, Sriram Kalyanaraman, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, NHB, said “green housing” is an idea whose time has come. This is not the first time that NHB is availing overseas funds to promote green housing in the country. Five years ago, NHB had tied up with Germany’s KfW for €50-million funding.

Kalyanaraman said NHB would, through the SUNREF programme, provide funding to the green housing sector — home buyer and developers — via banks and housing finance corporations.

The €100-million credit line will be available for a three-year time-period that began from July 2017. NHB hopes to do the disbursal between mid-2018 and 2020.

In the background of the growth of the Indian housing sector where 70 per cent of the dwelling units are to be built from now till 2030, the SUNREF project aims to reduce the negative impact on environment. It seeks to encourage the development of green residential buildings that demonstrate more efficiency in energy, water and building material use.

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