Finance Ministry on Monday called upon National Housing Bank (NHB) and State Governments to work in close coordination to expedite the implementation of ₹10,000 crore Urban Infrastructure Development Fund (UIDF) scheme.

This is required to ensure that the benefit of the Fund created by the central government gets reflected in form of better infrastructure in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, DFS Secretary Vivek Joshi said.

He was speaking at the 35th Foundation Day celebrations of NHB in the capital.

Close coordination between officials from NHB and State Governments are required to expedite identification, sanction and disbursement of eligible projects under UIDF, Joshi noted.

At the event, Joshi unveiled the Manual on UIDF and an Audio Visual on the Scheme. Five new Regional Offices of NHB at Jaipur, Chandigarh, Raipur, Patna and Bhubaneswar were also opened through virtual mode.

Referring to launch of Housing for All mission as a major milestone in Indian Housing, Joshi underlined the remarkable growth in outstanding home loan of Banks and HFCs from ₹10 lakh crore in 2015 when Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana was launched to over ₹28-lakh crore now. 

In his inaugural address, Joshi commended the contribution of NHB in improving the mortgage penetration in the country and building a vibrant and stable housing finance sector over its 35 years journey.

Manoj Joshi, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs stressed the need for convergence of UIDF with other urban missions of Government of India. 

He advised State Government officials to prioritise ongoing projects in the initial years for better utilisation of allocated funds and faster completion of projects while pipeline of new eligible projects are built simultaneously.

NHB was instituted on July 9, 1988 as a development financial institution and apex body for housing finance in the country. 

NHB has extended a total refinance disbursement of ₹3.57 lakh crore since inception. The Bank has stepped up its refinance operations in recent years expanding its coverage to over 35 small HFCs with loan book of less than ₹1,000 crore, Small Finance Banks and RRBs. With refinance disbursement of over ₹1.2 lakh crore since pandemic hit the country in March 2020, NHB has rapidly scaled up with a provisional balance sheet size of more than ₹ 1-lakh crore at the end of FY22-23 and an expanded network of 15 Regional Offices spread across the country.