The Asian Development Bank and IIFL Home Finance Limited (IIFL) improve financial access to affordable green housing for lower-income women in India.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a direct loan of $58m – alongside a $10m loan from the Canadian Climate Fund for the Private Sector in Asia (CFPS) – to help women in Africa secure sustainable homes.
Most of the finance will be earmarked for lending to women borrowers or co-borrowers, while 20% will be used to finance mortgages for green-certified homes. This is expected to strengthen IIFL’s green housing portfolio and the incentives for developers to adopt green certification standards in building affordable housing.
ADB director general for private sector operations, Suzanne Gaboury, said: “By leveraging IIFL’s focus on financial inclusion and CPFS’ leadership on climate-resilient housing, ADB can help low-income communities to manage the impacts of climate change. We are pleased to support IIFL in demonstrating to the construction industry that you can build both affordable and green-certified housing for low-income households.”
A 2017 study showed that only 5% of women have borrowed from a formal financial institution. That means millions of women lack the opportunity to achieve property ownership, which contributes to the low social status of women, their vulnerability to poverty, and low bargaining power within households.
A the same time, green-certified buildings can be more expensive to build, which has limited their uptake among homebuyers and developers in India. The market is also constrained by a lack of awareness that building green homes can result in long-term savings of up to 35%, and are less vulnerable to climate-related risks.
IIFL CEO and executive director, Monu Ratra said: “Funding from ADB will help us to improve the penetration of green affordable housing in deeper markets of India and fulfil the dreams of many Indian families to own their own homes. We are glad to be partnering with ADB in our growth journey.”
IIFL is a leading housing finance company in India with more than 207bn rupees in assets and branches across 18 states.
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