National Housing Bank, Consumer Association of India and Indian Banks Association jointly organised an one day seminar on “Consumer Issues in Housing and Housing Finance” which was inaugurated by Shri. Arun Ramanathan I.AS., Finance Secretary, Government of India.  In his inaugural address, Shri. Ramanathan emphasised the need for transparency in lending practices of Banks and Housing Finance Companies which will provide the desired impetus in developing consumer confidence in availing housing loans in a hassle free manner.  He highlighted the costs and services aspects of housing and housing finance and pointed out the need to harmonise the regulations and guidelines of various authorities in a manner that will reduce the transaction cost and improve the quality of service offered to the consumers.  Shri S. Sridhar, CMD, National Housing Bank outlined the various initiatives taken by NHB for the benefit of consumers and for the development of housing in the country.  These include developing a model code of conduct for housing finance companies and ensuring that they are adopted and followed; launch of home loan counselling programme which can be provided by independent mortgage counsellors; launch of NHB Residex, India’s first official residential property price index etc.  Current initiatives of NHB taken up jointly with IBA include developing valuation standards in the country (being done for the first time) and setting up an electronic registry for mortgages (also being done for the first time). The technical sessions of seminar covered related topics on various consumer issues in housing and housing finance.

The discussions also included deliberations on Reverse Mortgage Loans, conceptualised by NHB as an innovative Scheme that enables house owning senior citizens to get periodic payments and live in dignity and with self respect. In the Union Budget 2008-2009, the Income Tax Act was amended to exempt payments under Reverse Mortgage from tax.  The Reverse Mortgage Counselling Centres are being established by NHB in different cities to provide independent advice free of cost to senior citizens. Six Counselling Centres are functioning viz., at New Delhi, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bengaluru in association with NGOs working with Senior Citizens.

National Housing Bank is the principal financial institution for housing, established under an Act of the Parliament, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India. NHB is also the regulator of housing finance companies. NHB conceived and developed Reverse Mortgage product and piloted the offering of Reverse Mortgage loans by Banks and HFCs.

Consumer Association of India (CAI) is a public charitable trust which is engaged in spreading awareness about consumer responsibilities and rights and addressing consumers’ issues and problems in various fora. CAI is a member of Consumer International and its sister organisation viz., CONCERT which focuses on research and training. 

Indian Banks Association is the apex association representing all the banks in the country. 

In case of additional information, please contact Shri N. Udaya Kumar, AGM email: nudayak@nhb.org.in, Ph: 011-24645427 

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