REPORT ON TREND AND PROGRESS OF HOUSING IN INDIA - JUNE, 2001-02

Institutional Framework for Housing Finance : Co-operative Sector

Apex Cooperative Housing Federations (ACHFs)

The cooperative housing movement in India was started in the early 20th century to fulfil the desire of a ‘common man’ of owning a decent home. In the nine decades of its existence, it has made significant progress in providing affordable housing with easy accessibility to finance for lakhs of families. At present there are 92,000 housing cooperatives at the grass-root level with a membership of about 65 lakh all over the country represented by 26 Apex Co-operative Housing Federations (ACHFs) at the state / union territory level. The National Co-operative Housing Federation of India (NCHF) has been promoting, guiding and coordinating the activities of housing cooperatives at the national level since its inception in 1969. In all 26 ACHFs are currently members of NCHF.

However, even the housing cooperatives are playing a commendable role in mitigating the housing problems in the country; their performance is highly constrained by the fund shortage, land scarcity and legal bottlenecks. During the year, NCHF took a number of initiatives for increasing the flow of funds in this sector at affordable rates. Besides, it also organized the national level Cooperative Housing Congress, drafted the Model Cooperative Housing Societies Law and also completed a study on “Assessment of Housing Stock in the Country” and the Report on Capacity Building of ACHFs.

So far, an amount of around Rs. 7500 crore has been disbursed by these ACHFs to enable construction of more than 22 lakh dwelling units in the country. Presently, the ACHFs are advancing an amount of approximately Rs. 750 crore a year.

The composition of resource mobilization by the ACHFs during the last 5 years is detailed below:

Borrowings of Apex Co-operative Housing Federations (cumulative) (Rs. In crore)
Year LIC NHB HUDCO State Govt. Deposits Banks Debentures Others Total
1997-98 2606.48 280.17 721.91 185.29 162.71 349.73 142.60 58.31 4507.20
1998-99 2702.48 330.52 922.33 49.07 157.90 565.15 142.60 87.09 4957.14
1999-00 2835.71 440.12 1176.71 48.97 185.77 748.60 142.60 112.28 5690.76
2000-01 2985.65 483.06 1449.42 50.13 156.63 982.00 145.26 179.57 6431.72
2001-02 3121.81 595.06 1514.84 50.13 130.59 1184.17 142.60 283.40 7022.60
Source: National Cooperative Housing Federation of India; NHB data as at the end of June

The above table indicates that in the year 2001-02 the major source of ACHFs’ resource was banks with financial assistance of Rs.202.17 crore followed by the LIC with Rs.136.16 crore. However, the deposit base got eroded by Rs.26.04 crore.

The quantum of cumulative sanction of housing loan by the ACHFS increased to Rs.7901.23 crore during 2001-02 with cumulative disbursal touching the Rs. 7496.69 crore mark. During the year an amount of Rs.677.58 has been disbursed.

Lending Operations of Apex Cooperative Housing Federations (Rs. In crore)
Year Loan Sanctioned Loan Disbursed
1999-00 705.33 700.86
2000-01 842.81 867.72
2001-02 730.12 677.58
Source: National Cooperative Housing Federation of India

Cumulatively, the financial assistance provided by ACHFs till the end of March,2002 enabled construction of 2176727 dwelling units.

State/UT-wise break-up of housing loan disbursed and number of units constructed with
financial assistance from ACHFs during last three years are as under :

HOUSING LOANS DISBURSED AND HOUSING UNITS CONSTRUCTED BY APEX-CO-OOPERATIVE HOUSING FEDERATIONS* (Rs. in crore)
1999-00 2000-01 2001-02
S.No Apex-Federations Units constructed/financed Loans Disbursed Units constructed/financed Loans Disbursed Units constructed/financed Loans Disbursed
1 Andhra Pradesh NA 9.63 300 21.68 75 13.76
2 Assam 2340 1.53 0 0 2146 1.42
3 Bihar 0 0 2325 25.65 0 18.46
4 Chandigarh 67 0.62 0 0 4184 4.62
5 Delhi 306 21.29 317 50.47 99 31.47
6 Goa 198 3.01 107 2.44 35 0.98
7 Gujarat 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Haryana 419 5.37 143 3.32 0 0
9 Himachal Pradesh 52 0.49 42 1.09 38 0.85
10 Jammu & Kashmir 24 6.59 14 3.21 16 7.04
11 Karnataka 0 0 383 6.17 151 8.86
12 Kerala 10463 75.41 9351 92.23 8239 70.61
13 Madhya Pradesh 224 23.94 0 0 294 21.08
14 Maharashtra 305 2.95 331 1.98 444 3.21
15 Manipur 148 0.94 0 0 0 0.0004
16 Meghalaya 3 0.02 0 0 0 0
17 Orissa 680 7.90 812 2.44 132 1.29
18 Pondicherry 177 3.67 74 3.51 83 7.00
19 Punjab 3567 52.60 3729 58.21 5670 90.38
20 Rajasthan 92 0.90 44 1.27 655 5.76
21 Tamil Nadu 42126 481.95 36611 574.21 14905 351.25
22 Uttar Pradesh 0 0 687 17.60 602 37.13
23 West Bengal 117 2.05 98 2.24 109 2.41
TOTAL 61308 700.86 55368 867.72 37877 677.58
* Excluding Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Andaman & Nicobar

The above table shows the steady increase in per unit loan size over the years by the ACHFs. Besides, the concentration of disbursal in the state of Tamil Nadu continued which alone accounted for 66% of total disbursal by ACHFs in 2000-01 and around 52% in 2001-02.



Till the end of June 2002, 5 ACHFs [viz., Kerala ACHFs, Maharashtra ACHFs, Punjab ACHFs, Pondicherry ACHFs and Tamilnadu ACHFs] availed of NHB refinance. Of these, 4 ACHFs (except Maharashtra ACHFs) availed of refinance assistance of Rs. 112.00 crore from NHB during the year 2001-02 as against Rs.42.94 crore in the previous year.

Data pertaining to NHB’s refinance assistance to ACHFS during last 5 years is given below:

NHB’s Refinance Assistance to ACHFS
(Rs. In crore)
Year ended 30th June Yearly Refinance Cumulative Refinance
1998 65.07 280.17
1999 50.35 330.52
2000 109.60 440.12
2001 42.94 483.06
2002 112.00 595.06

State Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs)

Keeping in view the housing shortage in rural areas, a few State Governments, after suitable legislative amendments, have permitted the Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) to lend for housing. As the ARDBs do not fall under the category of either scheduled bank or specialised housing finance institutions, NHB, in order to extend financial assistance to this category of institutions, formulated a scheme to subscribe to special rural housing debentures floated by ARDBs backed by the mortgages originated by them.

During the year 2001-02, NHB disbursed Rs. 107.16 crore to ARDBs as compared to Rs. 97.62 crore in the previous year. Thus, during the year ended June 30, 2002, NHB extended a total refinance assistance of Rs. 219.15 crore to co-operative sector institutions as against Rs. 140.57 crore in 2000-2001. Thus as at the end of June 30, 2001 NHB’s cumulative refinance assistance to co-operative sector institutions stood at Rs.1285.89 out of the cumulative refinance assistance of Rs.7251.36 crore.

State Co-operative Banks

In order to strengthen the cooperative credit structure of the country which has been performing a commendable task in providing credit to the housing sector, NHB has been extending refinance assistance to the State Cooperative Banks (SCBs) in respect of the housing loans given by them either directly or through the District Central Cooperative Banks/primary agricultural credit societies. So far, a few SCBs have been found eligible for availing the refinance facility from NHB. The cumulative refinance assistance extended by NHB to the SCBs as at the end of June, 2002 stood at Rs.49.89 crore.

Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks

The scheduled Primary Urban Cooperative Banks are also eligible to avail refinance assistance from NHB provided they meet the recovery norms prescribed by NHB. Like the case of SCBs, not many primary (urban) cooperative banks have been in a position to avail refinance assistance from NHB. During the year ended June 30, 2002, Rs. 32.00 crore was disbursed by NHB to this category of institutions. The cumulative refinance assistance extended by NHB to these institutions stood at Rs.62.15 crore by the end of June, 2002 and the outstanding was Rs.54.37 crore.

Recovery Performance of ARDBs/ACHFs

As per the information available from these institutions, their recovery position has declines, in most of the cases, during the year 2001-02 as compared to the previous year which is not a good sign for this sector.

Recovery Performance of Cooperative Sector Institutions

Institution 2000-2001 2001-02
Punjab ACHFS 84.56 84.60
Tamil Nadu ACHFS 65.95 61.43
Kerala ACHFS 90.30 85.59
Pondicherry ACHFS 59.00 66.00
Kerala ARDB (state level rec.) 92.35 84.54
Figures in percentage