A strong advocate of bringing change and acheiving goals through public service by helping downtrodden, underprivilaged, ensuring social justice, growth and development,
HUDCO CMD Dr M Ravi Kanth IAS (r) has touched many a milestones in his long career in bureaucracy. 'Live Light and Give Light' by being close to nature and down to earth is what he not just preaches but practices too.
Dr M Ravi Kanth who is a Post Graduate in Economics and L.L.B, an M.B.A from Melbourne, Australia he is an officer of Indian Administrative Service 1986 batch. Kanth is currently CMD HUDCO with stints as C.M.D, National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment. He has held various important positions in Government both at the State and Central level.
Special interview to FacenFacts:Q. HUDCO works for ensuring that every head has a roof, but most of the people as such don't know about HUDCO’s activities, role and plan. How do you plan to spread awareness about your initiatives and projects?
MRK. HUDCO has contributed a lot to housing and infrastructure in the country. So far HUDCO has sanctioned over 16 million houses during the last 44 years. Since HUDCO is not directly constructing houses, though primarily financing to government & public agencies, the direct connect with the public is limited. However, with the presence of our regional offices/development offices in every state capital, along with our capacity building initiatives through the national and state academic & training institutions and our CSR initiatives, HUDCO is a known name among the state government and parastatals, which are our primary clients. HUDCO also has a good presence on the Internet, through portals, which address the concerns of our target audience.
Q. Have you achieved the ambitious target of Mission Five Ones set by HUDCO? How do you plan to and how?
MRK. We are slowly, but steadily, moving towards achieving our goal of ‘Mission Five Ones’. While we have already sanctioned over 2 lakhs housing units this year, we have already achieved cumulative disbursement of over Rs.96,000 crores. Similarly, we are also well on our way to achieving the targets of ‘profit after tax’ and ‘assistance to ULBs’. We are also working hard to reduce our NPAs, and are hopeful of bringing down the overall rate of bad loans.
Q. A general perception is HUDCO’s activity only focuses on A and B grade cities. These days, cities like Allahabad, Guntur, Surat, Varanasi are also growing fast. Does HUDCO have any plans for C and D category cities?
MRK. HUDCO has always worked to accelerate the pace of housing and urban development in the entire country. We have extensive experience in financing and planning for new and satellite towns, SEZs, IT parks, industrial infrastructure and providing design consultations for inner- city redevelopment and rehabilitation of disaster-affected areas. HUDCO has extensive experience in financing a wide range of infrastructure services ranging from roads, power, water supply, hospitals, schools toairports. HUDCO has financed projects not only in small towns, but even in rural areas in the aftermath of natural disasters. The decision to take up work in any place is only decided by the viability of the project proposal, and not the size of the city.
Q. What is the status of HUDCO’s Rent to Own and micro-financing projects? What are HUDCO’s existing and future projects? What schemes do you propose or are in pipeline for the economically weaker sections and lower groups?
MRK. The ‘Rent-to-Own scheme’ which is a ‘rental-cum-ownership’ scheme, is designed to facilitate an agency to initially avail loan from HUDCO on behalf of its identified lower level employees. The agency would allot the houses to its employees initially on rental basis, and the employee would become the ‘owner’ of the house, as and when full cost of the house is repaid to the agency. Many of the state government agencies, such as Police Housing Corporations, etc., are showing their keen interest in the “Rent-to-Own” scheme.
To promote micro-finance in housing, HUDCO is participating in the form of equity contribution to the tune of Rs.1.80 croreto Sewa Grih Rinn Limited, which is a new Micro Housing Finance company, set up by Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). This would encourage the financial inclusion of the poor and self- employed women in slums and squatter settlements, who have sofar been denied the benefit of home loans, through the formal-lending mechanism.
Q. HUDCO is the biggest government player in the field of housing projects. What challenges if any, do you face from private builders/players?
MRK. Since its incorporation on 25th April 1970, HUDCO has focused its activities on providing affordable housing to the economically weaker sections(EWS) and low income groups(LIG) as well as providing basic infrastructure facilities for improving the quality of life. While there is a significant emphasis on higher-income group housing and middle-income group by other players, HUDCO continues to place a significant emphasis on housing for the EWS and LIG categories. As already mentioned, HUDCO has sanctioned over 16 million housing units since its inception in 1970. Of the same, over 95% have been benefitted EWS and LIG households. However, the housing deficit being so large, there is space for every institution, which is willing to contribute to this sector.
Q. What are your targets for the year 2014-15? What have been HUDCO’s landmark achievements in a decade?
MRK. For the current financial year, HUDCO has an annual target of Rs.16,100 crore for sanctions and Rs.7,300 crore for disbursement. Over the four decades of its existence, HUDCO has gone from strength to strength and has been a key partner with the government in building assets for the nation. HUDCO was awarded the Mini Ratna-1 status in 2004 and in 2011-12 our balance-sheet size crossed the Rs.25,000 crore mark. We have continuously received “Excellent rating” for the past three years, and we are positive to continue our efforts for a similar performance in this financial year also.
Q. Like food security, HUDCO bats for Housing rights and calls for Housing for All. What is meant by Housing Security Act, and how will HUDCO achieve this goal?
MRK. Though the government is the largest player in the housing sector, the housing shortage continues to grow and the most affected are economically weaker sections and the low- income groups. Housing and land ownership are not fundamental rights, but the creation of a Housing Security Act would further the cause of providing affordable housing for a large section of the population, who are currently unable to buy a house.
In light of the significant deficit of housing in the country, and the need for massive efforts to achieve the objective of housing for all by 2022, HUDCO is fully geared up to take up the challenge of providing affordable housing in the country, through taking care of financing needs of these projects being taken up by Govt. organisations, State Govt. Bodies such as Housing Boards, Development Authorities, etc. HUDCO’s Corporate Plan-2020 envisages a major focus and thrust on social housing in order to achieve the national goal of affordable houses for all.
Q. Delhi-Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor is HUDCO’s most ambitious project? What is the status of this project?
MRK. Under the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC),the Government of India plans to develop Multi-modal High Axle Load Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Delhi and Mumbai, covering an overall length of 1483kms, with end terminals at Tughlakabad and Dadri in the National Capital Region of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Port at Mumbai. Government of India has further proposed establishing, promoting and facilitating Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) along the alignment of DFC between Delhi and Mumbai.
HUDCO has an equity partnership in DMIDC and apart from this, HUDCO will provide loan with central government interest subsidy, to state government public agencies promoted/sponsored by DMICDC for land acquisition, new township development and related infrastructure projects, and all other activities covered by HUDCO’s mandate which coincide with the main activities being undertaken by DMICDC and its sponsored entities.
Q. HUDCO is working for financing land acquisitions, new township development and related infrastructure projects? What is the major difficulty HUDCO face in these projects?
MRK. There are not many institutions, which finance land acquisitions. HUDCO is working on offering suitable interest rates to state level infrastructure development agencies. In the DMICDC project area, HUDCO is approaching the Government of India for an interest subvention to stategovernment public agencies and other entities promoted/ sponsored by DMICDC for land acquisition purposes.
Q. HUDCO runs special loan schemes for repairs, retrofitting and reconstruction of new houses for the economically weaker sections? What is the subsidized interest rate? How can an EWS person apply for it?
MRK. In respect of housing projects taken up by agencies, HUDCO provides subsidised loans upto 90% of the project cost for EWS housing at 9%(floating interest). For the special category, housing projects that cover beneficiaries such as widows, SC/ST/OBC, physically challenged, single women (above 35 years of age) and natural-calamity affected areas, there is a further rebate of 0.25%, thus having a net floating rate of 8.75%. HUDCO financial assistance is available to housing boards, slum clearance boards, development authorities, improvement trusts, local bodies and any other agency authorised by state government for repairs & renewal, mainly consisting of structural repairs to old & dilapidated buildings.
HUDCO also provides loan assistance to individual beneficiaries through its retail HUDCO Niwas window. Under the central government scheme of Rajiv Rin Yojana/ISHUP, the beneficiary would receive a 5% interest subsidy upto a specified limit of loan amount.
Q. How much have you achieved in your CSR target activities?
MRK. As part of its CSR activities, HUDCO has in the past, extended support to local bodies for construction of night shelter/shelter facilities, community/pay and use toilets, construction of skill-upgradation centres, and for rehabilitation/reconstruction works in disaster affected areas. Apart from this, HUDCO is also supporting employment-oriented skill training in construction trades in Orissa and Rajasthan, through Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) and training to women of slums in Kerala through KUDUMBASHREE. Besides this, HUDCO is also extending assistance to differently-abled persons, by providing disability aids & tool kits.This year, we will be undertaking several projects of night shelters and sanitation for the urban shelterless and deprived sections of the population in various cities, and HUDCO shall also be supporting the construction of sanitation facilities, including the construction of toilets in schools.
Q. Does HUDCO run projects in foreign lands?
MRK. HUDCO does not have any overseas projects, however, we have international collaborations with the housing and urban development institutions in other countries, for capacity building activities and technical cooperation. For instance, HUDCO houses the secretariat of the Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference of Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD) and also acts as the anchor institute for the M/o HUPA to undertake networking and technical activities in the area of Human Settlements underIBSA, which is a trilateral agreement amongst Brazil, South Africa and India.
Q. Sanitation being a part of HUDCO CSR activities, which was even before PM’s ‘Swachchha Bharat’ mission, what is the present status and what is being done on it?
MRK. HUDCO has extended support for sanitation projects, through provision of toilets-community/pay & use toilets, solid waste management projects including provision of equipment for solid waste management, at various locations through urban local bodies and different government departments. In addition, HUDCO is supporting construction of toilets in 20 schools at Unakoti District of Tripura state. HUDCO has supported the installation of Pre-Fabricated Zero Discharge Toilet Systems (ZDTS) during the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad, through IIT Kanpur. As already mentioned, this year, HUDCO has decided to extend its support under CSR activities for implementation of night shelter, along with sanitation facilities for the urban shelter-less, and the construction of sanitation facilities, including the construction of toilets in schools.
Q. What will be your message to a common man, who dreams of a house for himself one day?
MRK. Housing is not just a dream, but a basic necessity after food and clothing. HUDCO is constantly striving to reach the unreached sections of the population, and make the housing dream a reality for everyone. It is towards this end that HUDCO is trying to develop various products to cater to the needs of different segments of society. The ‘Rent-to-Own scheme’,and our equity support to SEWA Grih Rrin are steps in this direction.
In the future also, we will continue to develop products for the marginal and deprived sections of society, so that access to housing, no longer remains, a pipe dream for any citizen.
