In a significant move to address the acute affordable housing shortage in India, the World Bank member IFC and realty developer Sunteck Realty are partnering to create a joint platform to promote the development of 12,000 housing units with a total investment of up to Rs 750 crore.
These houses will be developed across four to six green housing projects within the country’s commercial capital Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
Of the total investment into this joint platform, IFC’s proposed investment will be up to Rs 330 crore with the remainder to be brought in by Sunteck Realty.
“This investment aligns with our strategy to create more inclusive and equitable cities by backing affordable and eco-friendly housing through partnerships with established companies like Sunteck Realty,” said Wendy Werner, IFC Country Head, India.
According to him, it also supports the government of India’s ‘Housing for All’ initiative, delivering essential societal benefits including shelter, safety, job opportunities, wealth generation, and enhanced credit access.
“We are pleased to collaborate with IFC in our shared goal of addressing the housing shortage in India. Our wide range of offerings provide high quality amenities and enhanced lifestyle for all the segments of the population,” said Kamal Khetan, CMD, Sunteck Realty.
According to Khetan, this strategic partnership demonstrates the company’s capability to develop high quality large-scale housing projects in the MMR and aligns with its vision of sustainable and green housing solutions.
With a population exceeding 2.2 crore, the Mumbai region is India’s largest and most active housing market, grappling with a significant housing deficit. In this context, the IFC-Sunteck partnership is centered around the development of large-scale housing projects in the extended suburbs of Mumbai city to cater to the mid-income demographic.
The listed developer, with presence across market segments, already has a robust focus on this population segment.
In India, where homes use 30% of electricity and buildings create 20% of carbon emissions, these projects will aim to cut water and energy use of the housing developments under the platform by at least 20% with IFC’s green building certification.
As India’s energy demand soars due to economic growth, urbanization, and population expansion, and with water stress projected to rise, the project’s resource-efficient units will lower not only utility costs but also environmental impact and green-house gas emissions.
Sunteck Realty focuses on a city centric development portfolio of around 52.5 million sq ft spread across 32 projects. The gross development value of its ongoing and upcoming projects is over Rs 3,000 crore spread across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Affordable and green housing remains a strategic focus area for IFC in India. It has invested over $2.2 billion since 2013 in housing finance companies and developers in the country. Of this, $1.32 billion have been invested in the last five years for on-lending to retail buyers of affordable housing and developers of affordable and green housing.
