The Hindu Business Line : KSHB seeks reduction in Hudco's refinance rate

THE Kerala State Housing Board (KSHB) has requested the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco) to bring down the interest rate on its refinance loans.

This would help the board reduce the interest on its housing loans, the Revenue and Housing Minister, Mr K.M. Mani, said in the State Assembly on Friday. KSHB was trying to peg the interest rate on housing loans between 7.5 per cent and 8 per cent, he added.

The Minister said that the board had already gone in for a debt swap by repaying the high-cost loans availed of from Hudco using the loans taken from Hudco Awaz Yojana on softer terms. With this, the maximum interest rate being charged by the board on its loans had come down to a peak rate of 15 per cent.

Mr Mani said that through the debt swap, the board had repaid around Rs 410 crore to Hudco. In the event, it had started getting loans from Hudco at 10 per cent interest as against the earlier 13.5 per cent.

Even with this, the board was forced to levy 2.25 per cent interest more from its house/plot allottees belonging to the economically weaker sections and an additional interest of 3.25 per cent from middle-income and high-income allottees, the Minister noted.

The additional interest was on account of the guarantee commission of 0.75 per cent, the additional tax of 0.5 per cent levied by the Central Government on interest earnings of the board and overhead charges of 1 to 2 per cent.

The Minister said that the board had been waiving a good portion of the penal interest to facilitate one-time settlement of loan arrears. In the case of middle and high-income groups, the reduction in penal interest was up to 75 per cent.

The Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, called for a more proactive role for Grama Sabhas in tackling rural poverty and familial problems.

He said very often even immediate neighbours were not aware of the problems of families until some tragic incidents such as mass suicide took place. Institutions like Grama Sabhas should go in for effective intervention to avert such tragedies.

The Labour Minister, Mr Babu Divakaran, told the House that a detailed survey of migrant workers in the State would be undertaken soon in order to ensure their safety and working conditions.

He said there were hundreds of workers from other States such as West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar employed in Kerala. The contractors, who brought workers into the State, should register with the Labour Department.

The Minister pointed out that the State Government was unable to restrict the entry of migrant workers in view of the fact that millions of Keralites were employed in different parts of the world.

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