The Hindu Business Line : Housing for common man in SEZ regime

Housing units in big cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara or even in smaller towns are so readily available and at comparatively much lower rent than in other States.

Gujarat has been on the forefront of housing activity ever since its inception in 1960. In the initial years, the majority of mass housing colonies was constructed as Bombay Housing Colonies, as forerunner of the Gujarat Housing Board (GHB) under the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) refinance scheme.

At one point of time, HUDCO received almost 50 per cent of the proposals for housing projects from Gujarat alone. One could still see though old but strong Bombay Housing Colonies in all corners in almost every city.

This explains why the housing units in big cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara or even in smaller towns are so readily available and at comparatively much lower rent than in other States for the same accommodation.

Crossroads

However, with realtors and estate developers' latest fancy for limited land to build malls and housing colonies besides commercial complexes in special economic zone (SEZ), the housing industry is at the crossroads. With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation and farmers' lobby crying hoarse over agricultural land being usurped by SEZ developers, the housing activity is likely to undergo fundamental changes. The land prices have already gone up.

One of the misfortunes of Gujarat, Ahmedabad in particular, is that it has got many architectural masterpieces designed by famous architects, but not town planners, posing a serious strain on inefficient intra-city public transport systems and absence of land use policy, pattern or data.

Gujarat tops in the country (excluding National Capital Region) with 38 per cent of its population living in urban areas. It is projected to reach 50 per cent by 2015.

GRUH Finance

It was in 1986 that Gruh Finance Ltd, called GRUH in short, was established as a private sector company in Ahmedabad as a subsidiary of Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd, nowadays known as HDFC.

As GRUH started operations in 1988, it provided a viable alternative to the State-owned housing board.

From day one, it focused on the common man, reaching out to the last man, in the last mile. It was also one of the first institutions to introduce insurance products to act as a referral agent for marketing its life insurance products.

It tied up insurance company to act as the collecting agent for insurance premium for home loan customers wherein customers can take insurance cover for property financed by GRUH.

Growth

It has registered a steady growth, paying handsome dividends too, to the equity holders. But, having set industry benchmarks, GRUH is likely to adjust to market forces as it continues to offer counselling, a wide range of home loan products, each designed to meet the specific need of the customer or group of customers, in short providing a total housing solution.

Its other attractions have been single-window facility, in-house legal and technical assistance facility, seamless procedures, adjustable rate loans, with monthly rest option linked to retail prime lending rate, loans for repair or extension of the existing dwelling unit, or to acquire a new unit through sale of an existing unit.

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