The Hindu Business Line : Reverse mortgage: NHB to tie up with more NGOs

New Delhi, Sept. 9 National Housing Bank (NHB) plans to roll out counselling centres in five more cities to create awareness about “reverse mortgage” among senior citizens and provide unbiased advice to them about this product, the Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, Mr S. Sridhar, said here on Tuesday.

For this purpose, NHB intends to pursue its current model of entering into tie-ups with NGOs.

“We already have counselling centres int Delhi (two) and one each at Chandigarh and Hyderabad. We would go in for similar centres at Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune,” Mr Sridhar told reporters after signing a memorandum of co-operation (MOC) with Harmony for Silvers Foundation, an NGO focused on senior citizens.

Besides opening a centre in Mumbai for providing information about reverse mortgage, the MOC also provides for setting up a nationwide helpline for the benefit of senior citizens.

A reverse mortgage loan enables a senior citizen, i.e. those above the age of 60, years to avail of periodical payments from a lender against the mortgage of his/her house while remaining the owner and occupying the house.

Mr Sridhar said that he expects reverse mortgage to become more popular in India than in any other developing country as there was no “social security” or “old-age income security” available here.

So far, in India, about 18 commercial banks and two housing finance companies have introduced reverse mortgage product and disbursed about Rs 300 crore, according to Ms Meira Kumar, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.

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