The realty arm of the Mahindra Group, Mahindra Lifespaces, has launched a new business vertical focused on affordable housing. Called 'Happinest' the vertical would launch its first two projects in Avadi in Chennai and Boisar in Mumbai.

According to the company, these projects would be aimed at families with a current combined monthly income of Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 per month.

Anita Arjundas, MD and CEO Mahindra Lifespace Developers, the project would be priced at under Rs 20 lakh and its first phase would be delivered to the customer within a timeline of nine months.

The company would be constructing a total of 2,500 homes under these two pilot projects in Chennai and Boisar.These units would be sized between 420 to 600 square feet.

Arun Nanda, Chairman, Mahindra Lifespace Developers, said: "We are planning to launch the Chennai project in July and the Mumbai one in August."

Highlighting the role of government in encouraging such affordable housing projects, Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group said: "We need the government to create an enabling environment to facilitate such projects.Having the right policy framework for swift execution of such affordable housing projects is critical for encouraging the private sector to take up such projects."

"Affordable housing presents a $150 billion opportunity for private companies.We are not doing CSR here," he added.

Apart from investing in engineering and construction innovations to ensure speedy execution and lower costs, the company has also tied up with credit scoring agencies like Inventure and micro home finance companies such as Mahindra Finance to reach out to customers and meet their home finance requirements.

The company's residential and commercial footprint across nine cities includes over 8.3 million square feet of completed projects and over 11.3 million square feet of ongoing and forthcoming projects.

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