Challenge
In India, as many as 37 million families in urban areas—47 percent of the urban population—live in informal housing, unplanned or illegal settlements which often lack access to roads, sewage, and drainage. Women are particularly underrepresented as homeowners in India due to insufficient income and the limited involvement of women in household decision-making.
Solution and Impact
DFC financing to ManiBhavnam Home Finance India Private Limited (ManiBhavnam) is helping support mortgage and home equity loans to low-income borrowers in cities across northern and central India, with 100% of the loans to be provided to women borrowers, co-borrowers, or guarantors.
ManiBhavnam, founded in 2016 to advance affordable housing across India, offers home loans, home equity lines of credit, and small business loans. Since inception, the company has provided more than 1,500 loans totaling over $18 million.
DFC’s funding will support almost 500 loans for home purchase, construction, expansion, and improvement. ManiBhavnam anticipates that DFC’s support will help bolster sustainable long-term lending operations and positively contribute to women’s empowerment efforts through homeownership.
As ManiBhavnam’s loans require a woman to be a borrower, co-borrower, or guarantor, the project advances DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative, which supports the economic empowerment of women across the developing world. Access to housing finance can help women by creating economic opportunities, increasing safety and security, and promoting an upward spiral of community development.