The National Housing Bank (NHB) has surpassed its disbursement target of ₹20,000 crore envisaged for the current year, Sriram Kalyanaraman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said.

Stating that the bank has done well both on the rural and urban housing fronts, he said, “On rural housing, we have, from conception to date, done about 15 lakh houses. Our primary goal is to promote housing for all.” The bank, which is the nodal agency for implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, had disbursed about ₹120 crore last year and is looking to double it this year (June 2016 – July 2017).

The NHB chief, who assumed charge about a year ago, told BusinessLine that the bank has completely automated its processes, which to a large extent helped achieve its targets.

About 32 per cent of public sector banks’ new loans and 33 per cent of housing finance companies’ loans last year were for amounts below ₹10 lakh, signalling enough off-take and progress on the schemes.

Notwithstanding such government schemes, the Centre also plans to develop housing under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, and NHB is working towards developing a healthy, profitable and sustainable eco system.