To give a fillip to housing for the urban poor, the National Housing Bank (NHB) is now working on a savings-linked housing loan scheme. In a written reply to Parliament, housing and poverty alleviation minister Kumari Selja said the bank had conceptualised a savings-linked housing loan scheme, NHB-Bachat Awas Yojana.

“The scheme is aimed at lower level employees of big organisations in government, public and private sector; such as lower ranks of para-military and armed forces; other government/public sector undertaking employees, industrial workers, nurses and salaried class,” Selja said. The objective of the scheme is to encourage savings among the lower income segments, which could be dovetailed to housing, she added.

However, she refused to give any timeframe within which the scheme is likely to be launched and said that since the scheme is at a concept stage, no time frame has been set for launching.