FinMin mulls stress fund for infra sector: Housing Secretary Mishra

New Delhi: The Finance Ministry is contemplating to set up stress fund for various infrastructure sectors, including real estate and power, Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said on Monday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had already held consultations with various stakeholders, including industry, banks, homebuyers, real estate players and capital market participants, to firm up steps that could be taken to deal with problems being faced by them.

"As my information, the discussion for stress fund is on in the Finance Ministry. The proposed stress fund will not be only for real estate sector, but for other infrastructure sectors, including power," Mishra said at a even organised by realtors' body National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) here.

He further said that discussions are on to use a stress fund to deal with the financial difficulties being faced by various infrastructure segments.

NAREDCO and real estate industry body CREDAI too have been demanding creation of stress fund to complete stuck projects.

Home buyers of the national capital region are most affected with developers like Jaypee Infratech, Amrapali and Unitech defaulting in completing their housing projects on time.

After a meeting with the finance minister on August 11, homebuyers body Forum for Peoples' Collective Efforts (FPCE) President Abhay Upadhyay had said they have demanded creation of a Rs 10,000 crore stress fund to complete delayed projects and provide relief to these homebuyers.

After their meeting with Sitharaman, India Inc had demanded a stimulus package of over Rs 1 lakh crore to kick-start investment cycle and revive the economy which is showing signs of a slowdown.

Earlier in the day, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das admitted that the economy is slowing down and faces many a challenge both from within and outside.

Barring inflation numbers there seems no positive news coming in from any quarters and the Reserve Bank's four successive rate cuts to the tune of 110 bps to a nine-year low of 5.4 per cent since February has not made any positive impact on the ground level.