`25,000-cr fund for stalled realty projects bearing fruit
Priya Ramani’s partial victory gives hope to Bollywood women who dared the patriarchy and called out their abusers. They hail Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey’s landmark judgement
A 25,000-crore ($3.5 billion) fund set up by the government to complete stalled housing projects is set to deliver its first finished apartments in 2021, offering a template for a problem that has washed out savings of thousands of home buyers and bankrupted developers.
The fund will hand over
16 projects, or more than
4,000 homes, in the financial year starting April 1, said Irfan A. Kazi, chief investment officer at SBICAP Ventures Ltd, the government-appointed manager of the alternative investment fund. The 'Special Window for Comp-letion of Construction of Affordable and Mid-Income Housing Projects' (Swahim) fund was announced in November 2019.
At the time, India had an estimated $63 billion of such stalled projects as an economic slowdown and a credit crisis cascaded through the sector. Builders were unable to service their loans, forcing banks to write off the debts and worsen what was already one of the world's biggest bad-loan piles. The government created the fund as a measure to unclog the financing pipes.
Kazi spoke in a phone interview Feb. 12. Edited excerpts:
How much money been disbursed?
has
We have given approvals to around 159 projects involving investment of about Rs 14,500 crore, which will complete around 100,000 homes. Of this, about 47 projects (Rs 5,000 crore) have received final approval but 112 are early-stage
approvals, where due diligence is pending. We don't disclose disbursal amount as we give funding only against project progress; two projects will complete construction by April.
What kind of returns do you expect?
We take first charge on assets and cash flows, so when projects get completed we are the first one to get our money back. Existing lenders have to agree to take second charge. We invest via zerocoupon non-convertible debentures. All our investments are done at 12 per cent internal rate of return across projects.
Was there
There was a significant degree of resistance from lenders about our first charge on repayment but, as our deal track record shows, that hurdle is being gradually scaled. We now allow sharing of the security with lenders and sharing of cash flow to some extent. We keep having internal discussions and also with the finance ministry on what criteria can be relaxed.
any
pushback?
Who are your investors? We have 14 investors, the government has 50 per cent in the fund, Life Insurance Corporation and State Bank of India each have 10 per cent and the rest are other public and private sector players. Global funds have not shown a large interest for a couple of reasons: they prefer rent-yielding office and warehousing assets over residential. They also expect returns of more than 20 per cent to account for risks, including asset class and exchange rate, at which level our projects will be loss-making. We have raised Rs 10,000 crore so far (of the Rs 25,000 crore fund size) but the government has assured us that more will be made available when required.
What kind of challenge has the fund faced?
In many cases we are dealing with the bottom rung of companies, which have lost manpower and some even no longer have a finance team, so due diligence can be hard. A no-objection certificate from existing lenders has come only in some cases and takes an exceedingly long period of time. Then there are also pending court cases or home buyers demanding compensation.
How and where does the fund operate?
Before setting up the fund, we did a market study which established that about 40 per cent of the stressed projects were in the National Capital Region, about 25 per cent in the Mumbai Metro-politan Region and the top seven cities accounted for about 85 per cent of all the stalled projects. However, we are a pan-India fund.
Melbourne, Feb. 19: Russia’s Daniil Medvedev overpowered Stefanos Tsitsipas to make his first Australian Open final Friday, where he will bid to stop world number one Novak Djokovic from clinching an unprecedented ninth title.
The fourth seed proved far too strong for Greece’s Tsitsipas, crushing him 64, 6-2, 7-5 in front of more than 7,000 noisy fans at Rod Laver Arena to extend his win streak to 20.
The 25-year-old, ultraconfident on the back of his unbeaten run, which includes three titles, has been knocking on the door of Grand Slam success for some time, but has yet to win a title.
To finally get over the line he must on Sunday beat top seed Djokovic, who has won all eight finals he has played at Melbourne Park.
But nobody on tour has more momentum than Medvedev, whose tricky game has stymied all opponents since November, and he has won three of his last four against the 17-time Grand Slam-winning Serb.
Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka won the Australian Open women’s doubles final Friday to collect their second Grand Slam trophy as a team.
The 22-year-old from Belarus was the dominant player on court as she and Mertens combined for a 62, 6-3 win over third-seeded Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.
Second-seeded Sabalenka and Mertens wasted three championship points in the last game. Sabalenka earned a fourth championship point with an ace and clinched the title when Siniakova sent a backhand wide. —
When acquitting Priya Ramani in the defamation case against politician and former journalist M.J. Akbar, Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey mentioned, “Society must understand the impact of sexual abuse and harassment on its victims. The woman has the right to put her grievance at any platform of her choice and even after decades.”
Ostensibly, there is a ray of hope that has permeated to the women in Bollywood, who have also stood up against their alleged abusers, albeit after many years.
Writer–director Vinta Nanda, who had named actor Alok Nath many years after he’d abused her, feels that the decision is like a shot of adrenaline.
“This judgement is landmark. I believe it has infused life back into the #MeToo movement, which had very conveniently been written off by many. My own experience tells me that many of the survivors who had spoken during the movement had to further face the anger of those who were named and shamed, as also of many who were afraid that their transgressions would be revealed as well. This judgement will give confidence and courage to women at large to speak out,” she says.
A WELCOME PRECEDENT
Taapsee Pannu, who has been the poster girl for women’s issues on celluloid, says, “This did bring a ray of hope that somewhere something is keeping our hope in righteousness alive.”
Actress Richa Chadda, who has also been vocal about the issue, is happy that the perpetrator was shown his place after he filed a defamation case.
“This is a big deal for the #MeToo case in India and I welcome the judgement of the Honourable Court. Not every woman has the spine, wherewithal and means; hence, Priya
Ramani’s acquittal is a victory for every woman. It’s a shame, though, that the aggressor was so remorseless that he dragged the victim of sexual harassment to court by weaponing defamation. Those thoughtless, misogynist lawyers from among the 97 hired by the predator, giggled and tittered as journalist
Ghazala Wahab presented her testimony for Ms Ramani.
They wanted to demoralise her and undermine her trauma. (I am) personally glad that these bunch of losers lost. This sets a great precedent as well,” Richa said.
This judgement has infused life back into the
#MeToo movement.
My own experience tells me that many of the survivors who had spoken during the movement
had to further face the anger of those who were named and shamed, as also of many who were afraid that their transgressions would be revealed as well. This judgement will give confidence and courage to women at
large to speak out.
The fact that it took Priya two years to finish a case that was possibly filed to break her spirit and make her submit and surrender to a person [who] she [was] abused [by], is not a complete victory because Priya had the guts and grit to pursue both her cases. Many others still don’t get this kind of a result, and [they] give up. Let’s hope Priya’s victory becomes a judgement every woman fighting for her self-respect can rely upon.”
HALF THE BATTLE WON
However, everyone agrees that complete justice is still a distant dream. Writer and director Apurva Asrani, has always maintained faith in the country’s justice system.
“Priya Ramani’s acquittal is a relief for all women who found the courage to speak against their abusers. But it is only half the battle won,” he says.
And that is something Vinta Nanda also agrees to. “The decision will certainly put fear in misogynists and predators. It’s a very important curve that the movement has taken. However, there’s a long way to go,” says Vinta.
Similarly, despite the rejoicing around the recent verdict, Hindi and South-Indian actress Payal Ghosh, who has filed a case against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, believes that only half the justice has been served.
“It can’t be called a stepping stone. It was a woman who had come out with her truth after years and here we are rejoicing that she has been acquitted,” she says pointedly.
MUST FIGHT IT OUT
Advocate Adnan Shaikh, who often represents many Bollywood stars in various cases, says that victory will depend on the one who wants to take the battle to the end. “The fact that it took Priya two years to finish a case that was possibly filed to break her spirit and make her submit and surrender to a person [who] she [was] abused [by], is not a complete victory because Priya had the guts and grit to pursue both her cases. Many others still don’t get this kind of a result, and [they] give up. Let us hope that Priya’s victory becomes a judgement each and every woman fighting for her self-respect can rely upon and that this victory can be hailed as a true victory of all women everywhere,” he elaborates.
But hopes and optimisms apart, former actress and social-media activist, Andria D Souza, who had also filed a physical abuse case against a CEO of a clothing company headed by a superstar actor, has become a bit of a naysayer after her case was dismissed. She feels the system isn’t above board.
“My case got dismissed. They simply said ‘no clarity in the case’. My witness was not called to question. Neither my medical records of losing my hearing due to the accused hitting me, nor my hearing aid held any weightage to sustain justice from the court. Some people are lucky they fight back and some like me lose hope and faith in the judicial system. Not to forget how easily Tanushree’s case also led to no justice. We still live in a man’s world,” she adds cynically.