Banks to release ₹1.5k cr to finish Amrapali flats

A bench of justices UU Lalit and Bela M Trivedi gave the nod for the banks, led by Bank of Baroda, to effectuate funding proposals within a day and disburse payments to NBCC by March 31.

The Supreme Court on Monday directed a consortium of seven public sector banks to release ₹1,500 crore in tranches from March 31 to the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), the public sector company tasked with completing houses for nearly 40,000 homebuyers.

The bench said, “Our only concern is that there should not be any block of funds. This is the lifeline for the Amrapali projects which should never stop.”

A bench of justices UU Lalit and Bela M Trivedi gave the nod for the banks, led by Bank of Baroda, to effectuate funding proposals within a day and disburse payments to NBCC by March 31. The order came after the Court was informed by senior advocate R Venkatramani appointed court receiver, that permissions from six of the banks are already in, while the seventh bank, Indian Bank, will send its approval document by evening.

The other banks that form the consortium are State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), UCO Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank, and Bank of India.

The bench said, “Our only concern is that there should not be any block of funds. This is the lifeline for the Amrapali projects which should never stop.”

The money to be provided by the consortium of banks is in addition to ₹650 crore funding by the Union government sponsored SWAMIH (Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing) Investment Fund for six Amrapali projects.

Besides, the court receiver informed the Court that the process of verifying homebuyers and getting due payments from them is also on. An amount of ₹900 crore has been received from homebuyers, Venkatramani had informed the Court last week.