SWAMIH to fund construction of 7,000 stalled homes in Amrapali projects in its biggest social impact investment

Delhi, 09 August 2021: The Govt. of India sponsored Special Window for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing SWAMIH Investment Fund I (“SWAMIH Fund”), has signed definitive documents with the Hon’ble Supreme court appointed Receiver for infusing Rs 650 crore in six projects of erstwhile Amrapali Group at Noida and Greater Noida. The Fund is managed by SBICAP Ventures, a 100% subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of the State Bank of India. SBICAP Ventures is managing the government’s Rs 25,000-crore special window fund to revive stalled housing projects.

The projects that will receive funding include Silicon City-1, Silicon City-2, Crystal Homes, Centurian Park- Low Rise, O2 Valley & Tropical Garden where 6,947 units are stalled of which 6,132 units are sold but homebuyers are awaiting delivery of their dream homes. These projects were launched almost about 10 years ago between 2011 and 2013 and are delayed for more than 4-5 years from their promised delivery timeline.

The Court receiver will be assisted by NBCC which took the construction contracts for these projects after a Supreme Court order and is involved in the completion of about 22 Amrapali housing projects, which were stalled amid a fund crunch due to financial mismanagement at the erstwhile real estate firm. The funding from SWAMIH Fund shall expedite the progress of the works in the 6 selected projects.

“The SWAMIH Fund team has again demonstrated an agile, flexible and responsive effort at creating solutions to such vastly complex transactions. They have been relentless in ensuring that such stressed projects get construction funding to honour their mandate of delivering homes to anxious home buyers. This funding will not only complete the 7,000 stuck homes but will also generate considerable amount of ancillary employment opportunities and unlock capital invested at various levels. The transaction was consummated with the relentless efforts of Mr. Vivek Agarwal and Mr. Varun Kedia” Mr. Suresh Kozhikote, MD & CEO, SBICAP Ventures Limited, said in a statement.

Mr. Irfan A. Kazi, Chief Investment Officer of the SWAMIH Investment Fund added that “We would like to encourage more developers, whose projects are stressed for want of capital, to reach out to SBICAP Ventures team, so that those projects could be evaluated and capital be provided to rescue the troubled home buyers.”

Mr. R. Venkataramani, Senior Advocate and Court appointed Receiver of the Amrapali stressed projects said “We are grateful to the Hon’ble Supreme Court for handholding and helping us secure funding from the SWAMIH Fund. Both the teams have spent hours clearing roadblocks and negotiating to ensure that this funding becomes solution towards delivering the stalled homes to anxious home buyers. Home buyers in these projects can expect to see fast paces construction and should plan to pay their outstanding dues as directed by the Hon’ble Court. He also added that “The funding was well thought through and was a result of joint efforts from all the Committee members – Ravi Bhatia (Forensic Auditor), D K Mishra (Chartered Accountant) and Pavan Agarwal (Forensic Auditor appointed by the Court) along with the NBCC team.

Earlier, the Court Receiver R Venkataramani and Committee members had formed a Section 8 Company – Amrapali Stressed Projects Investments and Resolution Establishment (“ASPIRE”) as special purpose vehicle to secure the funding for the completion of these projects.