Financing Aspirations: The Next Chapter in Affordable Housing
At the Bharat Fintech Summit, Manish Sheth delivered a bold and unconventional perspective on the future of affordable housing finance.
While the industry continues to focus on lending growth, data analytics, and faster underwriting, he challenged the room to think differently
Is Affordable Housing About Ownership or Access?
In a world moving toward the sharing economy (Uber, REITs, aggregators), should housing finance also evolve toward rental-backed financing models? Could lending to REITs, corporates, or rental aggregators unlock the next phase of affordable housing?
Affordable Means Different Things in Different Cities
₹1 crore may be “affordable” in Mumbai. ₹6 lakh may be “affordable” in Jalna.
The real question isn’t just property value, it’s credit access and digital verifiability.Credit vs Collateral: The Real Gap
India has innovated heavily on credit underwriting bureau data, account aggregators, AI scoring.But collateral underwriting remains under-digitized.
Can blockchain, API integrations with land registries, and real-time property verification transform trust in affordable housing finance?
Deep Tech vs Deep Fake
AI is powerful but where should it be deployed?
The biggest risk in affordable housing is not EMI default due to income stress.
It is fraud, profile funding, and internal control failures.Technology must focus on fraud detection, collateral authenticity, and risk-adjusted returns, not just faster approvals.
Affordable Housing is NOT Charity
India’s top housing finance companies trade at strong price-to-book multiples for a reason.
Affordable housing is profitable if risk discipline is strong.
- The takeaway:
Technology must enable inclusion, personalization, fraud control, and profitability all at once. Affordable housing finance is not just about lending. It’s about enabling aspiration sustainably.
