New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS): The liquidity crisis in the NBFC sector was so grave that net loan disbursal by non-banking financial companies (NBFC) and housing financing companies (HFC) to realty developers declined by nearly 50 per cent in 2018-19 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis to an estimated amount of Rs 27,000 crore, a joint report by CII and JLL saud on Wednesday.

The report observed that default by leading NBFC, IL&FS, in scheduled payments led to a liquidity squeeze in the real estate sector since September 2018.

"In FY 2018-19, net disbursals by NBFCs or HFCs to real estate developers declined by almost half from Rs 52,000 crore in FY 2017-18 to an estimated Rs 27,000 crore in FY 2018-19," it said.

The report, however, said that currently the scenario is not as negative as it was even a few months ago.

It noted that recovery would take time and the new credit discipline would benefit the real estate sector in the medium-to-long term.

"Also, the new government has taken cognizance of struggling NBFCs and introduced a few new schemes," it said.

It observed that measures taken by the government including those announced in the budget would help in easing the liquidity crisis and in turn improve the demand and supply in the realty sector.