New Delhi, May 13 (IANS): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday handed over possession to homebuyers virtually as the Centre's Special Window for Affordable & Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) completed its first residential project.

The residential project -- Rivali Park in suburban Mumbai -- is the first housing project in India to have received funding under the SWAMIH Fund. The SWAMIH Fund was launched by Sitharaman in November 2019.

Rivali Park Wintergreens is the first investment by the fund and is also the first project to be completed.

It is a large project spread over seven acres consisting of 708 units of various configurations. It has been developed by CCI Projects Pvt Ltd (CCIPPL), an associate company of Cable Corporation of India Ltd.

Along with Sitharaman, the online event was also attended by MoS Finance Anurag Thakur; Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; Ajay Seth, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; K. Rajaraman, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, SBI, and other officials from SBICAP Ventures Limited.

Addressing the virtual event, Sitharaman said she is very pleased to see that SWAMIH Fund has completed its first residential project. More so, it is an important achievement since the SWAMIH Fund has worked its way through the difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic, she added.

The Finance Minister said that the government of India had stepped in to provide funding to the stressed affordable and mid-income housing projects, thereby giving relief to the homebuyers who had invested their hard-earned savings.

Sitharaman said the government believes that once these homes are constructed and completed, a large amount of capital locked up in these projects will be released.

The Finance Minister also said that the scheme will provide employment to construction workers and will provide impetus to the allied industries such as steel and cement.

Further, it will improve the portfolios of banks and NBFCs besides significantly improving the economic sentiments in the nation, she said.

Sitharaman also complimented and congratulated the SBICap Ventures team for converting a policy announcement into an on-the-ground funding institution that has achieved significant progress within a short span of time.

The SWAMIH Investment Fund has so far given its final approval to 72 projects that will include 44,100 homes, while 132 projects have received preliminary approval, which will complete an additional 72,500 homes. The fund is targeting to complete an aggregate of 1,16,600 homes.