SBICAP Ventures Ltd-backed SWAMIH Investment Fund I has marked its final close at Rs 15,530 crore to invest in stressed brownfield projects to enable affordable housing in the country.
The fund, which is set up under the special window for affordable and mid-income housing, has been financed by the Ministry of Finance, the Indian government and is managed by SBICAP Ventures, a State Bank Group company.
In addition to SBI, other investors of the fund include the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), HDFC Ltd and major nationalized banks, as per a press statement.
The social impact fund is aiming to provide debt financing for the completion of stressed brownfield and RERA (Real Estate Regulatory Authority)-registered residential projects that fall in the affordable, mid-income housing category.
The fund had received a commitment of Rs 10,037.5 crore in its first close, three years ago. The government had committed a fund infusion of up to Rs 5,000 crore.
To date, the fund is evaluating 286 projects in more than 30 cities. Once completed, the projects will add over one lakh homes. The additional commitment will enable the fund to continue to evaluate deals till December 2024.
“We at SWAMIH Investment Fund I continue to monitor all construction spend to ensure that the capital is utilised only for completion of the project. The fund has already achieved construction completion of 19,500 homes and is on track to deliver about 20,000 homes every year for the next 3 years,” said Irfan A. Kazi, chief investment officer, SWAMIH Investment Fund.
Since its launch in September 2019, the fund has scaled up its investment team to 33 professionals and evaluated more than 1000 deals across India.
“The State Bank Group will continue to provide all execution capabilities required to implement this strategic initiative. The increased commitment from the government is a statement of confidence in the execution abilities of SBICAP Ventures. as the investment manager and the entire team at SWAMIH Investment Fund I,” said Suresh Kozhikote, managing director and chief executive at SBICAP Ventures.
SBICAP Ventures is an alternative asset manager based in India managing funds across private equity, real estate, and fund-of-funds mandates. It currently manages 3 alternate investment funds (AIF) including Neev Fund I, Neev Fund II, SWAMIH Investment Fund I along with two funds-of-funds - Self Reliant India Fund (SRI) and UK India Development Cooperation Fund (UKIDCF).