IIFL Home Finance has entered into a $300-million loan deal with the Asian Development Bank for on-lending to lower-income borrowers. The loan marks the mortgage lender’s first syndicated external commercial borrowing, according to a report by The Economic Times.

ADB, the mandated lead arranger and bookrunner for the arrangement, will itself put in $150 million. There will be another $150 million parallel loans from Japan’s MUFG, Dubai-based Emirates Bank and Sri Lanka’s Sampath Bank and Hatton National Bank.

“ADB’s funding will help extend affordable housing to deeper markets and support the homeownership aspirations of low-income and economically weaker families, especially women,” IIFL Home Finance managing director Girish Kousgi said.

IIFL Home Finance will on-lend the loan proceeds to provide mortgages to women in low-income communities in semi-urban and urban areas, as well as in lagging states of India, with a target of over 25% of the loan proceeds for green-certified affordable homes.

India is estimated to have a housing shortage of 31 million units by 2030, mostly affecting low-income groups. “India’s affordable housing deficit is most pronounced among economically weaker and low-income households, particularly women, who constitute only 13% of homeowners,” ADB country director for India Mio Oka was quoted as saying in a statement issued by IIFL Home Finance.

The local lender had ₹39,628 crore assets under management at the end of December last year.