Mumbai Marathon (Jan 2010)

The construction industry is the single largest employer of migrant labour in India. Est at over 30 Million in number, they move to cities with their children and typically live on the construction sites itself. While they are at work, the children have to fend for themselves, and suffer from malnutrition, injury, and illness. They rarely go to school.

Mumbai Mobile Creches ("MMC") is an NGO based out of Mumbai which works with children of construction workers on building sites, specifically on health, education and safety. Its vision is for all children to have a nurturing and happy childhood and its mission is to promote ‘child-friendly sites’; where every child living on a construction site is able to enjoy their childhood. It tries to ensure that the first few years of a child‘s life are well nourished and stimulating, an essential foundation for a happy childhood, and it has a special focus on children below six.

MHFC is proud to be running the Mumbai Marathon (slated for Jan 2010) for Mumbai Mobile Creches.

For more info on MMC, see www.mumbaimobilecreches.org

NAREDCO conference - MHFC article

As discussed, MHFC is presenting at the NAREDCO conference on "Public Private Partnerships" in affordable housing - copy of our paper (being presented by Madhu, our Chairman) below:

Naredco Conference Paper

NAREDCO conference on PPPs in Housing

MHFC will be presenting at the 1 day NAREDCO (National Real Estate Dev Council) conference on Public Private Partnerships in Housing - in Delhi on Oct 9, 2009. This is a topic very close to us - as we believe that only by partnering with the state (housing boards, municipal corporations etc) can real impact be achieved as (a) the state is the biggest developer by far and (b) has real focus on EWS / LIG housing.

link to the event below
www.naredco.org/event_new2009.htm

Housing Boards

While its been very encouraging to see private developers enter the urban low income housing space (defined by us as being flats of approx Rs 5-6 lakhs), and we certainly want to partner with these developers, there is no question that in terms of numbers, the state continues to be the largest developer. While housing boards and local development authorities have always built for the EWS / LIG segments, in recent years, due to the govt's inclusion focus and the availabiity of JNNURM finance (for 62 cities), there have been several urban housing programs, which completely eclipse the numbers from the private sector. For eg - the state of Andhra has plans to build over 170,000 homes, Rajasthan over 100,000, cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Lucknow have plans in the tens of thousands. More importantly, the state is driven by social objectives and thus irrespective of economic swings, will remain focussed on this segment. Further, while there will be some leakages, the buyer will be from LIG segments (as against buyers from higher income segments, including investors, being attracted to the private projects meant for LIG segments). Thus, if MHFC has to make impact, it will probably have to come from tie ups with state agencies like MHADA / DDA, state housing boards, municipal corporations, etc who are building for the weaker sections and need to fill the last gap of buyer financing.

CNBC Young Turks

Nachiket is on "Young Turks" this week - the 30 min program (by CNBC India) which features 3 young Indian entrepreneurs, especially those with a transformation agenda - please try and catch the show on Sat 11 am and Sun 12 pm - and of course let us know your feedback - link to the program site below (but note that the show is not yet uploaded)
www.youngturks.in.com