Conference Proceedings : “JANASEVANA” National ... - UN HABITAT

ank promotes financial inclusion and build proof documents through savings. At the same time, the HDFC bank
promotes savings and savings habits. The low penetration by banks is considered an opportunity to reach more
customers by the HDFC.
HDFC Mobile banking in operation in Colombo
The main market for HDFC Bank is in the urban sector, with over 100,000 customers in Colombo. The majority of the
customers are daily wage labourers working in the local authorities, fish markets and vegetable markets. Other
customers include pavement hawkers, small shop keepers, fishermen, carpenters and shop assistants.
HDFC has identified several key lessons from these banking initiatives. It was found that the low‐income target groups
thus identified earn a good income and silently make a major contribution to the economy. However their Income is
not adequately managed and they are uncomfortable with obtaining credit and have minimal financial literacy,
although they are good paymasters. Therefore, tapping into this “unspoilt” market provides new opportunities for
banks to enter the low‐middle income sector.
Sustainability of a National Policy for Housing in Emerging Economy
Professor Ashu Marasinghe
Chairman, State Engineering Corporation
Professor Ashu Marasinghe, discussing Sri Lanka’s National Strategy on housing, mentioned that it is important to look
at a housing model which gives priority to developing villages and rural areas rather than centering development in
cities. He also stressed the need to adopt “home‐grown solutions” to housing problems in Sri Lanka.
Discussing the history of Sri Lanka’s National Housing Programmes, Prof. Marasinghe mentioned that since 1979, the
NHDA had built approximately 78,000 housing units – thereby housing 150,000 families in Colombo. He also discussed
the global mandate and tagline of UN‐HABITAT ‐ the United Nations agency for human settlements ‐“Promoting
sustainable urban development”. He stated that UN‐HABITAT has an urban‐centred model judging by the taglines of
the past decade which deals mostly with cities and urban areas and questioned whether an urban‐centred model was
right for Sri Lanka, as nearly 80% of the population live in rural areas.
Conference Proceedings – National Housing Symposium 23