In an overwhelming response to the first-ever Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar (MPMG) Mela organized by State Bank in Faisalabad, banks logged in applications of Rs. 18 billion from the general public.
In the two days of Mela, held during 19-20 March 2022, more than 30,000 people visited to obtain information about the MPMG and apply for loans through banks’ one-window facilitation. Against the applications logged in, banks provided conditional approvals of around Rs. 7.4 billion.
At the inauguration ceremony of the Mela, Governor State Bank, Dr. Reza Baqir, in his keynote address, took the audience through the MPMG journey. He mentioned that through continuous efforts by SBP, Government, NAPHDA, and banks, the number of applications for financing and their approvals is consistently on the rise as banks are approving over Rs. 4.5 billion and disbursing around Rs. 2.3 billion per week.
As a result of the MPMG scheme, applications for financing for affordable housing that was almost non-existent around 15 months ago have reached Rs. 357 billion, of which Rs. 157 billion has been approved, and Rs. 56 billion disbursed so far.
The inauguration ceremony was also addressed by Chairman National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance, Faiz Ullah Kamoka, and Minister of State for Information, Farrukh Habib. Both the speakers highlighted the government’s special focus on promoting housing and construction finance, especially for low and affordable housing.
Beneficiaries of MPMG are getting financing at fixed and subsided rates as the government is providing subsidies for this underserved sector. The inauguration ceremony was attended by CEOs of banks, dignitaries of Faisalabad, including top businessmen, VCs of universities, and media.
During the Mela, 25 banks and 28 builders/developers installed stalls, and made arrangements to receive applications, processing of applications after eCIB clearance, calculate installment amount, and give conditional approval letters to the applicants. Despite the scorching heat, long queues of interested applicants were seen on banks stalls.
To create healthy competition among banks, their performance during Mela was measured against five categories and made public to recognize their efforts. The results of this competition were as follows:
- Meezan Bank for having the most innovative stall
- Meezan Bank for having the highest applications logins
- BOP and NBP for being the quickest bank in offering the first conditional approval letter to an applicant
- ABL for providing the highest number of conditional approval letters to applicants
- Bank Al-Habib for the best quality of service as voted by visitors
Throughout the Mela, SBP’s senior officials visited stalls of the banks and developers to oversee the progress. Complaints of interested applicants were addressed on spot. Senior officials, including presidents and regional heads of banks, also attended the Mela and even guided the applicants. This all resonated well with the key objective of the Mela, highlighted by the Governor State Bank during the inauguration session, that the general public must witness and believe that they are getting financing under the flagship MPMG scheme.
