Housing loans, home improvement loans, and now, you can avail a loan to grow a garden too. Indian Overseas Bank’s Urban Horticulture Yojana offers to finance gardens (on ground or on the roof) in homes as well as offices, educational institutions, hotels and commercial complexes within cities. The idea is to help facilitate maximum green cover in the city and promote urban farming. You can use the loan to buy plants for kitchen gardens, ornamental gardens, orchards, or any kind of plantation.
The pricing of the loans is as per the economical agricultural term Loans. “The objective of the scheme is to extend retail credit facility on easy terms for raising such gardens,” says Biswanath Bandopadhyay, Assistant General Manager, Agriculture & Rural initiatives Department, Indian Overseas Bank. So far, 456 persons have taken this loan from IOB, which has disbursed Rs.18.52 crore till May 2012.
Under the scheme, individuals can borrow up to Rs.2.5 lakh and institutions up to Rs.25 lakh. “To avail the loan, the person should own an independent house with at least 500 sq.ft open space for gardening, or a similar area of open unencumbered roof space, and show proof of a regular source of income,” says Bandopadhyay. Salaried persons, professionals and business people are eligible, and home owners can be financed even if they have let out the house.
In the case of institutions, privately owned schools, offices, guest houses, hospitals and hotels, they must have at least 1,000 sq. ft of open space for gardening to become eligible for the loan. Proprietary or partnership firms, trusts and societies can also take the loan.
