SBICAP Ventures, the manager of India's 250 billion-rupee alternate investment fund for stalled housing projects in the country, approved the first batch of financing applications from four developers, The Times of India reported.

The borrowers received 250.0 million rupees to help restart their projects, with the loans subject to a fixed lending rate of 15%, according to the publication.

An unnamed banking source told The Times that the fund manager received over 100 proposals as of Dec. 31, 2019, and that banks are working overtime to review the applications.

In November 2019, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced plans to establish the fund, with the Indian government committing to investing 100 billion rupees to the platform.

Financial institutions such as Life Insurance Corp. of India and State Bank of India also contributed to the fund that aim at assisting more than 1,600 stalled real estate developments, the Jan. 9 report added.

As of Jan. 9, US$1 was equivalent to 71.17 Indian rupees.