National Housing Bank (NHB) is a statutory organization that was established on July 9, 1988 under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987. It is the apex level financial institution for the housing sector in the country and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India. The head office of NHB is located in New Delhi. It has a regional office at Mumbai and a Representative office at Hyderabad, Bangaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Lucknow & Ahmedabad. NHB aims to facilitate the promotion of Housing Finance Institutions and provides financial and other support to such institutions. NHB also raises resources for the housing sector towards increasing new housing stock and provides refinance to a large set of retail lending institutions such as Banks, HFCs, Co-operative Sector Institutions, Housing Agencies or to any authority established by or under any Central or State Act in order to benefit the masses both in urban and rural areas. The regulatory and supervisory authority of NHB over the activities of housing finance companies is derived from the NHB Act. As per the provisions of the Act, NHB is empowered to grant Certificate of Registration to companies for commencing/carrying on the business of a housing finance institution.