India, Feb. 14 -- Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday called for the establishment of robust urban infrastructure through a transit-oriented development (TOD) model to make housing more accessible and sustainable.

Addressing a two-day international conference on "Evolving Landscape of Housing Finance" at Bharat Mandapam, the minister urged financial institutions, including banks, housing finance companies and the National Housing Bank, to collaborate and extend greater credit support to expand the housing stock nationwide.

Khattar highlighted findings from a joint study conducted by NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), which estimated India's urban population at 500 million...