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Abstract
Reverse Mortgage Loan, a popular home loan product in the West, was introduced in India as part of the 2007 budget as a financial product meant to provide social security to elderly citizens. RML was expected to be hugely successful among the typical income-poor, asset-rich retirees of Indian middle class. However, a number of recent studies have shown that RML hasn’t been as popular as expected. Urban middle class of Kerala was expected to be among the most keen buyers of RML at the time of its introduction. This study attempted to find out, to what extend the urban middle class of Kerala is aware of RML as a loan product and to what degree various demographic and socio economic factors decide its popularity. The effectiveness of RML as viewed by its buyers is also measured in the study. Three different samples were used. The first sample of 50 participants was used to test the awareness of RML. Another sample of 30 who had purchased RML was used to measure its effectiveness. A third sample of 30 who decided not to buy RML were used to study factors that led to their decision. Both the second and third samples were used in combination to study the various demographic and socio-economic factors that decided the demand of RML among urban dwellers of Kerala.