Reverse mortgage loan is a home loan product having its deep roots in western countries. As far as India is concerned, the name formally figured in the Budget-2007 speech, in which the Finance Minister proclaimed the government's intention to have this product launched as a social security measure for the senior Indian citizens. The banks and other lending institutions were expected to offer this product. However, the present status of the scheme does not reflect it having reached the expected level. Although some banks have announced the scheme, the volume of sanctions and disbursements is not large enough. The popular discourse suggests that Indians would not accept the said product due to their emotional attachment to the house, and their mindset towards leaving a legacy behind them for their heirs. Do the banks, too, have apprehensions on these lines? Is it due to such apprehensions that much publicity is not given after making formal announcements? This paper makes an attempt to analyze these issues based on the data collected from the senior citizens and ascertain the potentiality of the product by examining the substance and the scale of the said apprehensions, if any. The study is based on a sample survey of senior citizens in Vadodara, Gujarat.

In this era of liberalization and globalization, one can observe that a concept or product originating in one country assumes relevance in another country across the world sooner or later. This is not so only in the case of the countries having similar levels of development. A product developed originally in developed countries, aiming at domestic consumers, now finds acceptance even in developing countries. Products such as mineral water and twin track blades are just some of the examples to substantiate the above fact. Interestingly, Aava, an Indian company, emerged as a winner of the Silver Award at the Global Bottled Water Congress held at Mexico City. It only goes to prove that foreign products do not just create interest among the consumers in developing countries like India, but they may also drive Indian entrepreneurs to produce similar products with excellent global standards, thereby emerging as competitors to the multinational companies in the international markets.

The Indian financial markets have considerably opened up to the whole world and are in a position to even ty out new financial products. However, financial products, unlike consumer products, have a high degree of complexity and need to be customized keeping in mind the Indian socioeconomic requirements. It will be interesting to study when and how a specific financial product can be introduced in the Indian markets. This research study examines `reverse mortgage loans'a product of foreign origin, but new to India.

It is a loan against one's own house, offered to a senior citizen, who can use the borrowed money for his financial needs and can also continue to stay in his house without the botheration of repaying the loan during his life time, as only after his death the lender recovers the loan with interest by selling the house. The loan may be given in the form of monthly, quarterly, annual or lump sum payments or payments at any other point in time as per the borrower's requirement. The banks have the discretion to take a decision regarding the mode of payment and the tenure of the loan depending on factors such as the condition and market value of the property, age of the borrower, etc.

Bank Management Journal, Mortgage Loans, Globalization, Reverse Mortgage Loans, Liberalization, Indian Financial Markets, Financial Products, Filtration Process, Decision Making Process, Reverse Mortgage Loan Scheme, Asset-Management Companies, Social Security Measures.