To give push to affordable housing for urban poor, the Union Budget 2023-24 has been enhanced by 66 per cent to over Rs 79,000 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).
Presenting the Union Budget 2023-24 on Wednesday, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the outlay of PMAY is being enhanced by 66 per cent to over Rs 79,000 crore.
In the Union Budget 2022-23, the Finance Minister had proposed an allocation of Rs 48,000 crore towards the government initiative of housing for all. The Government had promised that 80 lakh houses will be completed for identified eligible beneficiaries of PMAY, both rural and urban.
As of November 2022, more than 1.20 crore houses have been sanctioned under PMAY, of which more than 64 lakh have been completed, with the remaining in various stages of construction, the ministry of housing and urban affairs has said.
Also, ahead of the Budget, it was expected that the PMAY would receive an outlay of around Rs 40,000 crore from the Centre. In the end, however, it ended up receiving nearly double the projected amount.
The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) for Middle Income Group (MIG) has been extended.
It will give the homebuyers the financial elbow room to make a purchase but experts said a standard definition for 60m and 90m affordable homes would have given a bigger boost to the housing
industry.
The PMAY, a flagship mission of the Government of India, was announced in June 2015, with an aim to address the housing shortage among the EWS/LIG and MIG categories.
The scheme is handled by the Ministry of housing and urban affairs. The programme has been extended to December 31, 2024, to complete the houses sanctioned till March 31, 2022.
Anarock Group chairman Anuj Puri said the new measures announced in the Union Budget 2023-24 may certainly help unleash Indian economy’s potential. “The enhanced allocation for PM Awaas Yojana by 66 per cent to over IRs 79,000 crores is certainly a boost for affordable housing, which was flagging due to increased input costs and also because the buyers in this segment, mostly from the unorganised sector, were still reeling under the impact of the pandemic. It is another step towards the Government’s Housing for All mission,” Puri said.