January 17, 2024: Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to announce an extension to its flagship housing scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, when she presents the Interim Budget on February 1, says a report by Reuters, citing sources. The urban component of the is set to expire on December 31, 2024. The PMAY-Gramin on the other hand expires March 31 this year.
A total of 78.15 lakh houses have been built and delivered to beneficiaries under the urban component of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), government data till November 20, 2023, show. A total of 2.5 crore houses have also been completed under the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin till November 29, 2023, Parliament was informed on December 5, 2023. Against the mandated target of 2.95 crore houses under the government’s flagship scheme, more than 2.94 crore houses have already been sanctioned to the beneficiaries by various states.
According to the report, the FM in her Budget might raise allocations for low-cost housing by more than 15% to $12 billion for the financial year 2024-25.
Meanwhile, the government is also giving the final touches to a new home loan interest subsidy scheme, minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said on January 12. “A lot of work has gone into the formulation of the scheme. There has been deliberation on the nuances. It is in the final stages. We should be going to the Cabinet (for this) soon,” Puri told media.
The scheme, which will replace the discontinued Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS), was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech in 2023.
“We are coming up with a new scheme in the coming years that will benefit those families that live in cities but live in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorised colonies. If they want to build their own houses, we will assist them with relief in interest rates and loans from banks that will help them save lakhs of rupees. If the income tax bracket for my middle-class families is raised from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, it benefits the salaried class, the middle class the most,” the PM had said.
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