Infrastructure status given to the affordable housing sector will enable projects associated benefits such as lower borrowing rates, tax concessions and increasing flow of foreign and private capital, according to Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri.
Speaking at an institutional investor event in Delhi on Monday, Puri said additional measures such as Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA), Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act 2016, higher tax breaks on home loans etc have also been introduced which will spur the housing and construction activities. “These will be effective in spurring the housing and construction activities, providing huge relief to real estate developers. Also, these would attract private and foreign investments in the housing sector, having a positive multiplier effect on GDP and labour market. We are aware that availability of encumbrance free land within existing municipal areas for urban housing schemes is not an easy task,” said Puri.
Provision has been made to include rural areas falling within the notified Planning/Development areas, under ambit of PMAY (U).
It would leverage availability of additional land at cheaper cost for construction of affordable houses, he said.
Puri said, the aim is to fulfil the housing need of homeless urban poor and help them to own pucca houses by 2022.