The government of Maharashtra is in talks with the Central government for tweaking the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) for the economically-weaker sections (EWS) in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), by doubling the eligibility criteria of annual income ceiling to ₹6 lakh.

Currently, under the PMAY scheme, the income ceiling for availing benefits by those in EWS is ₹3 lakh. Valsa Nair Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Housing in the Maharashtra government, said that those earning up to ₹3 lakh annually in the Mumbai region would not be able to afford houses in and around India’s financial capital, where real estate is among the most expensive in the world. A house costing ₹45 lakh is considered affordable in the city and residences priced lower than that would mean moving right into the hinterland.

Speaking at a real estate conference organised by CII, Singh that they were in talks with the Ministry of Housing at the Centre to consider MMR as a special case “where the income criteria of EWS can go up to ₹6 lakh.” She said that this issue was under discussion and the concerned parliamentary committee has also sought more details on this. “We are hopeful we should be able to clinch it.”

Other benefits for the EWS category applying for houses under PMAY include an interest subsidy of 6.5 per cent, loan amount up to ₹6 lakh and a maximum subsidy of ₹2.7 lakh.

State housing policy

The State government has also come up with its housing policy that provides incentives to developers to build affordable homes in the State.

Under the new housing policy announced earlier, about 20 per cent of the houses built by a developer has to be given back to the government on a plot of 4,000 sq m or more, subject to certain incentives. The government plans to roll out projects across nine cities with affordable houses that would be available on online lottery platforms, Singh said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW