Ahead of the Interim Budget 2024 which is set to be presented on February 1st, the government of world's most populated country, i.e. India, is likely to announce a big plan to house millions of its people.
Indian government is planning to push the affordable housing scheme to Rs 1 trillion. which means it gets extended in next month's interim budget. The finance ministry is also likely to increase the available subsidies for low-cost housing loans, govt sources said, as per a Reuters report.?The housing scheme is set to end in December 2024 but the government could extend it for another three-to-five years as it has still to meet its target.
During interim budget announcements on February 1st, India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to raise allocations for low-cost housing by more than 15%, from Rs 790 billion in 2023-24 to Rs 1 trillion ($12 billion) for upcoming financial year 2024-25.
India's central and state governments have reportedly spent $29 billion over the last five years under the scheme, to provide support for affordable rural and urban housing scheme.
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PM Modi had launched the affordable housing scheme in the year 2015, with the goal of "Housing for All."?According to the government's internal estimates, India, with a population of more than 1.4 billion (more than 140 crore), faces a shortage of more than?2 crore houses in rural areas and 1.5 crore houses?in urban areas. This?shortage is expected to double by 2030, according to industry forecasts.
Finance Minister Sitharaman is anticipated to raise incentives and?extend the housing scheme?in response to rising land and building material costs. In addition to state government subsidies, the government currently offers an interest-cost subsidy of Rs 100,000 to Rs 267,000 to households that obtain bank loans for the construction of homes under the housing scheme.?
It is expected that FM may be?raising the financial aid to roughly Rs 2 lakh per house in rural areas and up to Rs 50 lakh in urban areas?for interest subsidies on?home loans. According to Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, a proposal on interest subsidies for urban affordable housing would be submitted to the cabinet shortly.
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