Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Housing for All - Urban)

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022, when the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence.

Beneficiaries

• The mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers. A slum is defined as a compact area of at least 300 people or about 60 - 70 households of poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities.
• Beneficiaries include Economically weaker section (EWS), low-income groups (LIGs) and Middle Income Groups (MIGs). The annual income cap is up to Rs 3 lakh for EWS, Rs 3-6 lakh for LIG and Rs 6 + -18 lakhs for MIG. EWS category of beneficiaries is eligible for assistance in all four verticals of the Missions whereas LIG and MIG categories are eligible under only Credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) component of the Mission.
• For identification as a EWS or LIG beneficiary under the scheme, an individual loan applicant will submit self-certificate/ affidavit as proof of income.
• A beneficiary family will comprise husband, wife, unmarried sons and/or unmarried daughters.
• The beneficiary family should not own a pucca house either in his/her name or in the name of any member of his/her family in any part of India to be eligible to receive central assistance under the mission.
• The ownership of houses is provided in the name of female member or in joint name.
• Preference is also given to differently abled persons, senior citizens, SCs, STs, OBCs, Minority, single women, transgender and other weaker & vulnerable sections of the society. 
• All eligible beneficiaries under all components of the scheme should have an Aadhaar/ Aadhaar Virtual ID which should be integrated with the details of beneficiaries
• States/UTs, at their discretion, may decide a cut-off date on which beneficiaries need to be resident of that urban area for being eligible to take benefits under the scheme.

At the slum decadal growth rate of 34%, the slum households are projected to go upto 18 million. 2 million non-slum urban poor households are proposed to be covered under the Mission. Hence, total housing shortage envisaged to be addressed through the new mission is 20 million.

Scope

• The Mission covers the entire urban area consisting of Statutory Towns, Notified Planning Areas, Development Authorities, Special Area Development Authorities, Industrial Development Authorities or any such authority under State legislation which is entrusted with the functions of urban planning & regulations.
• “Housing for All” Mission for urban area is being implemented during 2015-2022 and this Mission will provide central assistance to implementing agencies through States and UTs for providing houses to all eligible families/beneficiaries by 2022.
• Mission will be implemented as Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) except for the component of credit linked subsidy which will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme.
• Mission with all its component has become effective from the date 17.06.2015 and will be implemented upto 31.03.2022

Coverage and Duration

• All 4041 statutory towns as per Census 2011 with focus on 500 Class I cities would be covered in three phases as follows:
• Phase I (April 2015 - March 2017) to cover 100 Cities selected from States/UTs as per their willingness.
• Phase II (April 2017 - March 2019) to cover additional 200 Cities
• Phase III (April 2019 - March 2022) to cover all other remaining Cities

Ministry, however, will have flexibility regarding inclusion of additional cities in earlier phases in case there is a resource backed demand from States/UTs.

• The mission will support construction of houses upto 30 square meter carpet area with basic civic infrastructure. States/UTs will have flexibility in terms of determining the size of house and other facilities at the state level in consultation with the Ministry but without any enhanced financial assistance from Centre. Slum redevelopment projects and Affordable Housing projects in partnership should have basic civic infrastructure like water, sanitation, sewerage, road, electricity etc. Urban Local Bodies (ULB) should ensure that individual houses under credit linked interest subsidy and beneficiary led construction should have provision for these basic civic services.
• The minimum size of houses constructed under the mission under each component should conform to the standards provided in National Building Code (NBC). If available area of land, however, does not permit building of such minimum size of houses as per NBC and if beneficiary consent is available for reduced size of house, a suitable decision on area may be taken by State/UTs with the approval of SLSMC. All houses built or expanded under the Mission should essentially have toilet facility.
• The houses under the mission should be designed and constructed to meet the requirements of structural safety against earthquake, flood, cyclone, landslides etc. conforming to the National Building Code and other relevant Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) codes.
• The houses constructed/acquired with central assistance under the mission should be in the name of the female head of the household or in the joint name of the male head of the household and his wife, and only in cases when there is no adult female member in the family, the house can be in the name of male member of the household.
• State/UT Government and Implementing Agencies should encourage formation of associations of beneficiaries under the scheme like Resident Welfare Association etc. to take care of maintenance of houses being built under the mission.
• The houses constructed/acquired with central assistance under the mission should be in the name of the female head of the household or in the joint name of the male head of the household and his wife, and only in cases when there is no adult female member in the family, the dwelling unit/house can be in the name of male member of the household.

Implementation Methodology

The Mission will be implemented through four verticals giving option to beneficiaries, ULBs and State Governments. These four verticals are as below.

In Situ Slum Redevelopmet

This vertical will be implemented with a concept “Land as a resource” with private sector participation for providing houses to eligible slum dwellers. Slums, whether on Central Government land/State Government land/ULB land, Private Land, should be taken up for “in-situ” redevelopment for providing houses to all eligible slum dwellers. Slums so redeveloped should compulsorily be denotified.

Slum rehabilitation grant of Rs. 1 lakh per house, on an average, would be admissible for all houses built for eligible slum dwellers in all such projects.

Affordable Housing through Credit Linked Subsidy

Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for EWS and LIG

Under Credit Linked Subsidy, beneficiaries of Economically Weaker section (EWS) and Low Income Group (LIG) can seek housing loans from Banks, Housing Finance Companies and other such institutions for new construction and enhancement to existing dwellings as incremental housing . The credit linked subsidy will be available only for loan amounts upto Rs 6 lakhs and such loans would be eligible for an interest subsidy at the rate of 6.5 % for tenure of 20 years or during tenure of loan whichever is lower. Total interest subsidy available to each beneficiary under this component is Rs.2.30 lakh. The Net Present Value (NPV) of the interest subsidy will be calculated at a discount rate of 9 %. Any additional loans beyond Rs. 6 lakhs, will be at nonsubsidized rate. Interest subsidy will be credited upfront to the loan account of beneficiaries through lending institutions resulting in reduced effective housing loan and Equated Monthly Installment (EMI).

The carpet area of houses being constructed under this component should be upto 30 sq.m. for EWS category and upto 60 sq.m. for LIG category. This means that if the carpet area exceeds the respective limits, then the beneficiaries would not be eligible to avail of the benefit under this component.

Preference under the Scheme will be given to Manual Scavengers, Women (with overriding preference to widows), persons belonging to Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes/ Other Backward Classes, Minorities, Persons with disabilities and Transgenders subject to beneficiaries being from EWS / LIG segments.

There is no processing charge payable by the beneficiary for housing loans upto Rs. 6 lakh under the Scheme. For additional loan amounts beyond Rs. 6 lakh, Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) will charge the normal processing fee.

Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Middle Income Groups – CLSS (MIG)

The window of fulfilling the aspiration of owning a pucca house for the tax paying large middle class population, has been made operational from January 1, 2017.

Salient features

• Middle Income Groups (MIG) with annual incomes of above Rs.6.00 lakhs and up to Rs.18.00 lakhs per year are eligible for interest subsidy on housing loans under the new CLSS (MIG). Those who have been sanctioned housing loans and whose applications are under consideration since 1st January 2017 are also eligible for interest subsidy.
• A beneficiary family is defined as comprising of wife, husband and unmarried daughters and sons. Unmarried and earning young adults are also eligible for taking the benefit of interest subsidy under CLSS (MIG), for acquisition/construction of a new house including repurchase. Preference is to be given to women with overriding preference to widows, single working women, persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes, Differently abled and Transgender people.
• Interest subsidy will be provided on loans for construction/acquisition of house with carpet area of 160 sq.mtres by those earning Rs.6 -12.00 lakh per annum and of 200 sq.mt by those earning Rs. 13 -18.00 lakh per year.
• Beneficiaries are eligible for an interest subsidy of 4% on housing loans of up to Rs.9.00 lakhs of those with an income of Rs. 6 - 12.00 lakh per year and of 3% on housing loans of up to Rs.12.00 lakh of those earning Rs. 13 - 18.00 lakh per year.
• The total interest subsidy accruing on these loan amounts will be paid to the beneficiaries up front in one go there by reducing the burden of Equated Monthly Instalment (EMI). The total interest subsidy  to be paid to MIG people on Rs.9.00 loan comes to Rs.2.35 lakh and on a loan of Rs.12.00 lakh, it comes to Rs.2.30 lakh per beneficiary.
• The tenure of loan has been stipulated to be 20 years or that preferred by the beneficiary, whichever is lower.
• CLSS for Middle Income Group (MIG) was made operational w.e.f.01.01.2017, initially for one year and was extended up to 31.03.2021
• Small Finance Banks and Non Banking Finance Company-Micro Finance Institutions also have been recognized to function as Primary Lending Institutions to widen the scope of implementation of CLSS(MIG) in addition to Scheduled Commercial Banks, Housing Finance Companies, Regional Rural Banks, State and Urban Cooperative Banks for accepting applications directly from beneficiaries and advancing loans under the scheme.
• Beneficiaries eligible for interest subsidy under CLSS can directly apply to PLIs and PLIs after due verification of applications will sanction loans and there after claim subsidy from CNAs. No processing fee will be charged by PLIs from the applicants under CLSS.
• NHB and Housing and Urban Development Corporation(HUDCO) have been designated as Central Nodal Agencies (CAN) for implementation of CLSS for both MIG and EWS/LIG who would reimburse interest subsidy to Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs) based on the loans advanced to beneficiaries by PLIs.

For more information, click here.

Affordable Housing Through Partnership

Under AHP, Central Assistance of Rs. 1.5 Lakh per EWS house is provided by the Government of India. An affordable housing project can be a mix of houses for different categories but it will be eligible for Central Assistance, if at least 35% of the houses in the project are for EWS category. The States/UTs decide on an upper ceiling on the sale price of EWS houses with an objective to make them affordable and accessible to the intended beneficiaries. State and cities also extend other concessions such as their State share, land at affordable cost, stamp duty exemption etc.

Subsidy for Beneficiary-led individual house construction

This is assistance to individual eligible families belonging to EWS categories to either construct new houses or enhance existing houses on their own to cover the beneficiaries who are not able to take advantage of any other component of the mission. Such families may avail of central assistance of Rs. 1.5 lakh. A minimum addition of 9.0 sq.mt of carpet area to the existing house will be required to be eligible for Central assistance under the ‘Beneficiary Led Construction’ component of the housing mission.

A beneficiary desirous of availing this assistance shall approach the ULBs with adequate documentation regarding availability of land owned by them. Such beneficiaries may be residing either in slums or outside the slums. Beneficiaries in slums which are not being redeveloped can be covered under this component if beneficiaries have a Kutcha or semi Pucca house.

Central assistance will be released to the bank accounts of beneficiaries identified in projects through States/UTs as per recommendations of State/UT.

For more information, click here.

Tollfree Helpline numbers on CLSS

National Housing Bank : 1800-11-3377, 1800-11-3388

HUDCO: 1800-11-6163

SBI : 1800-11-2018

Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs)

Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has initiated Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs), a sub-scheme under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U). This will provide ease of living to urban migrants/ poor in Industrial Sector as well as in non-formal urban economy to get access to dignified affordable rental housing close to their workplace.

The ARHC scheme will be implemented through two models:

• Utilizing existing Government funded vacant houses to convert into ARHCs through Public Private Partnership or by Public Agencies
• Construction, Operation and Maintenance of ARHCs by Public/ Private Entities on their own available vacant land

Beneficiaries for ARHCs are urban migrants/ poor from EWS/ LIG categories. ARHCs will be a mix of single/double bedroom Dwelling Units and Dormitory of 4/6 beds including all common facilities which will be exclusively used for rental housing for a minimum period of 25 years.

For more details, click here.

Source : Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India

Related resources

1. FAQs on PMAY
2. Subsidy Calculator for CLSS