Income criteria set to be tweaked for MIGs to be eligible for govt aid for building houses in urban areas

NEW DELHI: Govt is set to bring down the income criteria for middle income groups (MIGs) to be eligible for getting govt assistance for buying or building houses in cities and towns under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Urban), which is likely to be part of the full budget for 2024-25. The objective is better targeting of the scheme, sources said.
In the first leg of PMAY(U), which covered 1.19 crore houses, govt had put the MIG under two categories — MIG-I households having an annual income of Rs 6 lakh-Rs 12 lakh and households with annual income of Rs 12 lakh to Rs 18 lakh were put under MIG-II category.Sources said now the proposal is to rationalise this criteria and there may only be one MIG category.
An official in the housing and urban affairs ministry said modalities of the next phase of PMAY(U) are currently being worked out and it may be launched in less than a month. In its first Cabinet meeting, govt had given go ahead for providing financial assistance to build one crore houses in urban areas and another two crore in rural areas in the next five years.
“The second phase of the scheme will soon be launched and it will be based on the learnings of the first phase with the focus on better targeting of the scheme, no delay in disbursement to the beneficiaries and ease of living,” an official said. The scheme will have three categories — Economically Weaker Section (EWS), Low Income Group (LIG) and MIG.
The urban component of PMAY was launched on June 25, 2015 with a vision of providing “Housing for All”. Under the scheme, 1.14 crore houses have been grounded for construction, over 84 lakh houses have been completed and delivered to the beneficiaries.
As on date, out of the committed central assistance of Rs 2 lakh crore, govt has released Rs 1.64 lakh crore. Under the scheme, 94 lakh houses are registered in the name of women and around 25 lakh houses are under Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme where Centre pays upfront assistance in the form of interest subsidy for bank loans.