To meet affordable housing targets, the Centre on Friday extended the benefits of the interest subsidy scheme on home loans under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana or PMAY (Urban) by 15 months beyond December this year. Now, the subsidy of up to ₹2.60 lakh on home loans for the middle-income group (MIG) will be available till March 2019.
The announcement was made by Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra at the Real Estate and Infrastructure Investors Summit organised by NAREDCO in Mumbai, according to an official release.
“The government decided to give more time for MIG beneficiaries to avail interest subsidy under PMAY (Urban)”, Mishra said in his address.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2016 had announced that the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) under PMAY (Urban) for MIG would continue till the end of December 2017.
Under CLSS, MIG beneficiaries with annual income of above ₹6 lakh and up to ₹12 lakh get an interest subsidy of 4 per cent on a 20-year loan component of ₹9 lakh. Those with annual income exceeding ₹12 lakh and up to ₹18 lakh would get interest subsidy of 3 per cent.
GST concernsLater, Mishra held an hour-long meeting with a 30-member delegation of NAREDCO which expressed concern over GST, including other taxes accounting for over one-third of the cost of residential properties.
The delegation referred to what they called anomalies in GST rates for completed and under-construction housing projects; stamp duties being higher and kept outside the purview of GST; scarcity of land; delays in granting construction permits; and lack of coordination among different municipal agencies, among other things.
Mishra assured them that the government would look into the issues.