Budget 2021: PM Awas Yojna -- here's the progress so far

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), which aims to ensure basic dignity of living for all -- first launched in June 2015, aims at providing affordable housing to the lower and mid-income groups in urban areas by 2022. The PMAY covers the mid-income group, along with the primary audience of the economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income group (LIG).  

The government, in its technical study in 2011, had found that there is a shortage of 1.88 crore homes in the nation. In response, it set a target to provide 'Housing for all' by 2022. The main objective of the scheme has been to address the housing deficit in rural and urban areas.

Here's progress so far:  

• Project proposal considered: 22,843                   
• Houses sanctioned: 1.08 crore
• Houses grounded: 67.02 lakh
• Houses completed: 38.45 lakh
• Total investment: Rs 6.53 lakh crore
• Central assistance sanctioned: Rs 1.72 lakh crore
• Central assistance released: Rs 76,329 crore

The initial uptake on the scheme was slow but the scheme picked up pace in FY2019. In January 2018, only 8.5 per cent of the planned houses had been completed. But, as the government increased focus on the completion of sanctioned houses, the rate of completion increased over 31 per cent by June 2019. However, the occupancy rate of completed houses has remained steady and was close to 92 per cent in June 2019.

In 2020, the demand for affordable housing stood at 1.12 crore. By December 2019, one crore homes were sanctioned. As per the official data, the Centre's assistance for the mission so far, stands at Rs 1.66 lakh crore, of which Rs 72,646 crore has already been released. The total investment is Rs 6.41 lakh crore.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on November 12, 2020, increased the outlay for the PMAY Urban scheme by Rs 18,000 crore, in the light of the coronavirus pandemic. This increased budget would help 18 lakh houses to be completed. An additional 78 lakh jobs, increased consumption of steel and cement, as a result of this increased budget allocation, will also help the economy, added Sitharaman.