Affordable housing fund: Here is how government will raise Rs 25,000 crore over the period of 4 years

Budget 2018: The government will raise extra-budgetary resources of Rs 25,000 crore for the Affordable Housing Fund over the period of 4 years till 2022, housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Tuesday. The Fund will be anchored in National Housing Bank and will be channelled through the housing finance companies. “A sum of Rs 25,000 crore will be raised through non- budgetary funds which will help in the interest payment of credit-linked subsidy scheme (CLSS). Now there will be no bottlenecks,” Puri said. Last week, while presenting the Budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced the Affordable Housing Fund under National Housing Bank to boost demand and supply of low-cost homes. Jaitley said the government will “establish a dedicated Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) in National Housing Bank, funded from priority sector lending shortfall and fully serviced bonds authorised by the government”.

Talking about the Budget allocation, Puri said his ministry has been allocated Rs 41,756 crore in 2018-19, up nearly 3% from Rs 40,617 crore in 2017-18. The announcement of a dedicated AHF will go a long way in meeting the requirement. NHB will be working out the modalities for quick operationalisation of the fund,” Puri said. Around 37.45 lakh dwelling units in 7,474 projects with an investment of Rs 2,03,752 crore involving central assistance of Rs 57,681 crore have been approved under PMSY in the last 31 months. Out of this, 19.49 lakh houses have been grounded and 3.19 lakh houses have already been completed. A total of 2,78,267 houses have been occupied, Puri said. Launched on June 25, 2015, the aim of PMAY is to address the gap in housing demand and supply in urban areas in respect of economically weaker sections, low and middle income groups and meet the target of “Housing for All” by 2022, with an aim to provide a decent pucca home.

A sum of Rs 2,500 crore has been allocated under the Swatch Bharat Mission in 2018-19, up 8.69% over last year’s allocation. Under the Smart Cities Mission, Rs 6,169 crore has been allocated, up 54.2% from 2017-18. Under this mission, 99 cities have been selected so far. A total investment of Rs 2,03,979 crore has been proposed by these smart cities in their smart city plans. For the AMRUT scheme, there has been an increase of 20% in Budget allocation to Rs 6,000 crore in 2018-19. For the HRIDAY scheme, the ministry has been allocated Rs 161.5 crore in 2018-19, up 7.67% from last year.

Source- The Financial Express