Mumbai: The slump in the real estate sector seems to have hit hard even the Pradhan Manrti Awas Yojana (Urban) (PMAY – U), the governments flagship program to provide affordable housing for the economically weaker sections of the society. As per the data released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Maharashtra out of the 1,014 PMAY projects considered with a sanctioned housing stock of 11,67,174 houses, could only manage to construct 2,68,049 houses, while 4,58,177 houses were under construction and only 2,89,159 houses could be occupied till end of 2019.
The states with largest PMAY housing projects, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Assam, and the strife torn newly created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir have failed to achieve the targets set for 2018-2019.
In the 28 states and 9 union territories, the MoHUA had approved 21,566 projects under PMAY with an investment Rs. 6.16 lakh crores, with a sanctioned central assistance of Rs. 1.63 lakh crore. The centre in reality released Rs. 64,000 crore of the sanctioned amount for construction of 1.03 crore sanctioned houses. Out of these 60 lakh houses were grounded for construction, again out of these construction of only 32 lakh houses could be completed, which meant only 28.42 lakh houses could be occupied by the end of 2019.
It was not without any rhyme or reason that on September 14, 2019, that Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a Rs. 20,000 crore stress fund to give boost to the Housing sector. The economic booster dose for the real estate sector was special meant for affordable housing for the poor and economically weaker sections of the society. The government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had relaxed the External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) limits to enable financing for home buyers under the PMAY. The sops were also intended to complete the stalled projects under the scheme.
Out of the 8 major states and one union territory, only UP, Gujarat, AP managed to construct maximum number of PMAY (U) Homes by 2019-end. Nearly 11.22 lakh homes are completed in these 3 states as on 2019 end, against just 3.62 lakh homes completed in 2018 end. By December 2018 end, merely 12.58 lakh homes were completed across all states and UTs.
State-wise data for 8 major states and UT of J&K, of houses sanctioned and houses completed is as follows: Andhra Pradesh – sanctioned houses 20.05 lakh, completed 3.23 lakh, Chhattisgarh – sanctioned 2.54 lakh, completed 79,938, Gujarat – sanctioned 6.38 lakh, completed 3.69 lakh, Karnataka – 6.49 lakh sanctioned, 1.62 lakh completed, Madhya Pradesh – 7.83 lakh sanctioned, 3.13 lakh completed, Tamil Nadu – 7.66 lakh sanctioned, 2.87 lakh completed, UP – 15.71 lakh sanctioned, 4.29 lakh completed, Assam – 1.17 lakh sanctioned, completed 17,678 and UT of J&K – 54,551 sanctioned, completed 6,499 houses
