To make housing more affordable in the country, the government launched PMAY (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) in June 2015. The scheme offers various benefits to help people from EWS, LIG and MIG categories purchase or construct a home of their own. Check out this post to know features and benefits of PMAY.
Buying a home requires a significant investment and not many people in India are able to afford it. To help the aspiring home buyers, especially those belonging to the economically weaker sections, the government of India introduced the PMAY initiative in 2015. The initiative offers subsidy on loans for buying and construction of home.
From building affordable houses, providing subsidised home loans, using eco-friendly construction technologies, to giving preference to women and minorities, the PMAY scheme offers a host of valuable benefits. Let us look at the features and benefits of PMAY.
Features
- Pro-women scheme
Under the scheme, the women applicants are given priority over male applicants. This means that, in the event of allotment of houses, women will be given preference.
- Subsidy on the interest
To encourage the people from economically weaker sections and low-income group own/build their house, the government of India under the PMAY provides an interest subsidy of 6.5% on housing loans for a period of 15 years from the date of commencement of loan tenure.
- Preference to senior citizens for ground floor houses
At the time of the allocation of houses, under the scheme, the senior citizens and the differently-abled applicants will be given preference in allocating ground floor houses.
- Eco-friendly houses
All the houses that are built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana are mandated to strictly use eco-friendly construction technology.
- Special provisions
Women from the low-earning groups are subject to get special benefits while allocating houses under the scheme. Specials provisions are also made for transgender, and widow applicants.
- Slum development
Under the scheme, affordable houses are to be developed with the private and government funding and rehabilitate the existing slum dwellers.
Benefits of PMAY
- Subsidy for all citizens
Under the scheme, the government of India offers a huge subsidy for all (to know the exact amount, based on the category you belong refer the table below) on purchase of house.
- Housing for all
With the aim to provide permanent housing for all, the government aims to construct more than two crore affordable homes in all major urban as well as rural areas across India. In rural areas, the scheme guarantees development of the local real estate sector as well as the associated industries. The construction of houses has begun in states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra. For the low-income groups, the scheme is a great way to own a house and uplift their standard of living.
- Female Ownership
The PMAY has an important clause, which makes it mandatory for the house to be registered in the name of a woman, even if she is not the primary applicant. It is a great step towards helping women be the homeowners.
- Subsidised loans from lender of applicants’ choice
The applicants of home loan under the PMAY can avail credit from any primary lending institutions of their choice including regional rural banks, housing finance companies, non-banking financial company, urban cooperative banks, state cooperative banks and scheduled commercial banks.
- No processing fee for loan applicants.
As per the PMAY mandate, the lenders are not allowed to charge any processing fees from the home loan borrowers provided the loan applied for is less than Rs. 6 Lakhs. The government will pay for the process fees apart from the subsidy amount reimbursement. For loan applications that are more than INR six lakhs, the lenders are allowed to charge the usual process fees.
- Loan for home renovation
A person from the low-income group or the economically weaker section can avail loan for the extension or renovation of their home under the PMAY scheme.
