Centre to provide cheap housing loans for urban poor soon: Puri

Govt finalising scheme to provide relief in interest rates on loans from banks for urban poor to construct houses. PM Modi announced the programme in his Independence Day address.

The Centre on Friday said it was in the process of finalising a scheme providing relief in interest rates on loans from banks to construct houses in urban areas. The programme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address.

“We are in the process of finalising details of the new home loans scheme. Let the Cabinet approve it,” Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said during a media interaction here.

The scheme aims to help urban poor build houses in cities. They will be provided with relief in interest rates and loans taken from banks to construct homes.

The prime minister had said that if this section wants to build their own houses the government will assist them with a relief in interest rates and loans from banks that will help them save lakhs of rupees.

The government already has a scheme to address housing shortage for urban poor called the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) which was launched in 2015.

The PMAY-U is a flagship Mission of the Government implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

A total of 75.51 lakh houses have been built of which 71.39 lakh have been occupied under the PMAY-U, the government informed the Rajya Sabha.