Pradhan Mantri AwasYojna (PMAY) is an urban housing scheme that was introduced by Government of India under the mission – Housing for all by 2022. The plan that was earlier started for lower income group (LIG) is now expanded to the economically weaker sections (EWS). PMAY that was introduced in 2015 primarily focuses on building pucca houses that has water facilities, better sanitation and electricity 24×7. This scheme helps in making housing affordable for urban poor as it provides subsidy on interest rate of a home loans while repaying the loan with EMIs.

This means the interest subsidy directly gets credited to the account of PMAY beneficiary, which reduces housing loan principal amount and the Equity Monthly Installment (EMI) amount to be paid on the housing loan. The beneficiary must pay the EMI’s only on the remainder of the total housing loan amount. In order to be a beneficiary of PMAY scheme, the applicant family should not own any pucca house or shouldn’t have availed any central assistance under Government’s housing schemes. If you are planning to take benefit of Pradhan Mantri AwasYojna or want to know the scheme well, here are the key highlights of PMAY.

1. To all the beneficiaries of PMAY taking housing loan for the tenure of up to 20 years, the provided interest subsidy rate is up to 6.5%.
2. The interest may vary depending on the income slabs:
3. On loan amounts of up to 6 lakh, credit-linked subsidy of 6.5% is made available.
4. On loan amount of 9 lakh, interest subsidy of 4% is made available for people earning 12 lakh per annum.
5. On loan amount of 12 lakh, interest subsidy of 3% is made available for people earning 18 lakh.
6. Any additional loan amount taken beyond the subsidised loan amount will be given at a nonsubsidised rate of interest.
7. Buying house under PMAY scheme, senior citizens and differently able citizens can getpreference in getting a house on ground floor.
8. All the houses constructed under PMAY scheme are built using sustainable and eco-friendly technologies.

The benefits of Pradhan Mantri AwasYojna can be availed even on the newly built house you acquire from a builder or developer as well as on house bought on resale. Moreover, the PMAY scheme even applies for conversion of ‘kutcha’ house into ‘pucca’ house under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) component.

The preferred beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri AwasYojna are:

• Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes
• Economically Weaker Section (EWS) i.e. people earning income of 3,00,000 per annum
• Low Income Group (LIG) i.e. people earning income of 6,00,000 per annum
• Middle Income Groups (MIG) i.e. people earning income of 18,00,000 per annum

There are special provisions made under PMAY for widows, senior citizens, differently able individuals and transgenders. Owning a house is a biggest dream for many as it takes a significant amount to buy or make a house. Pradhan Mantri AwasYojna strives to make this dream come true for people of each income class in India by making the EMI’s affordable.