
MHADA CEO Sanjeev Jaiswal said at the BRICS Friendship Cities conclave that high land costs and the inability of beneficiaries with irregular incomes to get bank loans have left 10,000-15,000 homes unallotted in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Of nearly 50,000 homes built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in MMR, a fifth remain vacant because applicants cannot arrange financing, he said.
The PMAY subsidy of Rs 2.5 lakh is too small to bridge the gap between home prices of Rs 12-15 lakh and what low-income households can borrow. Many potential buyers work informally, lack stable income or credit scores, and are rejected by banks. The Times of India reports that around 3 lakh homes have been built across Maharashtra under the scheme.
The usual charge of government inefficiency misses the point: MHADA has built the homes. The real bottleneck is the gap between a construction cost inflated by Mumbai land prices and the thin borrowing capacity of informal workers. Banks are not being heartless; they follow prudential norms. But a scheme that leaves a fifth of its houses empty is failing at the last mile. The question for policymakers is whether to subsidise land, relax lending rules, or both.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
Ashin Xavier: interesting
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