As part of the Interim Budget for 2024–2025, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new housing scheme for the middle class to buy or construct homes on Thursday.
During the interim budget speech on Thursday, she stated, “Our government will launch a scheme to help deserving sections of the middle class ‘living in rented houses, or slums, or chawls and unauthorised colonies’ to buy or build their own houses.”
Sitharaman stated that 30 million houses were built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin scheme, with an additional 20 million to be built over the next five years.
The government increased the allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (rural and urban) for the year 2024–25 to Rs.80,671 crore from the budgetary estimate of Rs.79,590 crore in 2023–24, with a focus on affordable and urban housing, according to the interim budget.
Additionally, a new rooftop solarisation scheme for one crore homes has been announced by the finance minister. In addition, 300 free units of electricity will be provided each month. She stated that households might save up to Rs.15,000-Rs.18,000 per year by receiving free solar power and selling the surplus to discoms.
She further stated that the expansion of metro rail and Namo Bharat trains will serve as a “catalyst for urban transformation”. “The expansion of these systems will be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development,” she added.