Central assistance of Rs 2.2 lakh cr in next 5 yrs to provide homes for 1 cr urban poor, middle-class

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday announced central assistance of Rs 2.2 lakh crore over the next five years to meet the housing requirement of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban and proposed interest subsidy to provide loans at affordable rates.

In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Under the PM Awas Yojana Urban 2.0, housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families will be addressed with an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore".

"This will include the central assistance of Rs 2.2 lakh crore in the next 5 years," she added.

The government also plans to provide interest subsidies to facilitate loans at affordable rates, the minister said.

She informed that 3 crore additional houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in rural and urban areas have been announced and for this, the necessary allocations are being made.

Sitharaman proposed that the government will put in place policies for promoting rental housing markets.

"...enabling policies and regulations for efficient and transparent rental housing markets with enhanced availability will also be put in place," she said.

Further, the minister said the government will facilitate rental housing with dormitory-type accommodation for industrial workers.

This will be done in PPP (public-private partnership) mode with VGF support and commitment from anchor industries.

Sitharaman said states charging high stamp duties on purchase of properties will be encouraged to bring down the rates, and asserted that this reform will be a key component in urban development schemes.

She also asked states to consider further lowering stamp duties for properties bought by women.

"We will encourage states, which continue to charge high stamp duty to moderate the rates for all, and also consider further lowering duties for properties purchased by women. This reform will be made an essential component of urban development schemes," Sitharaman said.

Stamp duty is a tax imposed by state governments on the sale of property/property ownership. It is payable under Section 3 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899. The duty is payable at the time of registration of property if a property is acquired by way of a sale deed/conveyance deed/gift deed.

For states, stamp duty is one of the major streams for generating funds to undertake development works.

On tax proposals, Sitharaman proposed that income from letting out of a house or part of the house by the owner, would not be charged under the head 'profits and gains of business or profession' and rather it would be chargeable to tax under the head 'income from house property' only.

Regarding TDS (tax deducted at source) on the sale of immovable property, she clarified that "where there is more than one transferor or transferee in respect of an immovable property, then such consideration for transfer of the immovable property shall be the aggregate of the amounts paid or payable by all the transferees to the transferor or all the transferors for transfer of such immovable property".

Sitharaman also proposed amendments to the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988.

"It is proposed to provide immunity from penalty and prosecution to benamidar on full and true disclosure. It is also proposed to rationalise time limits for attachment of property and reference to adjudicating authority," she said.