Mumbai, Maharashtra, New Delhi, Delhi, India:  The Hon’ble Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Mr. Harshdeep Singh Puri gave a New Year gift to home seekers on the last day of 2018. He announced extension of the Credit Link Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) on home loans for the Middle Income Group (MIG) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) till March 2020. "This is a welcome New Year Gift, it will benefit the MIG home seekers the most," said Dr Niranjan Hiranandani, President (National), NAREDCO, adding that under the CLSS, the Indian Government provides a subsidy of up to Rs 2.67 lakh on home loans.
 
Launched on 11th March 2017 to provide interest subsidy for housing loans to eligible beneficiaries belonging to MIG, the CLSS for MIG scheme was approved for a period of one year on 1st January 2017.
 
The CLSS provides a subsidy of up to 2.67 lakh on housing-related loans including loans home-buying or construction from banks, housing finance companies and other such notified institutions. Bifurcated into two groups, the MIG beneficiaries with an annual income from 6-12 lakh can avail a subsidy of 4% on a 20-year loan of 9 Lakh and those exceeding the annual income of 12-18 lakh can avail the subsidy of 3 percent.

Till December 30 2018, around 3,39,713 beneficiaries have availed of the CLSS under the PMAY (Urban). "We estimate one lakh beneficiaries by March 2019, and possibly 2 lakh more beneficiaries by March 2020. This extension up to March 31, 2020 has the potential to help make many a dream home into a reality," said Dr Niranjan Hiranandani. "This will also create a positive impact for the 'Housing for All' initiative," he concluded.
 
Dr Niranjan Hiranandani is the President (Nation), National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), which works under the aegis of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India.