In the din of the budget, a major announcement regarding affordable housing was almost lost. It’s about the new CLSS scheme introduced by the government and passed by the Union Cabinet yesterday.
CLSS stands for Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme. Here are some of the major highlights of the revised scheme.
• The tenure of home loans under this scheme has been extended from 15 years to 20 years.
• The Scheme for economically weaker sections will be renamed as CLSS for LIG (Earlier, it was just referred to as CLSS under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Mission.
• Subsequently, a new scheme will be formed as CLSS for MIG targeted at the middle-income group. This classification will better the impact of the scheme.
• CLSS for the middle-income group has been provisioned a sum of INR 1000 crore for the financial year 2017-18.
• The government of India plans to build 1 crore by 2019. In the Union Budget, the finance minister has upped the provisioned amount under Prime Minister Awas Yojana from INR 15,000 crore to INR 23,000 crore.
• Further, primary lending institutions (PLIs) have formed an alliance with central nodal agencies to extend the services of CLSS – LIG to CLSS – MIG as well. This will lead to better offtake of the scheme.
• The interest subsidy will be credited directly to a beneficiary’s home loan account. But first, PLI’s will thoroughly vet the subsidy seeker and follow due diligence to affirm eligibility.
• The government will also make norms simple and incentivize primary lending institutions to boost credit growth under this scheme.
This subsidy scheme, once in force will help the government reach its lofty target of Housing for All by 2022 by reaching out to lower and middle-income groups. India is facing a housing shortage and a disparity of incomes. It will bring about equity and inclusive participation of all sections of society to fulfill the basic need of housing.
