On Wednesday, the government told the media that 37.57 lakh homes were allotted in the last two years for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U). The Ministry of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Kaushal Kishore, said that in the last two years 37.57 lakh houses were sanctioned for EWS in three vertices, they are: In-situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), and Beneficiary Led individual house Enhancement or Construction (BLC). Out of the total, 28.99 lakh houses have been grounded for construction and 18.50 lakh houses completed. The ministry informed that besides under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) of PMAY-U, 5.81 lakh EWS beneficiaries have availed the subsidy of the benefit of interest. Kishor said that under the vertices of ISRR and AHP of PMAY-U, the private partnership is envisaged for constructing affordable houses for EWS and under the CLSS vertical, the interest subsidy is provided on a housing loan. He said that to boost affordable housing, the government has taken various steps, like granting of infrastructure status to affordable housing to enable cheap housing loans, decrease in Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 8% to 1% on the under-construction affordable housing project without Input Tax Credit, increase in priority lending from Rs 28 lakh to Rs 35 lakh in non-metro regions, and setting up National Housing Bank for the affordable housing fund. The ministry also said that the government is offering an additional income tax reduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on home loan interest and an additional deduction of Rs 2 lakh for affordable housing loans. It provides an extension of 100% profit deduction on affordable housing projects under section 80-IBA of Income Tax Act until March 2022 and widening the scope of section 80-IBA from 30 sq meters to 60 sq meters in metro cities and 60 sq meters to 90 sq meters in non-metro cities. Image Source Also read: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana: Uttarakhand CM lauds PMAY scheme Also read: Covid-19 delays construction of rural homes under PMAY-G