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PMAY Loans - What Are These? How Can You Benefit from Them?


PMAY Loans - What Are These? How Can You Benefit from Them?

  • By Saral Credit
  • October 14, 2021

India is one of the major countries globally where middle-class people always dream of owning a dream home. Every middle-class person has a home in their dreams that they live within until they pay their booking amount. If you are one of the middle-class group, you would also have a dream home.

Some of you prefer buying a home to fulfill your parent's dream, while some want a secure and peaceful place to spend the rest of their life with their beloved ones. Interestingly, elders of middle-class families always teach their kids to focus on buying a house before anything. Below listed are some prominent reasons why every adult dreams of owning a house before anything else.

Increase in Your Property Value: With time, the prices of real estate increase, and hence, what budget you finalize today may increase when equated with inflation. Therefore, buying now is the right time to own a house. Further, buying now means the increasing price of real estate will benefit you in the future.

House Price Increases with Time: Many people invest in houses for investment purposes. The house you purchase today will have a hiked price in the coming years. The reason being your surroundings will grow, and hence it will directly affect the price of your house. Increasing amenities increases your house value significantly.

Have a Dream Home: Most of you would agree that there is a dream home you always love to own and stay a relaxed life afterward. That's the reason many people invest in a house at an early age.

Create a Secured Future For Children: Inflation increases with time, and hence most of you prefer preparing a secure shelter for you and your family. Buying a home serves your needs and protects the future of your kids.

Renting is Expensive: If you have been living on rent for years, you can analyze the cost of living on rent vs. living in your own house. Buying a home is your one-time investment while renting is expensive and grows with time, which degrades your finances.

Live the Way You Want: Most of you would agree that it's tough to live with liberty in a rental house. Hence you prefer investing early in buying your dream home. This helps you customize, decorate and live the way you want.

Nowadays, even the government has strong support for people of all incomes and age groups. Hence, they come up with numerous government benefits that you can get when you buy your first home. The government of India introduced Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY).

What is PMAY?

PMAY is the acronym of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, an initiative by the Government of India. It is promoted to encourage the urban poor to get affordable housing. The government has set the target year as 2022; it is offering a housing loan with subsidized rates. The PMAY was initiated on 1st June 2015. Under this scheme, you can apply for a housing loan for a tenure of 20 years and get subsidized interest rates.

Under this scheme, LIG and EWS categories can save a significant sum on the housing loan and get affordable housing for their family.

What are the Benefits of PMAY Scheme?

As it is a government initiative, you are provided with multiple benefits; some of them includes:

Large Subsidy for Every Citizen: Under PMAY, you are eligible to get the subsidized interest rates of 6.50% on your housing loan that can extend for a tenure of 20 years.

  • For EWS/LIG category people, an interest rate of 6.5% is offered for a tenure of 20 years.
  • For the mid-level MIG category, the interest rate is 4% for a tenure of 20 years. However, the maximum loan amount should be Rs.9 lakh.
  • For the MIG 2 category, the interest rate is 3% for a tenure of 20 years. However, the maximum loan amount should be Rs.12 lakh.

Ground Floor for Special Category: For disabled and senior citizens, the government ensures you get the ground floor of the flat. With this, senior citizens are provided added comfort and support.

Use of Eco-Friendly Technologies: Government makes sure that sustainable and eco-friendly technologies are used in the construction.

Housing Development in Every Corner of the Country: The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna covers all urban areas across the country. This includes 4041 statutory towns; however, 500 class-1 cities are given priority over other cities.

Special Benefits for Women and Minorities: Under PMAY, it is mandatory to ensure female property ownership even if women are not buying it. These preference provisions also exist for widows, transgender, salaried female, disabled, and other minority people.

What are Different Beneficiary Categories Eligible for PMAY

The annual income of beneficiaries depends upon different categories that are listed as below:

  • Middle Income Group I (MIG I): Rs.6 lakh to Rs.12 lakh
  • Middle Income Group I (MIG II): Rs.12 lakh to Rs.18 lakh
  • Lower Income Group (LIG) : Rs.3 lakh to Rs.6 lakh
  • Economically Weaker Section (EWS): Up to Rs.3 lakh

What are Different Types of PMAY Schemes?

The Pradhan Mantri Awash Yojana is divided into two sections based on the area.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Gramin was earlier known as Indira Awas Yojana, which was renamed in 2016. The scheme is aimed to provide affordable housing to eligible beneficiaries living in rural areas of India. Remember, Chandigarh and Delhi are excluded from the list. Under the PMAY-G scheme, the government of India and the state government will share the cost of development of houses in a 60:40 ratio for plain regions and 90:10 for North-Eastern and hilly areas.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban is entirely focused on providing housing to urban areas of India. Currently, a total of 4,331 towns and cities are listed under this scheme. This scheme is active under three phases that are mentioned as below:

  • Phase 1: Cover 100 cities in different states and UTs (from April 2015 to March 2017)
  • Phase 2: Cover 200 more cities in various states and UTs (from April 2017 to March 2019)
  • Phase 3: Cover the left out cities in Phase 1 and Phase 2 (by the end of March 2022)

What's the Eligibility Criteria for PMAY Scheme?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has defined eligibility criteria for the applicants who want to apply for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna scheme and get affordable housing. Alongside eligibility criteria, the government of India has also worked with top banks to provide housing loans at subsidized interest rates. Below are the basic eligibility criteria for PMAY Scheme:

  • You or your family must not own a house in any part of the country.
  • For a married couple, either a Single or a Joint ownership deal is allowed, and both options will receive just one subsidy.
  • You or your family must not have availed the benefit of any other housing-related schemes.

Steps to Apply for PMAY Scheme?

  • Step 1: Apply for a home loan from the top bank and ask for the subsidy under PMAY
  • Step 2: Bank will review your application, and if you are eligible, the request will be sent to the Central Nodal Agency
  • Step 3: If no discrepancies are found, the Central Nodal Agency will disburse the subsidy amount to the lending bank
  • Step 4: This amount will be credited to your account by the bank that will lower the principal amount
  • Step 5: You can continue paying the EMI with low-interest rates.

Almost all banks offer you housing loans under the PMAY scheme. However, below are the top 10 highly recommended banks if you are planning for a housing loan and get the benefit of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna.

  • Bank of Baroda
  • State Bank of India
  • Axis Bank
  • ICICI Bank
  • IDFC First Bank
  • Bandhan Bank
  • Bank of India
  • HDFC Bank
  • IDBI Bank
  • Punjab National Bank
  • Canara Bank

When you are applying for the PMAY scheme, it's essential to skip some common mistakes that are listed below:

Pre-Ownership: If you are already a property owner and attempting to apply for another property under PMAY, your application will be rejected.

Previously Availed Central Assistance: If you have already availed of any certain assistance in the past, you will be eliminated from the PMAY scheme list.

Already Availed Home Loan Subsidy: Under PMAY or any other government scheme, your application will be terminated if you have availed of any of the housing schemes in the past.

Property Outside the Scope of PMAY: Yes! Before you purchase a property and apply for PMAY, it's vital to ensure the loyalty of your property lies under the PMAY scheme.

Applying Under the Wrong Income Group: You should ensure the right form filling when applying for the PMAY scheme. Still, many homeowners apply wrong information or wrong income groups in the form, causing elimination from the subsidy.

With that said, you are getting an excellent opportunity to own a house with tons of amenities and get support from the government of India in the form of a subsidy. Before applying for the PMAY scheme, it's important to make sure you are eligible and meets its eligibility criteria.