The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is a flagship affordable-housing mission, a scheme launched by the Government of India to operationalise the constitutional and policy commitment to "Housing for All". The scheme was launched in 2015 to address the problem of housing shortage and provide affordable pucca houses to eligible urban and rural households.
PMAY is bifurcated into two components: PMAY-Urban (PMAY-U), launched on June 25, 2015, and administered by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), and PMAY-Gramin (PMAY-G), launched on November 20, 2016, and administered by the Ministry of Rural Development. PMAY-G was created by restructuring the earlier Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), which had been in effect since 1985.
The mechanism of PMAY-U operates through four verticals: In-situ Slum Redevelopment (ISSR), Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP), Beneficiary-Led Construction (BLC), and the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). CLSS is a key provision that provides an interest subsidy on home loans for beneficiaries belonging to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Low-Income Groups (LIG), and Middle-Income Groups (MIG). For PMAY-G, financial assistance is provided for the construction of new houses in rural areas. The scheme is connected to other national initiatives, such as the Swachh Bharat Mission for toilet construction and the Ujjwala Yojana for LPG connections, to ensure houses have basic amenities.
The original PMAY-U has recently been succeeded by PMAY-Urban 2.0 (PMAY-U 2.0), launched with effect from September 1, 2024, which continues the mission with a target of addressing the housing needs of 1 crore urban poor and middle-class families over five years. A significant change is the replacement of the original CLSS with the Interest Subsidy Scheme (ISS) under PMAY-U 2.0, which offers an interest subsidy of 4% on the first ₹8 lakh of the home loan. PMAY-G has also been extended, with its validity now running until March 31, 2024.