Govt taking effective steps to rectify issues in housing sector: BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former minister of state for finance Shiv Pratap Shukla on Sunday said that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is taking effective steps to rectify the issues in the housing sector in the country.

"The current government is assisting the public. There are 3.50 lakh housing projects which are yet to be allotted to buyers. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has taken steps to rectify this situation," Shukla told ANI.

Speaking about the state of the economy, Shukla said: "There is no problem with the economy of the country. Earlier builders and other businessmen were given a free run because of which the public was troubled."

For the housing sector, the Finance Minister, in the Union Budget 2019, had announced additional deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh on interest paid on loan borrowed for the purchase of house valued up to Rs 45 lakh.

"There will be a relaxation in external commercial borrowing (ECB) guidelines to facilitate the financing of homebuyers eligible under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)," Sitharaman had said adding she will meet bankers on September 19 to discuss on status of measures announced to increase liquidity for housing finance companies and repo-linked lending rates.

The Finance Minister on September 14 also announced a special window to provide last-mile funding requirement for housing projects which are stuck due to lack of funding. This will be set up with a fund size of Rs 10,000 crore funded by the government.

About 3 to 3.5 lakh projects all over the country will benefit from this fund.

The government has been working on measures to boost growth in the housing and real estate sector, a major job-creating industry which has been grappling with record unsold inventory and poor sales.