Maharashtra wants income cap for affordable housing scheme to be raised from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh

"Many beneficiaries are now unable to afford homes in the MMR. We have been trying to take up the issue with Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Development Affairs and are looking at whether the criteria can go up to Rs 6 lakh," said Singh.

Income Slab for affordable homes in Maharashtra

According to Maharashtra government rules, any Indian citizen can apply for an affordable home in apartments being constructed by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA), according to the income slabs below.

The annual income cap for the EWS category is Rs 6 lakh for those residing in Mumbai, Pune, and the Nagpur Metropolitan Region, and Rs 4.5 lakh in the rest of the state.

For the Lower Income Group segment, the annual income is Rs 9 lakh for Mumbai, Pune, and the Nagpur Metropolitan Region, and Rs 7.5 lakh in the rest of the state.

Also read: Budget 2023: Affordable housing gets push, PMAY allocated Rs 79,000 crore

For the Middle Income Group, the income cap is Rs 12 lakh across the state. Those with an annual income of over Rs 12 lakh are in the Higher Income Group category.

"PMAY is a game changer in the housing segment in India. We are looking at providing 7.36 lakh homes to the EWS category and are on track. However, after the pandemic, we are working on a new housing policy for Maharashtra, which will be an inclusive policy. We will try and balance the concerns of both developers and consumers," she said.

Also read: Homebuyers welcome Maharashtra govt’s decision to extend PMAY scheme

Chairman of Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA), Ajoy Mehta; Chairman of Anarock property consultants, Anuj Puri; and, Managing Director of Rustomjee Group, Boman Irani, were also present at the function.

‘Regulatory oversight of MahaRERA will increase’

Speaking at the event, Mehta said "the regulatory oversight of MahaRERA will increase now on. We are analysing all submissions by the developers, and are going into details. In the recent past, we have also sent notices to many developers.”
Nowadays, we have seen homebuyers approaching the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the courts have said that homebuyers are secured creditors.

“However, at a later stage, when the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is invoked, developers may not pay compensation to homebuyers. The RERA Act gives homebuyers the principal amount, interest and all possible compensation. Hence, there is a need to harmonise NCLT and RERA," Mehta said.

‘Residential segment expanding conservatively’

Dr Praveer Sinha, Chairman, CII Western Region, and CEO & Managing Director, Tata Power Company Ltd, said: "While the residential real-estate sector has been expanding conservatively, the commercial real-estate sector has been showing good traction with India's office market continuing to show a steady demand, registering a net absorption of around 8.3 million sq ft in Q1 of 2023. This is a 67 percent increase from the corresponding quarter a year ago."

"The real-estate sector is slowly seeing a transition towards new trends, riding on the back of expanding e-commerce, warehousing and logistics sectors. Lower overhead costs, improved production and distribution efficiency are leading to companies setting up their own facilities to reap maximum benefits. A strong credit growth, resilient financial markets, more stability, reasonable pricing expectations, and improved access to credit and continued government thrust on capital spending and infrastructure create a congenial environment for investments," he said.