Overview
- NITI Aayog member Rajiv Gauba set out a joint NITI Aayog–MoHUA blueprint on Tuesday that calls for reserving at least 10% of residential land in master plans for affordable homes, higher permissible floor area ratios, and waivers on land‑use change fees and stamp duty to cut costs.
- The Union Budget’s dedicated REIT mechanism aims to recycle underused land and assets held by central public sector enterprises into housing and commercial stock to increase available land for development.
- Delhi’s amended transit‑oriented development policy now mandates that 65% of permissible floor area ratio within metro corridors be used for affordable units, restricts ground coverage to 40%, and is projected to open about 207–210 sq km for planned development to create roughly 1.8 million affordable homes.
- Major implementation gaps remain because very few states have adopted the Model Tenancy Act, private builders avoid EWS/LIG segments due to thin margins, and nearly 10 million urban homes sit vacant for fear of tenant disputes.
- The policy pivot could lower land costs and spur more planned, transit‑linked housing if states change master plans, create land banks and offer fiscal incentives, but progress will hinge on state and municipal rule changes and new financing to make low‑income projects viable.