Budget 2023: 66 per cent hike in Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana outlay to Rs 79,000 cr

Representative Image. Pic/iStock

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that the outlay for Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) has been enhanced by 66 per cent to over Rs 79,000 crore.

While presenting the Budget 2023, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said states and cities will be encouraged to take up urban planning.

She also said that the Union government will create Urban Infrastructure Development Fund on the lines of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund and it will be managed by the National Housing Bank.

The central government will spend Rs 10,000 crore per year for urban infrastructure development fund. All cities and towns will be enabled for 100 per cent transition of sewers and septic tanks from manhole to machine hole mode, the minister added.

This year's budget is significant being the last full budget of Modi government's second tenure as the general elections are scheduled for next year

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on Wednesday.

The Finance Minister announced that the government proposes to increase capital expenditure outlay by 33 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore in 2023-24, which would be 3.3 per cent of the GDP, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Also Read: Key highlights of Union Budget 2023: 30 Skill India international centres to be set up

"(This overall outlay) would be 3.3 per cent of GDP, almost three times the outlay made in 2019-20. With the substantial increase, it is central to the government's efforts to enhance growth potential and job creation, the crowd in private investments and provides a cushion against global headwinds," Sitharaman said in her Budget speech.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U), a flagship Mission of Government of India launched in 2015, is being implemented by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), aims to provide housing for all including the slum dwellers.

According to a government data, out of the overall target of 2.95 crore houses, a target of 2.92 crore houses had been allocated to States/Union Territories UTs), out of which, 2.49 crore houses have been sanctioned to beneficiaries by various States/UTs and 2.10 crore houses have been completed as on December 07, 2022. The Economic Survey, tabled in the Parliament on Tuesday, noted India's GDP is expected to grow in the range of 6 to 6.8 per cent in the coming financial year 2023-24. This is in comparison to the estimated 7 per cent this fiscal and 8.7 per cent in 2021-22.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)