Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U)

What is PMAY-U?

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) is the "Housing for All" mission that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched on 25 June 2015 for urban India. It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, except for the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme component, which was a Central Sector scheme.

According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, PMAY-U covered all statutory towns as per Census 2011 along with towns notified later, and worked through four verticals that let each state pick the delivery model that suited its housing shortage.

This guide covers the original 2015 mission. The revamped PMAY-U 2.0, in force from 1 September 2024, is a separate scheme with its own income slabs and its own application window; if you are looking to apply today, that is the scheme you need.

Key objectives

• Address the urban housing shortage among the Economically Weaker Section and Low Income Group.
• Rehabilitate slum dwellers on the land they already occupy, using land as a resource.
• Make home loans affordable for EWS, LIG and middle income buyers through an upfront interest subsidy.

Main features

• Four verticals; ISSR, CLSS, AHP and BLC.
• Woman ownership. The house had to be in the name of an adult woman of the family or in joint names for EWS/LIG.
• Basic services mandatory: every sanctioned unit had to have drinking water, power, sewerage and a toilet.
• Mission period; originally to 31 March 2022, extended to 31 December 2025 for completing houses sanctioned up to 31 March 2022, without any change in the funding pattern.

What are the four verticals of PMAY-U?

How CLSS worked

Under CLSS, the interest subsidy was calculated on a loan slab and credited upfront to the loan account so that the EMI fell immediately:

• EWS and LIG — 6.5% subsidy on a loan up to Rs 6 lakh, carpet area up to 60 square metres, tenure of 20 years.
• MIG-I to 4% subsidy on a loan up to Rs 9 lakh, carpet area up to 160 square metres.
• MIG-II to 3% subsidy on a loan up to Rs 12 lakh, carpet area up to 200 square metres.

Loan amounts above these slabs were allowed but drew no subsidy on the excess. CLSS for MIG closed on 31 March 2021 and CLSS for EWS and LIG closed on 31 March 2022.

Who was eligible for PMAY-U?

A household could apply if:

• The beneficiary family; husband, wife, unmarried sons and unmarried daughters; did not own a pucca house anywhere in India.
• Household income fell in the slab for the vertical: EWS up to Rs 3 lakh a year, LIG Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh, MIG-I Rs 6 lakh to Rs 12 lakh and MIG-II Rs 12 lakh to Rs 18 lakh.
• The family lived in a statutory town covered by the mission, or in a planning area notified with the town.
• For BLC, the family owned the plot on which the house was to be built or extended.

A household was not eligible if:

• Any member owned a pucca house anywhere in India, whether occupied or let out.
• The family had already availed central assistance under PMAY-U or any other central housing scheme.
• Household income was above the ceiling for the vertical concerned, for example, above Rs 6 lakh for BLC, which was EWS-only.
• The applicant was an adult earning member living with parents and being counted inside the parents' household; such a member had to be assessed as a separate household with its own eligibility.
• For CLSS, the loan was for a house already owned by the family, or the carpet area exceeded the slab limit.

What documents were required for PMAY-U?

How to apply for urban housing assistance now

PMAY-U itself is closed to new applicants. The steps below are how an urban household applies for the successor scheme, PMAY-U 2.0, and how to follow up on an old PMAY-U file.

1. Check whether your household falls within the PMAY-U 2.0 income and ownership conditions on the official portal at pmay-urban.gov.in.
2. Choose the vertical that fits your situation, beneficiary-led construction, affordable housing in partnership, affordable rental housing or the interest subsidy scheme.
3. Apply online through the PMAY-U 2.0 portal, or through a Common Service Centre or your urban local body's citizen service counter, and complete Aadhaar-based e-KYC.
4. Upload the income proof, the self-declaration that no family member owns a pucca house, and bank account details.
5. Save the application or assessment ID shown on submission.
6. For an existing PMAY-U file, open pmaymis.gov.in and use Track Your Assessment Status with the assessment ID or your name and mobile number.
7. Escalate stalled sanctioned cases to your State Level Nodal Agency or the urban local body that sponsored the project.

How much benefit did PMAY-U provide?

PMAY-U's largest grant was Rs 1.5 lakh per house under BLC and AHP. The maximum benefit any single beneficiary could get came through CLSS for EWS/LIG, where the upfront subsidy on a Rs 6 lakh loan at 6.5% over a 20-year tenure worked out to about Rs 2.67 lakh in net present value terms.

According to the PMAY-U dashboard, the mission sanctioned 172.72 lakh houses, grounded 121.15 lakh and completed 99.25 lakh, against about Rs 2.12 lakh crore of central assistance committed.

What replaced PMAY-U?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs revamped the mission after nine years of implementation and launched PMAY-U 2.0 with effect from 1 September 2024. PMAY-U 2.0 carries forward beneficiary-led construction and affordable housing while adding an Affordable Rental Housing vertical and a new Interest Subsidy Scheme in place of the closed CLSS. If you are an urban household without a pucca house, that is the scheme to read next.

Common reasons PMAY-U applications were rejected

• A pucca house already owned by any family member, detected during Aadhaar and property validation.
• Duplicate application by two members of the same family.
• Income above the slab claimed, found during verification of the income certificate.
• Aadhaar mismatch between the application and the bank account.
• Carpet area above the limit for the CLSS slab claimed.
• Land title not clear in BLC cases, which stalls sanction at the ULB stage.

Help and grievance redressal

• PMAY-U helplines: 011-23063285, 011-23060484 and 011-23063620
• Assessment tracking: pmaymis.gov.in
• State Level Nodal Agency, for instalment and project-level questions
• Urban local body / municipal corporation, for beneficiary list and verification questions

PMAY-U registration was free. No agent can charge you for adding your name to a housing list, and no bank can make CLSS conditional on buying an insurance or investment product.