Infrastructure status to housing sector to make buyers 'king': Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: Asserting that the Budget is "peoplisitc" (pro-people) and not "populist", Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today hailed granting of infrastructure status and other concessions to affordable housing sector and claimed it will make house buyers "king" by incentivising developers.

"The Union finance minister has kept before the country a progressive and lokpriy (popular) budget. But, it is not populist, rather peoplistic -- people-oriented, not election-oriented," he said.

Naidu, the Union minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, said the Union Budget amply reflected the Centre's inclusive development plank and gives "significant" push to affordable housing.

"Budget for 2017-18 has made house buyers king by incentivising developers and catalysing investment flow by announcing several concessions and incentives," he said.

"The incentives aim at fulfilling the aspirations of the poor, the lower middle class and middle class in urban areas of the country to own a house," the Union minister said.

With Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announcing infrastructure status to affordable housing, Naidu observed this will increase availability of loans at low interest rates and long term funding for developers, who are expected to pass on the reduced cost of loans to buyers.

"This will make house buying more affordable," he said, adding, giving infrastructure status also entitles developers to tax and other fiscal concessions, making the sector "attractive".

"It will benefit the housing sector since financial institutions lending to developers now look at the sector favourably," he said, adding large public sector investments is also likely to increase following the announcements.

The proposed abolition of Foreign Investment Promotion Board ( FIPB) is expected to enhance the ease of investing in housing sector and will result in increased flow of FDI in this sector, Naidu said.

Large public sector investors like Employee Provident Fund Organisation and Insurance Firms will now invest in housing as they are mandated to invest specified portion of their funds in infrastructure projects, he said.

The Union Minister also hailed the Rs 1,500 crore or 18.30 per cent hike in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) allocation calling it a "major" increase as far as housing is concerned.