Loans up to Rs 25 lakh under House Building Advance for government employees

NEW DELHI: Now, central government employees can get loans up to Rs 25 lakh from the government under the house building advance (HBA) scheme, which is more than three times of the earlier norm. Both spouses, if they are central government employees, are now eligible to take HBA, either jointly or separately. Earlier only one spouse was eligible for such an advance.

The government notified the changes in rules on Thursday in its bid to give a fillip to the housing sector and push construction activities.
There are at least 50 lakh central government employees across the country.


Revising the HBA rules incorporating the accepted recommendations of the 7th pay commission, the government also increased the amount that a central government employee can borrow for expansion of their homes to 34 months of basic pay to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh from the earlier Rs 1.8 lakh.

According to the statement, cost ceiling limit of the house, which an employee can construct or purchase, has been increased to Rs 1 crore with a provision of upward revision of 25 per cent in deserving cases, from Rs 30 lakh earlier.

The government also fixed the rate of interest on HBA to 8.5 per cent, in place of the earlier four slabs of interest rates ranging from 6 per cent to 9.50 per cent for loans ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 7.5 lakh.