‘Housing For All’ has been one of the big pitches of the Narendra Modi government. To that end, the government launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in 2015, with the aim of building 2 crore houses over a seven year period till 2022. The scheme provided for an upfront subsidy for low cost housing along with a 6.5 percent interest rate subsidy for loans up to Rs 6 lakh.

In his new year’s eve address to the nation, Prime Minister Modi extended that to say that under the scheme home loans up to Rs 9 lakh would receive an interest subvention of 4 percent while those up to Rs 12 lakh will be eligible for a 3 percent reduction in applicable interest rates. Both provisions will apply to loans taken in 2017, said the Prime Minister.

The additions could help boost one of the government’s flagship schemes, which has so far had a slow start.

According to data provided by the Ministry of Housing and Poverty Alleviation in a written reply to parliament in November, between 2014 and 2016, about 12 lakh houses were covered under the scheme at various stages of implementation. This is just 6 percent of the overall target of two crore houses by 2022.

While the scheme was officially launched in 2015, it subsumed an earlier scheme called the Rajiv Awas Yojana and data for the two has been compiled in the response given to Parliament.