“This is a very positive budget for the affordable housing sector. Several practical points have been addressed that were previously limiting the creation of large scale supply. 1) Infra status to the sector - this will allow specially the MSEM's access to Capital and bank debt and hence improve the liquidity situation in this sector. Scale cannot be achieved by 3-4 corporate alone partaking in this sector and it has to involve the MSEM's actively. 2) The tax holiday status for projects with apartments of a carpet area of up to 30 square metres in the municipal limits of the 4 metros and Upto 60 square metres for apartments located outside the municipal limits of metros and anywhere in other cities and towns, clearly defines the size and location of the project and apartments with no room for ambiguity. 3) the increase in time frame for tax free status of projects from 3 years to 5 years for project completion post approvals. It is also excellent as several affordable housing projects are townships that would take 5 years for completion. 4) Income tax of 5% for income between 2.5 and 5 lacs will create more disposable income on the hands of the potential customer”