The Centre's flagship housing programme - Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - has created over 1.2 crore employment opportunities , said Grant Thornton Bharat's 'Affordable Housing in India ' report.The report cited that these employment opportunities so far were created through forward and backward linkages across 21 sectors. Besides, the report said that these sectors include 250 auxiliary industries like steel , brick kilns, cement, paint, hardware and sanitary amongst others. In terms of stakeholder impact, the report pointed out that PMAY has benefited nearly 5.8 lakh senior citizens, 2 lakh construction workers, 1.5 lakh domestic workers and 1.5 lakh artisans. "Due to the strong interlinkage between various sectors of the economy, any investment made in one sector has multiplied effects on other sectors, inducing economy-wide growth and employment opportunities. ""In this context, investments made towards addressing the housing shortage offers an opportunity to stimulate growth in the economy as the sector is recognised for its potential for generating employment opportunities.

Source: Economic Times May 29, 2021 12:00 UTC