With brick, mortar, and data, India’s most ambitious rural development experiment is taking shape. Launched in 2016, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana–Gramin (PMAY-G) is commonly perceived as a shelter-focused welfare programme. A closer examination shows that it has evolved into a significant instrument for rural capital building, administrative modernisation, and economic resilience. New homes are being constructed, yet the deeper transformation lies in how these structures formalise undocumented assets, stimulate local economies, and integrate millions of households into India’s digital and financial systems.

A Programme Developed for Continuity and Scale

The numbers reflect steady administrative commitment. As of August 2025, states had been allocated 4.12 crore dwellings under PMAY-G, with 3.84 crore sanctioned and 2.81 crore completed. Earlier progress follows the same trajectory: by December 2024, 3.22 crore houses had been sanctioned out of 3.33 crore allocated, and 2.68 crore had been completed. For a programme spread across 28 states, 8 Union Territories, and thousands of challenging geographies, this high sanction-to-completion conversion rate is notable.

The Union Cabinet approved an additional two crore houses between FY 2024 and FY 2029 to respond to demographic shifts and new family formation. A new survey using the Awaas 2024 mobile app, with eKYC face-based verification and updated exclusion criteria, is underway to identify eligible households.

Landlessness had been one of the programme’s deepest deficits. According to entries made on AwaasSoft, 2,68,480 landless beneficiaries have now been sanctioned houses. Securing both shelter and land tenure strengthens long-term social and economic stability.

Land and Housing: The Cornerstones of Rural Capital

Land has long been the primary source of family wealth in rural India, yet its usefulness has been limited by unclear ownership and weak documentation. The Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), launched in 2016, seeks to correct this through........

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