Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget 2020 proposed to extend the Rs 1.5 lakh interest benefit on affordable housing loans by a year to March 2021.

Earlier in the Interim Budget 2019, the date was set at March 31, 2020, to promote Housing for All by 2022.

The finance minister said: “In order to promote affordable housing projects, I propose to extend the date of approval of affordable housing projects for availing tax holiday by one more year.”

Under Section 80IBA of the Income Tax Act, affordable housing projects are given a deduction.

Real estate sector was going through a tough time over the past few years because of fund crunch and other regulatory issues. Many builders including Jaypee Infratech were taken to NCLT by the homebuyers. Demand for real estates was also remained low.