The Centre will construct dormitory-style rental housing close to manufacturing clusters to retain workers at production units for longer periods, thereby maintaining steady production levels, said Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday.
“Rental housing with dormitory-type accommodation for industrial workers will be facilitated in public-private partnership (PPP) mode with viability gap funding (VGF) support and commitment from anchor industries,” Sitharaman said while announcing the proposal in the Union Budget 2024-25.
Textiles, logistics, heavy industries and other manufacturing firms will be the key beneficiaries.
Mint first reported about the proposed plan on 28 May.
This follows a 5% rise in jobs to 580 million in the fiscal year 2022-23 from a year ago, according to estimates being prepared by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). India has added 110 million jobs over the last five years, starting from 470 million in 2017-18.
The government carried out consultations with states and other stakeholders to develop a road map for the initiative.
Such housing facilities would be planned in and around the seven mega PM-MITRA parks (PM Mega Integrated Textile Regions and Apparel parks) and major manufacturing clusters.
The PM-MITRA parks scheme is a flagship initiative of the textiles ministry, aiming to attract investments worth ₹95,000 crore.
Under the VGF scheme, the Centre provides grants, one time or deferred, to economically desirable but commercially unviable infrastructure projects undertaken through PPPs with a view to make them commercially viable.
