Massive Urban Renewal underway for Poor in India "In an effort
to deal with rising urbanization and urban poverty within the
country, the Indian government has recently bolstered efforts to
provide low-cost urban housing." "At present, there are over 80
million urban poor in the country. India needs to add about 40
million low-cost houses. Around 45% of urban poor in India live
in slums or in squatter settlements. The rest live in makeshift
locations such as pavements, under bridges and under flyovers.
Even if the present urban poverty rate of over 25% declines at
the rate of 5% per decade, then, in 2020, there will be 94
million poor persons in urban areas, and 91.5 million in
2030...." "For per unit price of USD 3300, excluding land costs,
the government will have to make an investment of around USD
15.5 billion, or just over 1% of the GDP to achieve the required
new housing at present. If spread over a period of approximately
10 years, this number is affordable. Furthermore, this push
comes at a time when