Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Monday, 22 June 2026, announced a significant reduction in stamp duty and registration charges for beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) 2.0 scheme, bringing the combined levy to below 1 per cent for properties up to 60 square metres, in a move aimed at making home ownership more accessible for urban poor families across Odisha.

Posting in Odia on X (formerly Twitter), the Chief Minister framed the decision in aspirational terms: 'Ghara kebala eka thikana nuhen, eha suraksha, sammana o swapnara adhara' — 'A home is not merely an address; it is the foundation of security, dignity, and dreams.' He described the fee reduction as 'another historic step' by the 'people's government' toward building a 'prosperous Odisha.'

Context

The announcement comes as the BJP-led Odisha government, in office since June 2024, seeks to align state-level housing delivery with the central PMAY-U 2.0 framework. The revised fee structure specifically targets the registration process, reducing transaction costs that have historically deterred low-income urban households from formally registering their homes. Under the new dispensation, eligible PMAY-U 2.0 beneficiaries registering properties of up to 60 sq m will pay stamp duty and registration charges collectively below 1 per cent of the property value.

Policy Backdrop

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana was launched nationally in 2015 with the goal of providing pucca housing to all eligible rural and urban families. Odisha has been a participant in the urban component since its inception, undertaking beneficiary identification and subsidy disbursement at the state level. The second phase, PMAY-U 2.0, continues that thrust with renewed targets for economically weaker sections and low-income groups in cities and towns.

Reducing stamp duty on PMAY-designated properties is a tool several state governments have deployed to lower the effective cost of formal home ownership. By capping charges below 1 per cent, Odisha joins a pattern of central-state coordination designed to remove the last-mile financial barrier — the registration cost — that can prevent a beneficiary from completing the legal transfer of a subsidised home.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are urban poor families in Odisha who qualify under PMAY-U 2.0 eligibility criteria — chiefly those from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and Lower Income Group (LIG) categories. For these households, even modest stamp duty amounts can represent a significant share of monthly income, and the reduction is expected to encourage a higher rate of formal registration, giving families clear legal title to their homes.

The move also has fiscal implications for the state exchequer, which will forgo a portion of registration revenue. However, the government's stated calculus is that increased registration volumes — driven by lower costs — will partially offset the per-unit revenue loss, while advancing the broader welfare objective of documented home ownership for the urban poor.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to the operational rollout: specifically, how quickly sub-registrar offices across Odisha's urban local bodies are notified of the revised rates and whether the state issues a formal gazette notification or administrative order to give the announcement legal effect. The volume of new PMAY-U 2.0 registrations in the coming months will serve as the key metric of success. Any supplementary budgetary provision to account for the revenue concession may also surface in forthcoming state finance deliberations. Chief Minister Majhi's use of the hashtags #2YearsofLokankaSarakar and #BikasharaDharaOdishaSara signals that this announcement is part of a broader political communication around the government's two-year welfare record.