PIB TrackerDelhi's new master plan bets on 40 lakh homes and vertical growth
MPD-2047 lowers the redevelopment threshold from 40,000 sqm to 3,000, puts 18 lakh affordable homes in transit zones and commissions land pooling across nearly 200 sq km.
What happened
- MPD-2047 envisages around 40 lakh new affordable housing units.
- The redevelopment threshold falls from 40,000 sqm to 3,000 sqm (~7 lakh units).
- About 18 lakh affordable houses are planned in TOD zones.
- Land pooling covers nearly 200 sq km for about 12 lakh homes.
- A High-Density Corridor with FAR up to 400 is introduced along UER-II.
For Prelims
- MPD-2047: the Delhi Master Plan 2047, unveiled by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs; the statutory plan is prepared by the DDA.
- FAR: Floor Area Ratio — built-up area divided by plot area; raising it permits vertical growth.
- TOD: Transit-Oriented Development — high-density mixed-use development around mass transit corridors.
- Two approaches: area-based redevelopment for brownfield, RoW-based planning for greenfield.
- Land Pooling: owners contribute land to a pooled scheme and receive developed plots back — nearly 200 sq km and about 12 lakh homes.
- Threshold change: redevelopment minimum area cut from 40,000 sqm to 3,000 sqm.
- Rental incentive: 50% FAR for affordable rental housing; 15% additional FAR for workers' housing on industrial plots of 5,000 sqm and above.
- First notified HDC sector: a 250 m wide corridor along UER-II, Sector 8B, Zone P-II.
For UPSC: The most detailed live example of Indian urban planning instruments — FAR, land pooling, TOD and in-situ redevelopment in one document. Use it for urbanisation, affordable housing and the planning-implementation gap.
What it is NOT: A master plan is an enabling framework, not construction — 40 lakh units is the development potential the plan permits, not units sanctioned or built.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS2.10 · GS3.9 · Linkage L2
Anchor
A master plan does not build houses; it changes what is legal to build, and in Delhi the binding constraint has been the rulebook rather than demand.
Substantiation (data)
The redevelopment threshold cut from 40,000 sqm to 3,000 sqm for about 7 lakh units, 18 lakh affordable homes in TOD zones, and nearly 200 sq km of land pooling for about 12 lakh homes.
Exemplification
The 50% FAR incentive for rental housing addresses students, migrant workers and low-income groups — the segment ownership-focused schemes routinely miss.
Problematisation
Land pooling in Delhi has been notified before and stalled on owner participation and trunk infrastructure; an infrastructure-first DDA road programme is the untested variable.
Way-forward
Publish sector-wise land pooling participation and road delivery against timelines so the plan is auditable in the years before 2047.
Position
Delhi's housing shortage is a planning-permission problem before it is a construction problem.
Deploys into: Government policies + infrastructure (GS2.10, GS3.9) · urbanisation, affordable housing, FAR and land pooling as planning instruments.
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs · 2026-08-20 · PRID 2301684 · PIB source ↗