New Delhi, May 29 (IANS): The Centre's flagship housing programme - Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - has created over 1.2 crore employment opportunities, said Grant Thornton Bharat's 'Affordable Housing in India' report.

The report cited that these employment opportunities so far were created through forward and backward linkages across 21 sectors.

Besides, the report said that these sectors include 250 auxiliary industries like steel, brick kilns, cement, paint, hardware and sanitary amongst others.

In terms of stakeholder impact, the report pointed out that PMAY has benefited nearly 5.8 lakh senior citizens, 2 lakh construction workers, 1.5 lakh domestic workers and 1.5 lakh artisans.

"The extent of investment in the housing sector has both direct and indirect effects on other sectors of the economy," said T. Ravinder Reddy, Partner, Public Sector, Grant Thornton Bharat LLP.

"Due to the strong interlinkage between various sectors of the economy, any investment made in one sector has multiplied effects on other sectors, inducing economy-wide growth and employment opportunities."

According to Reddy: "This is more so in the construction sector, which has strong backward and forward linkages with other sectors of the economy."

"In this context, investments made towards addressing the housing shortage offers an opportunity to stimulate growth in the economy as the sector is recognised for its potential for generating employment opportunities."

As per the report, the scheme has had an overall positive impact on the Indian economy.

"Steel and cement industry got a big boost with demand of over 13 million MT of steel and 17.7 million MT of cement for building of sanctioned houses," the report said.

"In terms of usage of renewable sources of energy, more than 31 Lakh sq. m. roof top would be available for solar grid installation under the Affordable Housing Partnership vertical."

The demand across ancillary sectors such as frame and furniture, transport, iron & steel, electrical, paints and plumbing equipment has also seen a rapid surge.

Under PMAY, more than 11 million houses have been sanctioned, 8 million grounded and 4.8 million completed, across the nation.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has committed over $24 billion for the scheme's successful implementation, with total investment amounting close to $ 100 billion.