Research conducted in 2013 by a team of engineers and architects, led by Devdas Menon, a professor of civil engineering at IIT, marked another milestone in creating affordable housing for middle-class Indian families. Considering the looming housing problems for low-income groups in India, IIT Madras claimed last year to have built an extremely affordable housing system. The ‘GFRG demo building’ put forward by the IIT team has been considered as one of the best thought projects put forward by the Indian engineers in the recent past. The project specifically focused on addressing the aspirations of lower income groups. By refuting the ongoing real estate scams and difficulties in real estate investments, the GFRG Project has given a new impetus to the real estate business in India.

The main advantages of the GFRG demo building over other conventional buildings are many. A GFRG building promises extremely fast construction, less built-up area, less embodied energy, lower cost of structure and weight of the building, an incredibly smooth finish without any additional rendering, etc. The result of this project was that the IIT researchers finally succeeded in building an 800 sq ft house with two bedrooms at an affordable price of just INR 10 lakh.

However, the harsh reality of real estate business in India is that despite advanced research programs and low-cost construction projects, low-income and middle-class families still find it difficult to obtain investment options. quality housing in urban and semi-urban locations. In fact, there are many people in India who bear the burden of paying rent for their rented house and EMI for their future house under construction.

Unfortunately, the residential construction boom in India, which started from 2011, is mainly focused on catering to the people belonging to the higher income groups residing in the high-end Indian cities. According to 2013 statistics, there was a severe shortage of around 30 million households, coming from people whose annual income is less than INR 2 Lakhs per month. Today, there is a severe lack of market focus on low-cost construction for low-income individuals who are finding their dream home increasingly unattainable due to skyrocketing construction costs.

Many civil experts have opined that to meet the growing demand for low-cost housing, construction companies in India still need to conceptualize more polished design methods to manufacture and supply low-cost housing constructions, especially in urban and semi-urban areas. Again, the optimization of technology must not compromise the quality and durability of the buildings.

At present, the urban population in India is growing day by day and the slum dwellers, falling below the poverty line (BPL), are also expanding at an alarming rate. Low-cost construction is believed to finally eradicate India’s current slum scene, especially that found in and around Indian metropolises and megacities. Meanwhile, taking inspiration from Western nations, many NGOs and private companies have taken the lead for low-cost but energy efficient housing projects built at affordable costs to meet the demand of all income level groups in India.