PMAY installment stuck? RTI guide to release your housing tranche

Sunita is a small farmer in a village in Bundelkhand. In November 2025 her family's PMAY-Gramin house was finally sanctioned. The sanction order arrived, and within a week the first instalment of about ₹40,000 landed in her Aadhaar-linked bank account. She built the foundation, the Gram Sevak came with the AwaasApp, geo-tagged the photos, and uploaded them to AwaasSoft in February 2026.

Then nothing happened. For 70 days the second instalment did not arrive. The AwaasSoft portal showed “2nd instalment — FTO generated,” but no money reached her account. The bank said “check with the Block office.” The Block office said “the file has gone to DRDA.” The DRDA said “it is in PFMS.” Sunita had a sanction letter, a half-built house, and no idea who was holding her money or why.

This is the most common PMAY complaint in India today. The money is sanctioned, the construction stages are done, but one instalment sits frozen somewhere between the Block office, the State Rural Development Department, and the PFMS payment gateway. This guide shows you exactly how one RTI application surfaces the precise hold — the FTO number, the return-reason code, the verifier's name, the date the geo-tag was approved — so a single visit to the right office fixes it.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) is not one scheme but two, run by two different ministries. Knowing which one is yours is the first step, because the wrong ministry means a misrouted RTI.

PMAY-Gramin (PMAY-G) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme run by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) — Department of Rural Development (DoRD), Government of India. The money flows from MoRD to your State Rural Development Department, then to the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) / Zilla Parishad, and finally to the Block Development Officer (BDO) / Block Programme Officer and the Gram Panchayat, who sanction the house and verify each construction stage. The official PMAY-G portal is pmayg.dord.gov.in and the MIS is AwaasSoft at awaassoft.nic.in.

The Union Cabinet approved the PMAY-G continuation for FY 2024-25 to 2028-29, targeting 2 crore additional rural houses and a cumulative target of 4.95 crore houses by 2029, with a total outlay of ₹3,06,137 crore. As of 26 March 2026, the government reports 4.15 crore houses allocated, 3.90 crore sanctioned, 2.99 crore completed across Phases I and II, and cumulative ₹4,03,886.12 crore transferred to beneficiaries. On 28 May 2026, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan released the first instalment (mother sanction) of ₹10,021.42 crore for 12 states for FY 2026-27.

PMAY-Urban (PMAY-U 2.0) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi. The Union Cabinet approved PMAY-U 2.0 on 9 August 2024, it was launched on 1 September 2024, and it runs for five years (2024 to 2029). It targets 1 crore urban families, with a total investment of ₹10 lakh crore and government assistance of ₹2.30 lakh crore. Implementation flows from MoHUA to your State Urban Development Department / State Urban Development Agency (SUDA) / City Mission Management Unit, and finally to the Urban Local Body (municipality or corporation). The citizen information portal is pmay-urban.gov.in, the MIS and application portal is pmaymis.gov.in, and the grievance portal is PGRAMS at pmay-urban.gov.in/pgrams.

To ask a sharp RTI question you need to know how the money moves. The two schemes have different unit assistance, different funding ratios, and different tranche structures.

PMAY-Gramin unit assistance is ₹1.20 lakh in plain areas and ₹1.30 lakh in North-Eastern, Himalayan and Hill States (including Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir UT, and Ladakh). The funding ratio between Centre and State is 60:40 for plain states, 90:10 for the North-East and Himalayan states, and 100% Central for Union Territories without legislature. This assistance is released in three instalments through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to the beneficiary's Aadhaar-linked bank account, tied to construction stages — foundation, lintel level, and roof or completion — with geo-tagged photo verification mandatory at each stage. The payment travels through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). (The exact rupee split per tranche varies across sources; what is solid and citable is the three-instalment, stage-tied, geo-tag-verified, PFMS-routed structure. Do not let an official fob you off with a vague “it is in process” — ask for the stage and the FTO.)

PMAY-G beneficiaries also get convergence support over and above the unit assistance: ₹12,000 for a toilet through SBM-Gramin, 90 or 95 person-days of unskilled labour through MGNREGS (now the Viksit Bharat: Gramin Rozgar aur Ajeevika Mission), and an institutional loan up to ₹70,000 at a subsidised 3% interest rate.

PMAY-Urban 2.0 central assistance for the Beneficiary-Led Construction (BLC) and Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) components is released in three instalments in the ratio 40 : 40 : 20. The per-unit central assistance is: ₹2.25 lakh Centre plus a minimum ₹0.25 lakh State for NER, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, J&K, Puducherry and Delhi; ₹2.50 lakh fully Central for other Union Territories; and ₹1.50 lakh Centre plus a minimum ₹1.00 lakh State for other States. The minimum beneficiary share is 25% of the house or project cost. The first 40% tranche is released after CSMC approval; the second 40% on geo-tagging at the Lintel Stage plus a Utilisation Certificate showing at least 75% of prior funds spent; and the final 20% on geo-tagging at the Completed Stage plus a UC plus a Social Audit Report. The guidelines require funds to be released to the beneficiary within 7 days of geo-tag approval.

PMAY-U 2.0 also has an Interest Subsidy Scheme (ISS) of up to ₹1.80 lakh (Net Present Value ₹1.50 lakh at 8.5%), giving a 4% subsidy on the first ₹8 lakh of loan, for a tenure up to 12 years, maximum loan ₹25 lakh, maximum house value ₹35 lakh, maximum carpet area 120 square metres. The subsidy is released in five equal yearly instalments through DBT to the loan account.

Geo-tagging under PMAY-U 2.0 happens at five stages — Layout, Foundation or Plinth, Lintel, Roof, and Completion — using the BHARAT App or Bhuvan, with 100% Aadhaar-Based Payments verified through PFMS, and AI or ML anomaly detection from 2024 onwards.

Two things have changed in 2026 that directly affect an instalment RTI.

First, the PMAY-G continuation (2024-29) is in full swing, with the first mother sanction of ₹10,021.42 crore for 12 states for FY 2026-27 released on 28 May 2026. This means fresh tranche cycles are running right now, and the PFMS and AwaasSoft trails for 2026-27 are current and queryable.

Second, the selection basis has shifted. The legacy SECC-2011 database is being superseded by the Awaas+ 2024 survey for the new phase. If your sanction was based on Awaas+ 2024 and a field in your Awaas+ record does not match your Aadhaar or bank detail, the instalment can be held at the PFMS stage with a return-reason code. Your RTI should therefore ask, in plain words: “On what specific field of the Awaas+ 2024 record or the Aadhaar-bank NPCI mapping was this instalment held?” That single question usually surfaces the exact mismatch — a wrong bank account number, an Aadhaar that is not seeded to the bank, or a name spelling difference — and the fix is a one-visit update at the Block office or the bank.

For PMAY-U 2.0, the 75%-utilisation-certificate gate on the second tranche is the most common hold point. If your urban municipality has not submitted the UC to the State Urban Development Agency, every BLC beneficiary in that city is blocked on the second 40%, no matter how far their own construction has progressed. An RTI to the City Mission Director asking for the “UC submission status and date for my project” can unblock a whole cluster at once.

You will usually file one RTI at the implementing level (Block or Municipality), because that office holds the sanction order, the geo-tag record, and the FTO trail. If you get a “not held here” reply, file a second RTI one level up — DRDA or SUDA — or to the Central ministry.

Step 1 — Identify the right PIO.

1. PMAY-Gramin: The Public Information Officer at the Block Development Office (the BDO or the Block Programme Officer for PMAY-G). If the Block says the record is not held, file to the DRDA / Zilla Parishad Project Director. The nodal Central ministry is the Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, for fund-release and PFMS records from the Delhi side.
2. PMAY-Urban: The PIO at the Urban Local Body (Municipality or Corporation) or the City Mission Director / City Mission Management Unit. The nodal Central ministry is MoHUA. The state-level office is the State Urban Development Agency (SUDA).

Step 2 — Gather your identifiers. Before drafting, collect: your PMAY-G Registration Number or PMAY-U Application ID, your sanction order number and date (if known), your bank account last four digits, your Aadhaar last four digits, and the construction stage you have reached (foundation, lintel, roof, completion). Search yourself on AwaasSoft (for PMAY-G) by Registration Number, Aadhaar, or name plus location, and on pmaymis.gov.in (for PMAY-U). Note exactly what the portal shows for each instalment — “FTO generated,” “return,” “pending” — and quote that status in your RTI.

Step 3 — Draft your questions. Ask for specific, dated records, not vague “details.” Five strong sample questions:

1. Sanction record: “Furnish the sanction order number, date, and total sanctioned amount for my PMAY-G / PMAY-U house, bearing Registration Number / Application ID [your ID], in the name of [name].”
2. Geo-tag verification: “Furnish the geo-tag verification record for each construction stage (foundation, lintel, roof, completion) for my house, with the date of geo-tag approval and the name and designation of the verifying officer.”
3. PFMS FTO trail: “Furnish the PFMS Fund Transfer Order (FTO) number, UTR, date, and amount for each instalment released to me, and for any instalment returned, the return-reason code and the date of return.”
4. Hold reason: “Furnish the specific reason why my [second / third] instalment is pending, including the exact field of the Awaas+ 2024 record, Aadhaar-bank NPCI mapping, or utilisation certificate on which the release is held.”
5. Officer and escalation contact: “Furnish the name, designation, office address, and direct telephone number of the Block Programme Officer / City Mission Director handling my case, and the name and contact of the First Appellate Authority under Section 19(1) of the RTI Act, 2005.”

Step 4 — Use the right form and fee. File under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005; no reason need be given under Section 6(2). The Central RTI fee is Rs.10 payable by Indian Postal Order, court-fee stamp, or online through the Central RTI portal (rtionline.gov.in). State fees vary — most states charge Rs.10, a few charge more — so check your state's RTI Rules. If the matter concerns your life or liberty the reply is due in 48 hours under Section 7(1), though PMAY instalment queries normally fall in the standard 30-day window. If you hold a BPL card, no fee is payable under the proviso to Section 7(5) — attach a copy of the BPL card. For the step-by-step online filing process see the Central RTI portal at rtionline.gov.in, and for fee and payment-mode details see RTI Fees by State and Online Portal Directory (2026).

Step 5 — Submit and keep proof. File by hand at the PIO's office and take a stamped receiving copy, or send by registered post and keep the acknowledgement, or file online and save the registration number. Proof of submission is your protection if the reply is late — under Section 7(6), if the deadline is missed, the information must be supplied free of charge.

Step 6 — Wait 30 days, then escalate. The PIO must reply within 30 days. If no reply comes, or the reply is vague, file a First Appeal under Section 19(1) with the First Appellate Authority in the same department within 30 days of the deadline. The FAA must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45. If the FAA also fails, file a Second Appeal under Section 19(3) to the State Information Commission (for the Block or Municipality) or the Central Information Commission (for MoRD or MoHUA). There is no fee for a second appeal to the Central Information Commission. Use the free First Appeal tool at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/first-appeal-app.html to draft the appeal, and the PIO reply checker at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/pio-reply-checker-app.html to test whether a vague reply is legally adequate.

1. Copy of your PMAY-G sanction order or PMAY-U allotment letter (if you have it).
2. Printout of your AwaasSoft / PMAY-U MIS status screen showing the instalment stage.
3. Copy of your bank passbook page showing the account number (last four digits visible).
4. Copy of your Aadhaar (last four digits visible; do not send full Aadhaar unless the PIO specifically asks).
5. BPL card copy, if you are claiming the fee waiver.
6. Indian Postal Order for Rs.10 (or online payment receipt) unless BPL.
7. Any earlier grievance reference number from CPGRAMS (pgportal.gov.in) or PGRAMS.

1. Filing at the State HQ instead of the Block or Municipality. The sanction order, geo-tag record, and FTO trail are held at the implementing office. Filing at the State capital usually gets you a “not held here” transfer under Section 6(3) and costs you 5 days. File at the Block or ULB first.
2. Asking only “when will the money come.” That invites a vague “shortly.” Ask for the FTO number, the return-reason code, and the specific hold field under Section 6(1). Specific records, not opinions.
3. Quoting the wrong tranche split. Many older pages state PMAY-G is “40/40/20.” That figure is unverified and may be wrong; the solid, citable facts are three stage-tied instalments totalling ₹1.20 or ₹1.30 lakh. Do not put a wrong percentage in your RTI — it lets the PIO correct you instead of answering.
4. Forgetting the geo-tag verifier question. The single most useful ask is the name and date of the geo-tag verifying officer. If the geo-tag was never approved, that officer is the person to see.
5. Missing the BPL fee waiver. If you hold a BPL card, the proviso to Section 7(5) makes the application free. Do not pay Rs.10 you do not need to.
6. Sending full Aadhaar. Send only the last four digits in the body; attach a masked copy. Your Aadhaar is a sensitive identifier.

To,
The Public Information Officer,
Office of the Block Development Officer,
Block [name], District [name], State [name]

Subject: Information under Section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005,
regarding my PMAY-Gramin instalment.

Sir/Madam,

I, [Name], resident of [Village, Gram Panchayat, Block, District, State],
am a PMAY-Gramin beneficiary. My details are:

PMAY-G Registration Number: [number]
Sanction order number (if known): [number], dated [date]
Aadhaar (last 4 digits): XXXX
Bank account (last 4 digits): XXXX
Instalment(s) received: 1st, about ₹40,000, on [date]
Instalment(s) pending: 2nd, since [date]

Please furnish the following information under Section 6(1):

1. The sanction order number, date, and total sanctioned amount for my house.
2. The geo-tag verification record for each construction stage
   (foundation, lintel, roof, completion), with the date of geo-tag
   approval and the name and designation of the verifying officer.
3. The PFMS Fund Transfer Order (FTO) number, UTR, date, and amount
   for each instalment released to me, and for any instalment returned,
   the return-reason code and date of return.
4. The specific reason why my 2nd instalment is pending, including the
   exact field of the Awaas+ 2024 record, Aadhaar-bank NPCI mapping,
   or utilisation certificate on which the release is held.
5. The estimated date of release of the pending instalment.
6. The name, designation, office address, and direct telephone number
   of the Block Programme Officer handling my case.
7. The name and contact of the First Appellate Authority under
   Section 19(1) of the RTI Act, 2005.

I enclose Indian Postal Order No. [number] for Rs. 10 towards the
application fee. I declare that I am a citizen of India.

Yours faithfully,
[Signature]
[Name]
[Date, Place]

For PMAY-Urban, change the addressee to “The Public Information Officer, [Municipality / City Mission Management Unit], [City]” and replace “Awaas+ 2024” with “PMAY-U MIS / CSMC approval record” and “Block Programme Officer” with “City Mission Director.” Draft the full letter with your details auto-filled using the AI RTI draft tool at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/ai-rti-draft-app.html, and work out your 30-day deadline with the timeline calculator at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/timeline-calculator-app.html.

PMAY-G assistance is released in three instalments tied to construction stages — foundation, lintel level, and roof or completion — with geo-tagged photo verification at each stage and payment through PFMS by DBT to your Aadhaar-linked bank account. The total is ₹1.20 lakh in plain areas and ₹1.30 lakh in North-East and Himalayan or Hill states. The exact rupee-per-tranche split varies across official summaries; what is solid is the three-stage, stage-tied structure. Do not rely on older pages that quote a specific percentage split — ask the PIO for the actual tranche amounts in your sanction order.

You can file to either, but the implementing office (Block for PMAY-G, Urban Local Body for PMAY-U) holds the sanction order, the geo-tag record, and the FTO trail, so it is the fastest target. If you file to the Central ministry first, it will often transfer your application under Section 6(3) to the state or Block, adding up to 5 days. File at the Block or Municipality first, and escalate to the Central ministry only if the implementing office says the record is not held there.

Ask the PIO for the PFMS FTO number, the date it was generated, and the return-reason code if it was returned. “FTO generated” only means the order was created; if PFMS returned it, the reason is usually “NPCI mapper mismatch,” “Aadhaar not linked to bank,” or “wrong account number.” Once you know the return-reason code, the fix is a single visit to your bank to seed Aadhaar, or to the Block office to correct the account number.

Yes. Under the proviso to Section 7(5) of the RTI Act, applicants Below Poverty Line are exempt from the application fee, provided they attach a copy of the BPL card. This matters for PMAY-G, where most beneficiaries are BPL. The Rs.10 fee and the BPL waiver both apply to Central public authorities; check your state RTI Rules for the state-level position, as a few states also waive the fee for BPL.

This is a common but weak refusal. Welfare-scheme beneficiary records, especially those funded by public money and listed on a public MIS portal, carry a Section 4 suo motu disclosure obligation, and your own record cannot be withheld from you under Section 8(1)(j) because it is personal information about yourself, which you are entitled to. File a First Appeal under Section 19(1) pointing this out. The CIC, in Ram Krit Yadav vs Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, CIC Second Appeal No. CIC/MOHUA/A/2018/149231, decided 11 September 2018, directed the authority to provide the latest PMAY-U beneficiary status to the appellant and noted that PMAY-U is implemented through State Governments and ULBs, so applicants may also approach the concerned ULB or SUDA.

You can file online through the Central RTI portal (rtionline.gov.in) if you are targeting a Central ministry such as MoRD or MoHUA. For Block or Municipality offices, many states have their own online RTI portals — check your state's. If no online option exists, a registered post application with a Rs.10 postal order works perfectly and gives you a paper acknowledgement. The whole ladder is explained in RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your.

The PIO must reply within 30 days under Section 7(1). If no reply arrives by day 30, or the reply is vague (“shortly,” “under process”), file a First Appeal under Section 19(1) on day 31. The First Appellate Authority must decide within 30 days, extendable to 45. If that also fails, file a Second Appeal under Section 19(3) to the State or Central Information Commission. The whole ladder is explained in RTI for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know Before Filing Your and the appeal draft tool at https://righttoinformation.wiki/tools/first-appeal-app.html.

PMAY-Gramin is for rural areas, run by the Ministry of Rural Development, with unit assistance of ₹1.20 or ₹1.30 lakh. PMAY-Urban 2.0 is for urban areas, run by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, with central assistance ranging from ₹1.50 to ₹2.50 lakh per unit depending on the state or UT, plus an interest subsidy on loans. You cannot be a beneficiary under both simultaneously — a household is eligible under the scheme corresponding to its rural or urban residence.

For PMAY-G, search yourself on AwaasSoft (awaassoft.nic.in) by Registration Number, Aadhaar, or name plus location, and use the PFMS FTO Tracking service on the National Government Services Portal at services.india.gov.in to track an FTO by FTO number or PFMS ID. For PMAY-U, check pmaymis.gov.in for your application status and pmay-urban.gov.in/pgrams for grievances. If these portals show a stuck stage and no reason, that is exactly when an RTI is worth filing.

1. PM India — Cabinet approves PMAY-Gramin continuation FY 2024-25 to 2028-29 (outlay ₹3,06,137 crore, 2 crore additional houses, ₹1.20/₹1.30 lakh unit assistance, 60:40 / 90:10 funding): [pmindia.gov.in](https://www.pmindia.gov.in/en/news_updates/cabinet-approves-implementation-of-the-pradhan-mantri-awaas-yojana-gramin-pmay-g-during-fy-2024-25-to-2028-29/)
2. PIB — PMAY-G progress as on 26 March 2026 (4.15 crore allocated, 3.90 crore sanctioned, 2.99 crore completed, ₹4,03,886.12 crore transferred): [static.pib.gov.in PDF](https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2026/mar/doc2026331836801.pdf)
3. Economic Times — Union Minister releases first instalment of ₹10,021.42 crore for 12 states for FY 2026-27, 28 May 2026: [economictimes.indiatimes.com](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/union-minister-shivraj-chouhan-releases-first-instalment-of-over-rs-10000-cr-under-pmay-g-for-12-states/articleshow/131371564.cms)
4. PIB — Cabinet approval of PMAY-U 2.0, 9 August 2024 (1 crore urban families, ₹10 lakh crore investment, ₹2.30 lakh crore government assistance): [pib.gov.in](https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=2043924)
5. MoHUA — PMAY-U 2.0 Operational Guidelines (BLC/AHP 40:40:20, geo-tag at 5 stages, 7-day release, ISS subsidy): [pmay-urban.gov.in PDF](https://pmay-urban.gov.in/uploads/guidelines/Operational-Guidelines-of-PMAY-U-2.pdf)
6. PMAY-G official portal (MoRD/DoRD): [pmayg.dord.gov.in](https://pmayg.dord.gov.in/netiayHome/contact.aspx)
7. AwaasSoft MIS and beneficiary search: [awaassoft.nic.in](https://awaassoft.nic.in/netiay/new_development.html)
8. PFMS FTO Tracking for PMAY-G, National Government Services Portal: [services.india.gov.in](https://services.india.gov.in/service/detail/fund-transfer-orders-fto-tracking-for-pradhan-mantri-awaas-yojana-gramin)
9. PMAY-U MIS and FAQ: [pmaymis.gov.in](https://pmaymis.gov.in/PMAYMIS2_2024/faq.html)
10. RTI Act, 2005 — full text (Sections 6, 7, 19): [cic.gov.in](https://rtionline.gov.in)
11. Ram Krit Yadav vs Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, CIC Second Appeal No. CIC/MOHUA/A/2018/149231, decided 11 September 2018: [indiankanoon.org](http://indiankanoon.org/doc/50205093/)
12. CPGRAMS public grievance portal: [pgportal.gov.in](https://pgportal.gov.in)

1. RTI for PMAY beneficiary status
2. RTI for PM-KISAN instalment
3. RTI for government scheme delay
4. Pillar 4 — RTI for money and schemes
5. RTI for LPG PAHAL subsidy not credited
6. RTI for beginners
7. RTI fees by state
8. PMAY-G instalment stuck — geo-tag inspection fix

Last reviewed: 4 July 2026.