Mumbai, Nov. 20 -- The Maharashtra government is planning to offer a slew of sops to developers who generate rental housing stock in the state, Sanjeev Jaiswal, vice president and chief operating officer of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) said on Wednesday during a consultation on the draft state rental housing policy. The sops would include free additional Floor Space Index (FSI), loans at lower interest rates, property tax waiver, and nominal stamp duty and registration fees, Jaiswal told developers. The consultation was organised by Mhada, which has been appointed as the nodal authority for implementation of the rental housing scheme in Maharashtra, based on the 'State Housing Policy-2025'. "One of the components of the new housing policy of Maharashtra is rental housing, which always got excluded earlier," Jaiswal said in his presentation. He then delineated the sops that would be offered to developers who generate rental housing stock - such as, additional 0.5 FSI and 0.3 FSI in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, respectively, over and above the permissible FSI; 50% concession on development charges; 100% property tax waiver during the first five years and 50% waiver for the next five years; nominal stamp duty and registration fee of Rs.500; 100% goods and services tax waiver and income tax exemption on the rent earned from housing stock; loans at 6% interest; and accelerated depreciation benefits on capital investments in rental housing projects. Government land may be leased out to private developers to generate the housing stock under the scheme. Rental stock may also be created by converting unsold Mhada flats and government buildings into hostels and studios, amalgamating public plots, prioritising redevelopment of old buildings and deploying modular as well as prefabricated units for rapid and flexible rental accommodation, the draft policy says. Niranjan Hiranandani, founder and chairman, Hiranandani Group suggested that amending the Charitable and Religious Trusts Act and the policy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) would boost rental housing stock creation....