The Center plans to roll out at least three pilot housing projects using 3D concrete printing technology (3DCPT) under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) 2.0, with each project comprising a cluster of about 20 houses, officials familiar with the matter said.
These projects are proposed in Goa, Nagpur and Thiruvananthapuram, among other locations, and will mark the first use of 3D concrete printing in the urban public housing sector in India, a senior housing ministry official said.
The pilots are expected to test the speed, affordability and scalability of the technology in Indian conditions. While 3D printed construction has gained more attention in countries like Malawi, Mexico and the UAE, its adoption in the affordable housing sector in India is still in an experimental stage.
These projects will be implemented under the Housing Demonstration Project (DHP) component of PMAY-U, which promotes innovative, sustainable and disaster-resilient construction techniques. Under this scheme, the Center provides grants to offset the additional costs incurred in adopting new technologies, while state governments provide land.
This move comes amid a growing housing shortage. According to UN-Habitat’s Global Cities Report 2026, India’s urban homelessness rate is 13 per 10,000 people, while the share of affordable housing in new supply fell from 52% in 2018 to 17% in 2025. A separate report by Knight Frank and NAREDCO forecasts that India’s housing deficit will exceed 30 million units by 2030.
India has spent the past five years experimenting with 3D printed construction. In 2021, startup Tvasta, incubated by IIT Madras, built the country’s first 3D printed house – a 600 sq ft one-bedroom unit – on the institute’s campus. In 2023, Larsen & Toubro, in collaboration with IIT Madras, completed a 3D printed post office in Bengaluru in 43 days, compared to the traditional construction timeline of six to eight months. In October 2025, CSIR Central Building Research Institute (CSIR-CBRI) unveiled what it described as India’s first 3D-printed concrete country house under PMAY-Gramin.
Despite this progress, cost remains a major obstacle.
“3D printed construction currently costs approx $4,000 per square foot, compared to approx $“$2,000 per square foot for conventional construction,” the Housing Ministry official said, adding that the pilot projects aim to generate evidence on whether the technology can become affordable on a large scale.
Another limitation is its inability to support high-rise construction. “At present, only G+1 structures can be built using this technology. This limits its applicability in large cities where vertical housing is necessary,” the official said.
The assessment is shared by Ravindra Jeetu, professor at IIT Madras and key participant in the Bengaluru Post Office project. Gitto said he remains skeptical about technology’s near-term role in affordable housing.
“In this project, the benefits were speed and aesthetics because it involved a curved structure rather than a traditional box-shaped building,” he said. “Nowadays, this is more suitable for premium or experimental projects where design and exclusivity are important.”
Ajay Chaurasia, senior scientist at CSIR-CBRI and a member of the team behind the display house in Roorkee, says recent innovations have addressed one of the technology’s major drawbacks — its reliance on cement-intensive concrete mixes.
According to Chaurasia, the Roorkee project has replaced a major portion of cement with industrial and agricultural waste materials such as fly ash and bagasse ash.
“These materials act as supplementary cementitious compounds, helping to reduce construction costs and carbon footprint,” he said.
The project also experimented with hollow walls – two printed layers separated by an air gap – to improve thermal insulation without increasing material use. Chaurasia said the design could enhance interior comfort in hot climates while maintaining construction efficiency.
He believes the technology is better suited for rural housing programs than dense urban centers.
“In rural areas, people generally prefer one- or two-story homes and want the flexibility to expand later. These preferences match well with the current capabilities of 3D printing technology,” he said.
However, experts say regulatory uncertainty may pose a bigger hurdle than engineering challenges.
Divya Davis, a senior analyst at the Bengaluru-based Center for the Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), said India lacks a dedicated regulatory framework for 3D printed buildings.
“There are currently no dedicated national standards for 3D printed buildings and no established quality control protocols,” Davis said. She added that the current provisions in the National Building Code and Indian Standards do not fully address the behavior of materials, load transfer mechanisms and the unique reinforcement systems of printed structures.
The regulatory gap remains despite the National Additive Manufacturing Strategy, adopted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in 2022 to promote 3D printing technologies across sectors.
Globally, governments are increasingly turning to 3D printing in construction to reduce material waste, reduce environmental impact and shorten project timelines. Dubai has adopted one of its most ambitious goals, which is for 25% of all new buildings to use 3D printing technology by 2030.
The World Bank noted, in a 2022 report entitled Can 3D printing become a sustainable way to bridge the global housing gap?, that companies from Malawi to Mexico are already deploying the technology in housing projects, and estimates that it could reduce construction costs and timelines by about 15%.
