Property registrations up as compared to last year, but revenue drops - Hindustan Times
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Property registrations up as compared to last year, but revenue drops

ByAbhay Khairnar, Pune
Dec 28, 2020 08:23 PM IST

Maharashtra government’s decision to reduce stamp duty from six per cent to three per cent till the year-end has provided a much-needed boost to the realty sector between September and December in Pune and rest of Maharashtra, with property registration numbers rising. However, it has not helped government coffers as the revenue generation from stamp duty in the year has reduced as compared to last year even when property registration during the four months in 2020 has gone up as against 2019.

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According to the statistics shared by the Inspector General of Registration’s (IGR) office, between September and December this year, 11,94,013 document registrations were reported with a revenue of Rs 11,702 crore since January till December 27. This was against 8,44,963 document registrations bringing Rs 28,989 crore to the government exchequer in the same period last year.

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Omprakash Deshmukh, IGR, said, “After announcing the discount, the property registration increased substantially. It shows that buying and selling sentiment has increased in the realty sector.”

Another official from the IGR office, aware of the developments, said, “Though the number of property registration increased as compared to previous year (2019), this year, the department received less revenue. Last year, Rs 28,989 crore revenue was generated through stamp duty which is only around 12,000 crore this year.”

According to realty experts, the dip in revenue is mostly because for a major part of the year from March to August there was reduced sale of document registration while when the registrations witnessed a surge, most of them were low-cost housing.

Advocate Vijay Pawar, said, “As the government announced a three per cent cut in stamp duty, many people got their property and registration done early. In Pune, an average flat’s price is between Rs40 lakh and Rs50 lakh. Citizens are getting huge discount and it has helped increase the property registration since September. Even banks and builders promoted the reduction in stamp duty. As citizens were getting direct benefit of the government’s move, the number of registrations increased in Pune.”

The state government in August had announced reduction of stamp duty levied on sales of apartments from 5 per cent to 2 per cent from September 1 for four months and to 3 per cent from January 1 to March 31, 2021. As the reduction on stamp duty has led to rise in purchase of properties by people, boosting the realty sector, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai), Pune, has demanded an extension of the current incentive till June 2021.

Credai (Pune) president Suhas Merchant, said, “We wrote a letter to the revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat and sought an extension for the scheme. It has boosted the realty sector during the Covid-19 pandemic. Though the government received less revenue, the government will achieve various goals by giving this discount. It is helping boost employment too. Even property tax is likely to go up. We are appealing to the government to give an extension till June 2021.”

Because of the lockdown, property registration had dipped between March and August though it picked up during the festive period when government offered sops. Satish Magar, Credai India’s national president, said, “This decision about stamp duty has really helped boost the realty sector. It is helping provide a much-needed boost to the economy. The benefit of this scheme is directly for the buyers.”

Stamp duty registration

Month/ 2019/2020

January/2,35,066/2,12,354

February/ 2,71,180/2,69,508

March/3,14,372/2,14,195

April/2,28,848/1139

May/2,66223/42573

June/3,20,183/1,53,155

July/2,58,632/1,65,139

August/2,21176/1,83,515

September/1,90,841/2,47,609

October/1,93995/2,47,601

November/2,20,808/2,74,773

December/2,39,292/3,97,396

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