The state government should boost the slow pickup in the real estate sector by reducing stamp duty and guidance value, and also regularise revenue sites, said FKCCI, in its pre-budget appeal to chief minister, Basavaraj Bommai, relaying the hopes of the sector in the state.
“The 10% cut in guidance value introduced by the government for a limited period of 3 months in January should be extended till end of fiscal 2023, since the response has been good as can be seen in the spike in property registrations since January,” said I.S. Prasad, president, FKCCI. “Also, the stamp duty should be levied at a flat rate of 3% on all residential flats uniformly across all price categories, instead of 3% cap for flats priced between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 45 lakh and 2% for flats priced below Rs 20 lakh, as it is in the interest of both the sector as well as the state exchequer, and since flats below Rs 45 lakh are less in Bengaluru which effectively nullifies the positive benefit that can arise from a stamp duty cut,” he added and pointed out that reducing stamp duty on all properties irrespective of price band should not be problem for the government as it was supported by all members cutting across party lines during the recent debate in the assembly on the Karnataka Stamp (Amendment) Bill.
The proposal to regularise conversion of B khata sites to A khata in major municipal corporations was long overdue since 2010 and had even been recommended by the Karnataka Administrative Reforms Commission-2 (KARC-2) against payment of land conversion and related fees, FKCCI observed and urged the chief minister to bring this into law as it would benefit six lakh B khata site owners in Bengaluru alone, who will then be able to avail home &property loans.
The government should also simultaneously consider legalising revenue sites (11B) on the outskirts of cities that fall under the gramathana or RDPR department, FKCCI added, stating that all these decisions taken simultaneously will have a visible impact on the state’s real estate sector, which was a major contributor to job creation and the state’s GDP.
