Coronavirus: Prop registrations slump for seven months on trot

Revenues of the Stamps & Registration Department are yet to recover from the Covid-19 blow, having failed to reach any monthly targets set for the current fiscal.

While there were encouraging signs in August when the department was able to shore up Rs 969 crore - 83% of its revenue target set for the month - it has been able to generate Rs 831 crore (70.69%) and Rs 933 crore (74.82%) in September and October, respectively.

Authorities expect registrations to pick pace in the coming months. According to CREDAI, it would take at least six months for ‘normalcy’ to prevail, as uncertainties over the market has pushed even active real estate buyers into a shell.

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Data shows that while the Department had achieved below the target in September and October months of the previous fiscal too, the difference was more pronounced this year owing to higher targets. In the previous fiscal, the Department had mopped up Rs 878.26 crore (88.02%) and Rs 902.36 crore (88.77%) respectively.

Though the Department had reached 90.26% of the monthly target for May this year, it was against a low target of Rs 397.7 crore. During the same month in 2019-20, the Department reached Rs 1058.95 crore - 165.5 crore above the target.

The overall target for the first seven months of 2020-21 fiscal was Rs 6,151.37 crore of which the Department has shored up Rs 4,610.12 crore - 74.94%. Last year, it collected Rs 5,572.23 crore - 86.62% of the target of 6,432 crore from the corresponding period.

Realtors’ apex body CREDAI Bengaluru chairperson Suresh Hari said that property registrations will pick pace only after everything is opened up. “Economy is kicking back. But, till the disease is around and until a vaccine is developed, there won’t be normalcy,” he said.

The next Deepavali festival season was crucial, he said, to prevent the second wave. “We can probably come out of the woods during April,” he added.

Sources in the Department told DH that it will be difficult to reach the targets set for the fiscal due to the effect of the pandemic. Though registrations have improved compared to previous months, the Department was expecting a surge during the last two-quarters of the fiscal, sources added.

KP Mohan Raj, Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps told DH that registrations were picking pace. “Compared to the revenue generated in September 2019, we have raised Rs 31 crore more this year,” he said.