Maharashtra May Not Extend Stamp Duty Waiver

The state government is unlikely to extend the stamp duty waiver of 2% beyond March because of revenue losses. Maharashtra revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat said “There has been a good response over these five months and it reflected in the tally of the state registra

BY Realty Plus
Published - Thursday, 04 Feb, 2021

Maharashtra May Not Extend Stamp Duty Waiver

The state government is unlikely to extend the stamp duty waiver of 2% beyond March because of revenue losses. Maharashtra revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat said “There has been a good response over these five months and it reflected in the tally of the state registration department. The maximum registrations were recorded in December. However, the state has suffered revenue losses and we cannot continue with the waiver beyond March.” The state government had announced a 3% waiver on stamp duty from September to December last year and a 2% waiver from January to March in 2021 to boost the realty sector during the pandemic. The real estate developers had requested the state government to extend the stamp duty waiver till the end of this year to keep the momentum going for the real estate sector. Most of the realtors had even absorbed the stamp duty charges to ensure speedy registrations. Credai national vice-president Shantilal Kataria had said the government should continue with the stamp duty waiver and should not increase the ready reckoner (RR) rate in April. “While the sector has been suffering, the pandemic only made it difficult in the early months last year. It is only after the stamp duty waiver that the registrations have picked up,” Kataria had said. Registration department stated that the peak of registrations was achieved in the last couple of months and it was unlikely to be as high henceforth. “There has been a dip in registrations and revenue in January. The target revenue collection was earlier reduced to Rs15,000 crore this financial year as against the normal Rs28,000 crore every fiscal. After the registrations picked up and the revenue collection increased, there was an upward revision of the revenue target to Rs22,000 crore this financial year.