MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government could earn only Rs 15 crore through stamp duty and registration in the last 40 days - a steep fall in comparison to the Rs 4000 crore it usually generates in such a period.
According to the stamp duty and registration department of state government, the income in April and the first 10 days of May when the lockdown has been in place, was at a historic low. The real estate and excise departments are the major backbones of the state economy and yield Rs 24,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore in average revenue annually.
But, in the last 40 days, only 3806 properties were sold and registered and this earned the government Rs 15 crore.
"We got this revenue in the green zone only where the property registration and leave and license agreement has been allowed while in the red zone, no such activities have been taking place," said a revenue official.
Rajesh Prajapati, spokesperson of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry, Mumbai-Navi Mumbai, said that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which includes Thane, Kalyan, Navi Mumbai and Panvel, and Pune, the major contributor in stamp duty and registration revenue generation, were both badly hit.
"Therefore, the government has earned the record low revenue in the last 40 days. The state government had earlier issued an order to restart property registration online, but the order was not followed by the stamp duty and registration departments in the MMR region. The government is proactive but the administration fails when it comes to implementation," Prajapati said.
He said that unless and until the property registration resumes in MMR and Pune regions, the government will not earn the expected revenue
"We had also demanded a cut in stamp duty and registration charges for a few months just to boost the economy and attract buyers. Once the economic activity engine is started, this decreased percentage of stamp duty and registration can be reversed," Prajapati added.