One per cent of all stamp duty levied on sale and purchase of property in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur will go towards completion of metro projects in those cities, the government has announced. The decision comes in the middle of a pandemic-induced slowdown, when all major infrastructure projects in the state are struggling to raise funds.
A notification issued by the Urban Development Department on September 10 said as per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888, and Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, 1per cent of the revenue will be collected by the Stamps and Registration Department and given for Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur metro rail projects. The additional charge will be applicable on all property deals from February 8, 2019, it said.
To boost the real estate market hit by COVID-19, the Maharashtra government has reduced stamp duty on properties from five percent to one percent until December 31, 2020. Post-December 2020, the government will levy three percent stamp duty on residential properties until March 31, 2021.
Earlier, the State government had cut stamp duty charges on properties for the next two years in the areas falling under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and municipal corporations of Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nagpur. The government is studying different fundraising models for major infrastructure projects, a department official said. “The stamp duty levied on property will help the projects immediately.
The emphasis will be on continuing the projects and completing them within the deadline.”The stamp duty is the largest revenue earner for the government, after GST and sales tax and VAT. In 2019-20, the state earned Rs 29,500 crore through stamp duty. In 2020-21, it expects to raise only an additional Rs 500 crore.
