While land registration across the state is on the rise, revenue through property transactions in Chennai and neighbouring areas has recorded a drop of 13% due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chennai zone, comprising Chennai, Chengalpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts, contributed an average 45% of the total registration department revenue last year. This has dipped to around 32% in 2020. However, a spike in land transactions in Coimbatore and Madurai regions has helped compensate the plunge in Chennai zone.
As per official data, revenue recorded between September and November through registration fee and stamp duty exceeded Rs 1,000 crore every month, with October recording the highest income of Rs 1,100 crore. Between April and November, the government has generated revenue of Rs 5,690 crore. Chennai zone’s share, however, has nosedived 13%.
Registration department sources blamed the plunge on the pandemic. “Zone-wise comparison revealed that Coimbatore and Madurai zones have compensated for the revenue fall in Chennai and its neighbourhood,” a senior official told TOI. Coimbatore zone’s contribution stands at nearly 20% of the total income of the registration department and Madurai zone’s share at 11%.
Asked whether a jump in sale of agriculture land in southern and western districts resulted in the spike in revenue, the official said, “We are not sure whether the sale of farmlands has increased the revenue. But, the rest of Tamil Nadu has outperformed its corresponding month-wise income in 2019.”
Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India chairman (Tamil Nadu chapter) S Sridharan said at present, developers in the Chennai real estate market are witnessing sale close to pre-Covid levels. “Probably, lack of movement in the non-housing sector, including sale of vast agricultural land transactions, could have resulted in the revenue fall in Chennai and neighbouring districts,” he said.
Meanwhile, the registration department is expecting its annual income to touch the Rs 10,000-crore-mark by the end of March, provided the model code of conduct is not enforced mid-March. The department clocked an income of Rs 11,000 crore consecutively over the last two financial years.