Gurgaon: Land registrations down by 50% as cash crunch hits market

Demonetisation has severely affected the registration of land sale deeds in the revenue records. There has been a 50% dip in registrations after November 9, despite ₹500 and ₹1000 notes being accepted for stamp duty payments at the counters in the mini secretariat.

Demonetisation has severely affected the registration of land sale deeds in the revenue records. According to officials, there has been a 50% dip in registrations after November 9, despite ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes being accepted for stamp duty payments at the counters in the mini secretariat.

On average, more than 200 land deeds were registered per day in Gurgaon, generating a revenue of about ₹3.5 crore from stamp duty and registration fee in a day. The number has now been reduced to half. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

The mini secretariat is a multi-storeyed complex near Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon, which houses various state government departments.

According to officials, most visitors are approaching them to register old land sale deeds as new deals are not taking place due to the cash crunch. Besides the slowdown in new property sales, the resale sector has also been affected, officials said.

On average, more than 200 land deeds were registered per day in Gurgaon, generating a revenue of about ₹3.5 crore from stamp duty and registration fee in a day. The number has now been reduced to half, officials said.

“The number of land registrations have reduced by 50%. We expect the trend to continue for few more days until the cash flow is normalised,” Satish Yadav, district revenue officer, said.

Earlier, people struggled to find space and had to wait for six to eight hours to get registration done at the registrar’s office on the first floor of the mini secretariat. However, the job is getting done within two hours, sources said.

“Footfall has reduced considerably. Earlier, there used to be huge crowd even in the corridors but now all people fit in the hall (where payments counters are located),” Devender, an employee at the office, said.

A revenue officer at the tehsil level said that registrations after the demonetisation of ₹500, ₹1,000 notes are of small amounts and are largely related to agreements of sale deeds, mortgage of property and wills.

With no cash, inquiries and bookings for new houses as well as resale of property have also come to a standstill as people are adopting a wait-and-watch policy, said Parveen Yadav, a property dealer in Sector 56. “Even rentals have been hit severely. Sundays usually remain hectic and busy for us but we did not get any inquiry this week,” Yadav said.