The Growing Unease Of Registering Property In India

India's 30-notch jump in this year's ease of doing business report is nothing but impressive ─ the country in the World Bank report for 2018 secured the 100th rank, a big leap from its previous ranking of 130 among 190 nations. However, the country has a lot to do when it comes to improving the ease of property registration. Ease of property registration is one of the 10 parameters based on which an overall ranking is given, and India's performance on this scale has actually fallen.

This year, India got the 154th ranking in ease of property registration, a 16-point fall from its previous ranking of 138. In 2015, the country was assigned the 121st rank on this parameter. The fall in ranking on this aspect is quite telling that buying a property is no easy task in India despite the government launching a slew of measures in the recent past to ease the process.

"Property registration and property transactions are areas where things are not very efficient in India, said Santiago Croci Downes, acting manager, Doing Business Unit at the World Bank.

Sample this.

In New Zealand, the country that stands top in the overall ranking apart from being the best performer on the property registration parameter, it takes only one day to register a property, and only two processes have to be followed to perform the task. Only 0.1 per cent of the overall property value has to be spent as property registration charges. You could register your property in three-and-a-half days in Lithuania and in a week in Rwanda by following three procedures. While Rwanda is placed second on ease of property registration list, Lithuania is positioned third.

In comparison, you have to follow eight procedures to register your property in India, and it would take no less than 53 days to complete the process. About 8.4 per cent of the total property value will have to be spent as the charge for legally registering your property.  

In the neighbouring Nepal, one has to follow only half the procedures than in India and can complete the job in six days by paying 4.8 per cent of the property value as charges. Chasing it at 105, Nepal is also giving India a close competition on the overall ranking, too. In China, you could get the job done in 19-and-a–half days by following four procedures, and spending 3.4 per cent of the property worth as the registration cost.

While registering your property in urban areas of India is tiresome and lengthy, the challenges multiply in case you have to register a property in rural areas, experts believe.

“Things are much better in metropolitan areas. Most things happen online, and it has become faster and more transparent. However, it is still difficult to register properties in rural areas," Parveen Jain, CMD, Tulip Infratech, told Business Standard. Jain, who is also the vice-chairman of the National Real Estate Development Council, added that the system needed to be the same for everyone.

Top 10 performers in ease of property registration

New Zealand

Rwanda

Lithuania

Georgia

Belarus

Estonia

Slovak Republic

Kyrgyz Republic

Sweden

UAE