Centre to push for online realty sales

NEW DELHI: Forget stock markets for a moment, 'demat' could be the next buzz word for India's realty deals. In what could turn out to be a major step forward in making real estate sales far more transparent, Rajasthan government has taken an innovative approach to dematerialise property transactions.

The Central government may like other states to follow such a process, top official sources told SundayET. The government of Rajasthan, which has begun the process with the help of an NGO on urban governance Janaagraha, plans to dematerialise the sale deeds before linking those to local municipal bodies.

Once dematerialised, all property deeds will reflect the authenticity of the land titles, payment of property tax and dues to banks etc., which in turn, will ensure that no buyer is duped in property transactions. What’s more, there could be online transactions of buying and selling of properties in future with the use of demat accounts.

When contacted, urban development secretary M Ramachandran said that the Centre would like to push for all innovative reform measures on the sector if they help the consumers. “Let me make it clear that the real estate is a state subject, and hence, we can’t dictate terms to the state governments.

Rajasthan has already shown some initiatives in dematerialising sale deeds. It will bring in transparency, and we would like other states to follow such models,” Mr Ramachandran said. Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers said that it would prevent frauds and help genuine players in the sector.

Significantly, the Centre has been pushing for urban reforms under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), and according to the programme, performing cities will receive Central grants much faster than the rest.

“Though various states have taken up reform initiatives on their own, we will shortly organise workshops to make people aware of our reform agenda. Under reform initiatives, Gujarat too has passed a legislation on public disclosure which will bring in transparency,” secretary pointed out.