State unlikely to change existing RR rates on April 1

The state government is unlikely to change the existing ready reckoner rates on April 1
this year.
A source in the state government said there was a discussion to keep the rates unchanged
as of now, taking into count the present Covid-19 pandemic crisis and the overall
the sentiment of the real estate market. An official communication from the government on
maintaining the status quo on ready reckoner (RR) rates was expected next week, the
source said.
“The real estate market has started to get buoyant now. It is unlikely that the government
would want to disturb it,” said the source.
A senior state government official in the know of developments said the registration
department was working on preparing the RR rates after due consultation and assessing
the rates area-wise. But the government was unlikely to make any changes now, he added.
The RR rates for residential and commercial properties based on their location are
announced on April 1 every year. In 2020, the revised rates were announced in September
because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On an average, the RR rates were increased by 1.74% last year. The highest average
increase in RR rate — 3.91% — was registered in the Pune district. In Mumbai, the average
upward revision was 0.6%.
Many developers have been demanding downward revision of RR rates for quite some
time now. They claimed that the rates, especially in cities like Pune, were extremely high.
Some developers had met the revenue minister demanding that the state government
should not increase the RR rate this April because it was revised in September last year.
Before September 2020, the RR rates were last revised in 2017 because the earlier
government had decided to keep them unchanged thereafter. Between 2010 and 2015, the
average hike in RR rates was in the range of 10-25%. After several follow-ups, the
government had reduced the hike in rates.