Winning Bizness Desk

Mumbai - If you are planning to buy property then do it before this month of March ends, otherwise be ready to lose your purse a bit more, because the govt of Maharashtra is going to re-introduce 1% Metro Cess from April 1, 2020. Therefore, you will have to pay one percent more of your agreement value if you are buying a property in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Pune along with Nagpur. These are the cities, where Metro constructions are underway and state govt desperately need finance to complete it.

Cess to applicable on agreement value

According to the information, Bhushan Gagrani, Principal Secretary of Urban Development, said that Metro Cess will attract one percent of the total cost of the agreement and it will be applicable in Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune from April 1. This means that the registration price in Mumbai will be now 6%, which is currently 5%. Whereas in Pune, Nagpur and Thane it will increase from 6% to 7%. Property buyers will have to pay 6% stamp duty and 1% metro cess in these three cities. This cess will be used on transport infrastructure projects. This includes metro, bridge and flyovers.

End of Pandemic paved the way

Property registration officials say that they were awaiting for the final order in this matter as they had not received the order. But a few days ago, govt approved to levy Metro Cess once again which was stopped after CoronaVirus driven pandemic hit the entire world. Now, with almost everything back on track, govt thought it was the right time to re-introduce this cess to mop-up some funds. Sources said that the government was facing a cash crunch, so it was extremely important to impose such a levy.

Realtors oppose the move

However, realtors organizations have strongly opposed this. They say that because of this, it will have a direct impact on the realty sector as well as on buyers. If you buy a property worth 50 lakhs in Pune, Nagpur and Thane, then its stamp duty is currently Rs 3 lakh. Whereas after April 1, it will be Rs 3.5 lakh as metro cess will be Rs 50 thousand. In Mumbai, on the same 50 lakhs, you will have to pay Rs 2.5 lakh as stamp duty and Rs 50,000 as cess at the rate of 5%. That is, it will be two and a half to three lakh rupees. Property prices are already highest in Mumbai compared to other cities.