В Бангалоре подали заявки на конвертацию B-Khata лишь 12% от прогнозируемого числа владельцев недвижимости

Despite a 60% rebate on B-to-A Khata conversion charges, a meagre 12% of the estimated beneficiaries have applied for the conversion. By the time the rebate window ended on August 23, the corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) had received 80,412 applications, while the revised estimate of the total number of properties stood at over 7 lakh. According to GBA data, the applications received have generated a total of ₹525.7 crore in revenue for the corporations. One of the corporation commissioners told The Hindu that many applications are still under review and that the revenue would go up. Bengaluru North City Corporation received the highest number of applications at 23,354, generating ₹144.9 crore in revenue. It was followed by the west corporation with 22,479 applications and a revenue of ₹131.1 crore and the south corporation with 17,262 applications, which generated ₹124.3 crore. According to the GBA officials, the north and west corporations also have a larger number of B-Khata properties, which is why they have received more applications. Rebate spurs takers When the rebate was announced, the conversion charge was set at 5% of the guidance value in the area, which meant property owners had to spend lakhs of rupees, making it unattractive. Fewer than 14,000 applications were received in the first few months. The government subsequently announced a discount by reducing the conversion charge to 2% of the guidance value. A corporation commissioner said that even with the rebate, the scheme did not attract much interest initially, but gained substantial momentum in the last nine days of the discount window. Until August 14, about 48,000 applications had been received. In the next nine days, however, 32,000 applications flooded the corporations. When asked whether the rebate scheme would be extended considering the last-minute surge, the officials said there were currently no discussions about it. “The properties for which we have received most applications are also in places where the guidance value is relatively less, which means many are still contemplating the scheme. We also have cases where owners have applied for conversion and checked the charges, eventually retreating and not paying the charges,” the official added. One of the major setbacks to the scheme is that the conversion would regularise the property or site, but would not automatically regularise buildings constructed on it. Corporations not on board with another rebate According to the GBA sources, the corporations are not interested in announcing rebates again, citing the drop in revenue. For instance, the north corporation’s 2026-27 budget outlay was over ₹4,300 crore, of which ₹680 crore was estimated to come from the B-to-A conversions. Similarly, other corporations had also made substantial revenue estimates, which have now taken a hit.