CHENNAI: Holidays close together in January were a revenue damper for the registration department, a major contributor to government coffers. This January, revenue from registration of property documents dropped by nearly Rs 13 crores across the state when compared to January 2018.Data accessed by TOI found that the number of documents registered this January in Chennai zone comprising Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts declined by 1,000.
The zone recorded revenue to the tune of Rs 315 crore in January this year while in the same period during 2018 revenue recorded was higher by Rs 5 crore.
Coimbatore, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Trichy and Tanjore zones also witnessed lower revenue ranging from Rs 1 crore to Rs 4 crore during January this year.
Only Salem and Vellore zones recorded a marginal increase in revenue. Across the state, revenue of around Rs 744 crore was recorded in January this year while it was Rs 757 crore during January 2018.
Registration sources said that continuous holidays between January 14 and 17 in the view of Pongal which was preceded and followed by two weekends played the spoiler for registrations.
J Kumaragurubaran, inspector general of registration, said the registration department would, however, surpass last financial year's revenue of Rs 9100 crores. "We are expecting the revenue to cross Rs 10,000 crore as March would be a peak season for registration of property," he said.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) has urged the state government to reduce the registration charges to facilitate revenue generation.
W S Habib, CREDAI Chennai chapter president, said Tamil Nadu has the highest registration charges in the country of 11%, of which, 7% is on stamp duty.