Authorised evaluator, approved valuer, registered valuer

By Parish Rao · 19 September 2026 · 5 minute read

People search for an authorised evaluator when a bank or a tax officer has asked them for a property valuation. It is not the official term in India, but the person being described is real, and the registration they hold decides whether your report is accepted or thrown out.

The words people use

Authorised evaluator. Approved valuer. Government approved valuer. Registered valuer. Empanelled valuer. Chartered engineer valuer.

All of these get used for the same job. None of them is wrong in conversation. Only two of them mean something specific in law, and those are the two that matter when a document has to be accepted.

The registration a tax officer needs

Capital gains, a fair market value as on 1 April 2001, a Schedule AL declaration. For any of these the valuer has to be a Registered Valuer under section 34AB of the Wealth Tax Act, in the right asset category. Land and building is Category I.

If the report comes from somebody without that registration, the assessing officer can set it aside without reading what is in it. The work does not get judged. It simply does not qualify.

The registration a company matter needs

For anything under the Companies Act or insolvency proceedings, the valuer has to be registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, again for the correct asset class. This is a separate registration with its own number, and holding one does not imply holding the other.

What empanelled means, and what it does not

Empanelled means a specific bank has put that valuer on its own approved list. It is a commercial arrangement with that bank, not a government qualification.

It matters because a bank will usually only accept a report from somebody on its panel. It does not, by itself, tell you the valuer holds either registration above. Plenty of people are empanelled somewhere and registered nowhere.

The one question to ask

Ask for the registration number before you pay anybody anything.

A genuine valuer answers in seconds, because the number is printed on every report they sign. A vague answer, an offer to explain later, or a certificate with no number on it all mean the same thing, and it is cheaper to find out now than at assessment.

Then ask which registration it is. A valuer holding an IBBI number is not thereby qualified for your capital gains report, and a Category I income tax registration does not cover an insolvency matter. The right question is not whether somebody is registered, but whether they are registered for the thing you need.

Where ours are

Ours are printed in full on the registrations page and in the company profile: the income tax Category I number, the IBBI number and the Institution of Valuers fellowship. Ask us to confirm any of them on the phone and we will, or come to the office and look at the certificates.

This explains which one banks specifically look for, and this covers how empanelment actually works.