Ready reckoner rate or market value: which one counts?

By Parish Rao · 11 October 2026 · 7 minute read

Maharashtra owners hear about the ready reckoner rate every time they buy or sell. It decides the stamp duty. It can also decide the income tax, and that is the part that surprises people, usually when a flat is sold below it.

What the ready reckoner is

Maharashtra publishes a ready reckoner rate, also called the annual statement of rates, for every zone in every city. It is usually revised from 1 April. Stamp duty is charged on the agreement price or the ready reckoner value, whichever is higher.

It is a floor. It is not the value of your flat. A rate covers a whole zone, and every building in it, old or new, high floor or low, gets the same number.

When it decides your stamp duty

Always. If you buy a flat for less than its ready reckoner value, you still pay stamp duty on the ready reckoner value. In Mumbai the duty includes a metro cess. In Pune and Nagpur it also includes a local body tax, so it runs a point higher. Our stamp duty calculator has the current Maharashtra rates.

When it decides your income tax

When you sell below it. If the agreement price is less than the stamp duty value, the tax department can treat the stamp duty value as your sale price for capital gains. There is a tolerance: if the stamp duty value is no more than 10 percent above the agreement price, the agreement price stands.

The buyer is affected too. A buyer who pays less than the stamp duty value, beyond the same tolerance, can be taxed on the difference as income.

When the market really is below the rate

It happens more than people think. An old building with no lift, a flat with structural problems, a pagdi tenancy, a property with a title gap, a ground floor flat that floods. The ready reckoner does not know any of that.

In those cases, the seller can ask for the property to be referred to a valuation officer, and a registered valuer's report showing the real market value is the evidence that matters. It has to be specific: what is wrong with this property, what similar properties actually sold for, and how the gap was measured.

The 2001 question

For property held since before 1 April 2001, the value on that date can be used as the cost. That 2001 value cannot be higher than the stamp duty value on that date. In Maharashtra, that means the ready reckoner of 2001 is the ceiling, and the old rate books become important evidence.

Redevelopment and the ready reckoner

In a redevelopment, the new flat you receive and any cash you are paid have tax consequences, and the ready reckoner often appears in those calculations. Before signing, get the existing flat and the offered flat valued, so you know what you are giving up and what you are getting. We cover this in more detail for Mumbai and Pune.