Metro cess back on property registrations in Mumbai, 3 Maharashtra cities

The Maharashtra government will once again start collecting one per cent metro cess on property purchases from April 1 in Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur and Pune cities with the lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions, an official said on Friday.

Talking to PTI, Bhushan Gagrani, principal secretary (urban development), said the state government had taken a decision in February 2019 to levy one per cent metro cess on property purchases in four cities including Mumbai. But its implementation was stayed after a year due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020.

"This is not a new decision. We are reviving the earlier decision, which had to be discontinued due to the pandemic,'' he said.

Due to the metro cess, stamp duty on property registrations will go up by one per cent, he said.

"Our target is to get revenue of Rs 700 crore to Rs 800 crore annually. Till March 2020, we got a revenue of approximately Rs 500 crore to Rs 550 crore,'' he said.

The metro cess is intended to fund transport infrastrucuture projects in these cities.

After more than two years, all pandemic-related restrictions, including the mandatory wearing of masks, will be lifted in Maharashtra from April 2, the state government announced on Thursday.