CircleRate.

How we collect and check our circle rate data

When you use a circle rate to plan your stamp duty, you need to trust the number. So we want to be open about where every rate on CircleRate comes from and what we do with it before it reaches you. This page explains our process in plain words, including the things our data does not cover.

We use only official government sources

Every rate on CircleRate comes from the rate list published by the state government, usually by its registration, stamps or revenue department. The name changes from state to state, Jantri in one, Ready Reckoner in another, guidance value or collector rate somewhere else, but the idea is the same.

We don't use property listing prices, broker estimates or rates copied from other websites. If a state has not published its list in a form we can check line by line, we don't show rates for that state at all. We would rather show nothing than show a figure we can't stand behind.

From a government list to an area page

Here is what happens to every list before it goes on the site.

  1. We start with the official list

    We download the rate list for each district from the state government's own website. These lists are usually long PDFs or web pages arranged by village and zone.

  2. We read it zone by zone

    For every zone, we take down the zone name or number, the survey, CTS or plot numbers it covers, the description, and the rate for each type of property, such as open land, flats, offices, shops and industrial use.

  3. We keep the numbers as they are

    We take each rate as published, and change it only if we find a mistake and confirm the correct figure. If a cell in the official list is blank, we leave it blank, because a missing rate is not the same as zero. Where the state tells us to apply an official change to an older list, such as a fixed increase, we apply only that change and say so on the page.

  4. We clean up and correct

    We remove zones that the official list repeats, so each zone appears once on its area page. Spelling and data checks are explained further down this page.

  5. We group zones by area

    People search for the area they know, not for a revenue village or zone code. So we group zones under the area name buyers actually use, and show every zone on that area's page.

  6. We check before we publish

    We compare a sample of rows from every district with the official list. A state goes live only when all its districts have passed this check. Any mistake we or our readers find later is corrected against the source.

What the average rate means

Most areas have several zones, and each zone has its own rate. To give you one figure to compare areas with, we line up all the zone rates for a type of property and take the one in the middle. Half the zones are at or below it, and half are at or above it.

For example, suppose an area has five zones with flat rates of ₹20,000, ₹24,000, ₹30,000, ₹36,000 and ₹60,000 per sq m. The average rate we show is ₹30,000, and the range is ₹20,000 to ₹60,000. We use the middle value, not a simple average, so that one very high or very low zone does not pull the figure up or down.

The average rate is good for comparing two areas. For your stamp duty, always use the rate for the exact zone your property is in. You can find it in the zone wise list on every area page.

Per sq m and per sq ft

Most states publish their rates per square metre. Since most people in India talk about flats in square feet, we show both. To convert, we divide the per sq m rate by 10.7639, because one square metre is 10.7639 sq ft. So ₹30,000 per sq m is about ₹2,787 per sq ft.

Converting the unit does not change the type of area. If your state applies the rate to built-up area and you only know the carpet area, you still need to convert it. Our guide on carpet vs built-up area explains how.

Some rows, mostly for farmland, are published per hectare. We show those per hectare and leave them out of the average rate, so they don't mix with the per sq m figures.

How we fix mistakes in government data

Government rate lists are prepared by hand, district by district, and they are not free of mistakes. Area and village names are often spelt wrongly, or spelt in different ways in the same list. Short forms are used without explanation, and the same zone sometimes appears twice. Now and then a zone is placed under the wrong village, or a value is clearly typed wrong.

We don't copy these mistakes onto the site. Every area name is checked against more than one source, such as government village and town lists, land records, census names and local body records, and we use the correct, commonly used spelling. We also add the other spellings people search with, so you find the page whichever one you type. The name as written in the official rate list is still shown on the page, so you can match it with your documents.

When a rate or zone looks wrong, we check it against the rest of the official list and other government records before we publish it. If we can confirm the correct figure, we fix it. If we can't, we leave that value out rather than guess, because a wrong rate is worse than a missing one.

When rates change

States revise their circle rates at different times. Some do it every financial year, and others wait several years. Every area page shows the date its rates are applicable from. When a state brings in new rates, we update its pages from the new official list and check them again the same way before they go live.

What our data does not cover

If our figure ever differs from the official list, the official list is what the Sub-Registrar will go by.

Help us keep it right

If you spot a rate, zone or area name that doesn't match the official list, please contact us. Send the page link and the official entry you are comparing it with. We check every report against the source and fix it if we got it wrong.