On-site allocators in Bangalore are shaken by steep property tax rate hikes in some BDA layouts

File image of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda layout (NPKL) between Magadi Road and Mysuru Road developed by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). |Photo source: Murali Kumar K

The live allocators of the NADAPRABHU KEMPEGOWDA layout (NPKL) were shocked to find that property taxes in 2025-26 have reached a huge increase in the range of 9% and 50%, and they only realized this when they went to the BDA website to pay their taxes recently. Although field allocations for other BDA layouts also report edge hiking, it seems to be steeper in the NPKL.

“The property tax on the 30×40 website in our layout is Rs 834, and now it has reached Rs 1,208. For 50×80 websites, hiking is almost 50%,” said Surya Kiran of the NPKL Open forum. However, Shivaprakash, one of the allocators of the Arkavathy layout, said that property taxes for locations in the layout did not increase significantly. A distributor of Sir M. Visvesvaraya also said that despite the increasing property taxes in its layout, they were not steep.

Calculation based on guidance value

Senior BDA officials said if there is a significant escalation in the guidance value in the area, the agency calculates property tax based on the guidance value and property tax will increase.

Given that the guiding value of the property in Bangalore was revised on October 1, 2023 after a five-year gap gap, the property tax itself should be hiking in 2024-25 itself. However, last year, property taxes remained unchanged due to the Lok Sabha election in April 2024 and were held in this fiscal year.

While the guidance value of NPKL was earlier Rs 2,000 per square foot, the guidance value for October 2023 was modified to Rs 2,900, reflected sharply in property taxes. Sources said the guidance value of properties in other layouts did not see a significant jump.

“Although we have been fighting the BDA for eight years and have recently fought in the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) and the petition committee of the state legislature to ensure we have access to basic amenities so that we can build houses in the layout, the BDA is just hiking us for taxes,” Mr Surya Kiran estimated. ”