Land data to be digitised with ownership rights
Sep 17, 2025
Synopsis
The govt is set to create a unified electronic land record database. This will cover both rural and urban areas, clearly defining ownership. The initiative aims to improve information flow and reduce disputes. A pilot project is underway in 160 cities under the Naksha initiative. Rural land records are already being digitised.
The government is planning to create a comprehensive, integrated electronic database of land records that clearly delineates ownership rights in both rural and urban areas and is backed by cadastral maps, land resources secretary Manoj Joshi told ET.
The move will help improve the flow of real-time information on land rights, optimise the use of land resources, reduce the scope of disputes and improve transparency in such record-keeping.
It assumes significance as the government intends to pursue "next-generation reforms" in the factor markets, including in land, to spur economic growth amid turbulence caused by the additional US tariffs and other external headwinds.
Any credible land reform will hinge on the basic requirement of electronic record-keeping of land.
At present, urban land records are barely available in most parts of the country, except in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. A pilot project on gathering urban land records in about 160 cities is being carried out under the Naksha initiative, which will be wrapped up in six months, Joshi said.
Drawing from this experience, the exercise will be subsequently expanded to the rest of the urban areas, he said.
There is better record-keeping in rural areas, though. Rural land records will soon be fully digitised in most states, although their proper mapping will take a bit longer, he said. So far, 379.29 million, or 99.8%, of available rural land records have been digitised, barring in north-eastern states and Ladakh, according to the land resources department data.
Records are not available in most parts of the north-eastern states due to the community ownership of land. Ladakh started the digitisation of land records a couple of years ago and could need some more time to wrap up the exercise.
About 97.3% of available cadastral maps have been digitised in rural areas. Besides, 89.7% of revenue courts and all the sub-registrar offices across the country have been computerised. The land resources department had launched the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme in 2016 by revamping an earlier scheme. The central government fully funds this programme, which is implemented with the help of states.
The finance ministry had approved ₹875 crore for a five-year period till 2025-26 under this programme, with an addition of two new components-computerisation of all revenue courts and their integration with land records, and consent-based linking of Aadhaar number with land right records.
[The Economic Times]
