Guidance value (also called circle rate elsewhere in India) is the minimum value per square foot that the Karnataka government assigns to land and property in a given area, for the purpose of calculating stamp duty and registration fee. It is set by the Department of Stamps and Registration, not by the market, and it matters because you cannot register a sale below it — if your agreed price is lower than the guidance value, the Sub-Registrar’s office will calculate your stamp duty and registration fee on the (higher) guidance value anyway, not your actual sale price.
Guidance value vs. market value
These are two different numbers, and confusing them is the most common mistake buyers make. Market value is whatever a willing buyer actually pays a willing seller — it moves with demand, and can be higher or lower than guidance value depending on the area. Guidance value is the government’s administrative floor for tax purposes, revised periodically, and it tends to lag real market movement, sometimes by a lot in fast-appreciating corridors.
2026 has seen multiple, overlapping revisions — here’s why you shouldn’t trust a fixed percentage figure
Guidance value in Karnataka has been unusually active in 2026, with more than one revision layered on top of each other:
- A February 2026 revision raised guidance values by roughly 6–15% across Bengaluru urban limits, with North Bengaluru corridors near Devanahalli, Yelahanka, and Hebbal reportedly seeing the higher end of that range — likely tied to infrastructure growth (airport corridor, upcoming metro connectivity) in those areas.
- A separate, larger statewide revision (originally targeted for 1 April 2026) has been discussed by the Department of Stamps and Registration, with reports of zone-wise increases as high as 30% in some areas — but as of the most recent reporting available, this broader hike had not yet been formally gazette-notified. Until a notification is published, the previously existing guidance value remains the legally operative one, even if a higher figure has been publicly discussed.
This is exactly why we’re not printing a single “current guidance value increase is X%” figure on this page — any number we quote today may already be superseded by the time you read this, and worse, some Sub-Registrar offices have reportedly applied inconsistent values during transition periods. The only reliable number is whatever the Kaveri portal shows for your specific survey number on the day you register.
How to check your property’s guidance value on Kaveri
- Go to the official Karnataka Kaveri Online Services portal (kaveri.karnataka.gov.in) — always use this exact government domain, not a third-party site claiming to mirror it.
- Open the Guidance Value Search or Stamp Duty Calculator tool.
- Select Bangalore Urban district and the correct Sub-Registrar Office (SRO) for your property’s location — this matters, since guidance value is set at the sub-registrar-jurisdiction level, not city-wide.
- Enter your village/area name and survey number (if you don’t have the exact survey number yet, your seller or the builder should be able to provide it — it’s on the sale deed/khata documents).
- Select the property type (site/plot, apartment, or built-up house) — guidance value is calculated differently for land vs. constructed area.
- The portal returns the current per-square-foot (or per-square-meter) guidance value for that exact location.
Practical advice
Check the guidance value close to your actual registration date, not weeks in advance — given how often it’s being revised in 2026, a figure you checked a month ago may no longer be current. If you’re negotiating a purchase price near a slab boundary (see our stamp duty guide for the ?45 lakh notch effect), factor in that guidance value — not your negotiated price — is what actually determines your stamp duty if the two diverge.
