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District guide
Buying Land in Kaimur (Bhabua)
A rice-and-wheat district on the Uttar Pradesh border, with canal irrigation on the plain, the four-lane NH-319 at Mohania and a tiger-reserve plan on the plateau.
3,362 sq km
Area (CGWB booklet)
16.26 lakh
Population (Census 2011)
About 1,055 mm
Normal annual rainfall
31.6%, all blocks safe
Groundwater stage (2009)
*Indicative range across districts and land types. Stamp duty, registration and conversion charges are additional. Local measurement units vary — every listing states the unit it is priced in. Not a valuation or an offer.
District land record — Kaimur (bhabua)
Rev. 2026 · Farmland India desk
State
Bihar
Sub-divisions
Two sub-divisions (Bhabua and Mohania) and 11 blocks: Adhaura, Bhabua, Bhagwanpur, Chainpur, Chand, Durgawati, Kudra, Mohania, Nuaon, Ramgarh and Rampur (CGWB, 2013)
Key markets
Bhabua · Mohania · Kudra · Chainpur · Chand · Bhagwanpur · Ramgarh · Durgawati
Demand anchors
Four-lane NH-319 link from Mohania towards Ara and Patna · Grand Trunk Road and Grand Chord rail line · Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary tiger-reserve plan · canal-irrigated rice plain
Rail
Bhabua Road station on the Gaya–Mughalsarai Grand Chord line; Mohania and Pusauli on the Grand Trunk Road side
Size and population
3,362 sq km and 16,26,384 people at the 2011 Census, a density of 488 per sq km (CGWB, 2013)
Pricing unit
Asking prices are usually quoted per kattha or decimal; no sourced price series is shown
Local units
Kattha (कट्ठा), bigha (बीघा) and decimal (डिसमिल); listings here are in acres
Land records
Jamabandi and map through Bihar Bhumi; see our guide to Bihar Bhumi Jamabandi online
Land law is state law. These rules are maintained on the Bihar page and apply to every district within it.
Kaimur (bhabua) — land purchase legal rules
Bihar does not reserve agricultural land for farmers the way Gujarat or Maharashtra do, so an Indian resident who is not a cultivator can usually buy farmland here. The limits that bite are different: a family land ceiling, a conversion permission before any non-farm use, an unfinished statewide resurvey that is rewriting old records, and the usual NRI bar under FEMA. Most buyer problems in Bihar come from the records, not from the law.
Who can buy agricultural land? We found no provision in Bihar’s tenancy or ceiling laws that limits farmland purchases to agriculturists. What the Bihar Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling Area and Acquisition of Surplus Land) Act, 1961 controls is how much a family may hold, and section 16 bars any acquisition by transfer, exchange, lease, mortgage or settlement that would take the buyer’s family above its ceiling. Inheritance, bequest and gift are outside that bar.
Ceiling limits: Section 4 of the 1961 Act sets the ceiling for a family of up to five by land class: 15 acres for land irrigated by government works and double-cropped, 18 acres for land on private tubewells or lift irrigation, 25 acres for one-season irrigated land, 30 acres for other land including orchards, 37.5 acres for diara or chaur land and 45 acres for hilly, sandy or perennially submerged land. Each extra family member adds one-tenth of the ceiling, up to one and a half times the limit. A “family” is a person, spouse and minor children, and companies, trusts and institutions count as persons.
Conversion to non-farm use: The Bihar Agriculture Land (Conversion for Non-Agriculture Purposes) Act, 2010 requires prior permission from the Sub-Divisional Officer before agricultural land is used for anything else. The fee is 10% of market value as set by the Collector under the Stamp Act, the SDO must decide within 90 days, and converting without permission draws a penalty of half the fee on top of the fee. The Act does not apply inside municipal areas or areas notified as urban, commercial or industrial through a master plan, where building and layout rules take over instead.
Mutation and the Jamabandi: A registered deed is not the end of the job. The buyer has to apply for mutation, called Dakhil Kharij, so that the Jamabandi (register II) moves to the buyer’s name and rent receipts are issued to the buyer. Both steps run online through Bihar Bhumi, and errors in the digitised Jamabandi are corrected through the Parimarjan portal. Sellers whose Jamabandi carries a wrong name, area or plot number should fix it before registry, not after.
The special land survey: Bihar is resurveying land under the Bihar Special Survey and Settlement Act, 2011, which will produce a new Khatiyan (record of rights) and maps for each village. The deadline was moved to December 2026 in March 2025 (PTI via ThePrint), and the revenue minister was reported in March 2026 to have set December 2027 for completion (Prabhat Khabar, March 2026). Buyers in a village under survey should check whether the seller filed the self-declaration and whether any claim or objection is pending on the plot.
Government, Bhoodan and estate land: A large share of disputes involves land that was never the seller’s to sell: government land recorded as gair mazarua, Bhoodan land, or land of former estates. The revenue department reported that 2,56,664.88 acres of the 6,48,593.14 acres donated under Bhoodan had been distributed, and that about 15,358 acres of the former Bettiah Raj estate were set to be taken over (Deccan Herald). Check the khata category in the Khatiyan before paying any token money.
Scheduled Areas and tribal land: Bihar is not among the ten states with notified Fifth Schedule Areas (PIB). The Chotanagpur and Santhal Parganas tenancy restrictions on tribal land went with those regions to Jharkhand in 2000, so buyers moving between the two states should not assume the same rules apply.
Planned township zones: Bihar has finalised areas for 11 greenfield satellite townships and in April 2026 the Urban Development Department barred sale, purchase and construction in seven of them, including the Pataliputra Township around Patna (Prabhat Khabar, April 2026). The ban on sales was lifted in August 2026, though a landowner inside the Pataliputra township area must first inform the government before selling, and a cabinet decision reported on 29 October 2026 removed the restriction in the satellite townships, with construction to follow the development control rules (Prabhat Khabar, 9 August 2026; Prabhat Khabar, 29 October 2026). Zoning under these plans now decides what a plot can be used for.
Documents to ask for: Before paying an advance, collect the current Jamabandi page and the latest rent receipt (lagan rasid), the Khatiyan (record of rights) from the last settled survey and, where it exists, the new survey entry, the Bhu Naksha map sheet with the plot number marked, the seller’s chain of registered deeds (kewala) for at least the last 30 years, the mutation order that put the land in the seller’s name, and a land possession certificate (LPC) from the circle office. Match the khata, khesra (plot) number, area and boundaries across every document. Our Bhu Naksha guide and mutation status guide show how to pull these online.
NRI and OCI buyers: Under the RBI’s Master Direction on acquisition of immovable property, NRIs and OCIs may buy immovable property in India other than agricultural land, plantation property or a farm house. They can inherit such land. Our NRI guide covers the options in detail.
- No farmer-only rule found
- Ceiling Act 1961
- Conversion Act 2010 (SDO)
- Dakhil Kharij mutation
- Special survey to 2027 (reported)
- NRI agri: barred (RBI)
- Records via Bihar Bhumi
Kaimur (bhabua) — district-specific notes
The Bihar state page applies to Kaimur in full: the ceiling law, the 2010 conversion rule, mutation through Bihar Bhumi and the NRI bar. These five points are specific to the district.
⚠ Large parts of the Kaimur plateau are forest and sanctuary land. The Centre gave in-principle approval in October 2024 to develop the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary as Bihar’s second tiger reserve, with 450 sq km designated prime habitat and a buffer that includes 58 villages and Shergarh Fort (Down To Earth, 8 October 2024; PTI via The Week, 7 October 2024). Land inside or beside the sanctuary can carry restrictions on use, access and building, and forest land cannot be sold.
⚠ Some plateau families hold land under the Forest Rights Act or as Scheduled Tribe holdings. Forest Rights Act titles are heritable but not transferable, and transfers of tribal land can be restricted under state law, so a seller’s claim to a plateau plot needs to be checked at the Circle Office and the Sub-Divisional Office before any payment.
⚠ The Minimum Value Register (MVR) was revised from 19 June 2026: urban and peripheral land doubled, rural land up 1.6 times. The peripheral belt covers up to 8 km beyond a municipal corporation, 4 km beyond a nagar parishad and 2 km beyond a nagar panchayat, which brings land around Bhabua and Mohania into the higher bracket (Prabhat Khabar, 18 June 2026).
⚠ The district borders Uttar Pradesh, and some villages lie on the Karmanasa river boundary. For plots near the state line, confirm which state’s revenue records and stamp rules apply to the sale deed. Ask the sub-registrar whether the deed is to be registered in Bihar, and whether any boundary survey or dispute with a neighbouring Uttar Pradesh village is pending.
⚠ Match the current jamabandi with the plot number on the sale deed, check the last mutation (dakhil-kharij) with our mutation status guide, and use the Bihar Bhu Naksha guide for the plot map.
Read the full Bihar land buying guide for the ceiling, conversion, survey and NRI rules.
- Forest and sanctuary land
- Tiger reserve buffer
- MVR revised June 2026
- Plateau tenures
- Uttar Pradesh border belt
District overview
Kaimur (bhabua) — a canal-fed rice plain below the Kaimur plateau
Kaimur (Bhabua) is a south-west Bihar district on the Uttar Pradesh border, covering 3,362 sq km with 16.26 lakh people at the 2011 Census, 96% of them rural (CGWB, 2013). Two sub-divisions, Bhabua and Mohania, share 11 blocks. The north is a flat alluvial plain, a rice and wheat belt irrigated by canals from the Karmanasa and Durgawati; the south is the Kaimur plateau, rising to about 500 m, with sandstone, forest and waterfalls.
The two halves are different land markets. On the plain, plots are small, irrigated and traded among farming families, with some demand near Bhabua, Mohania and the Grand Trunk Road. On the plateau, land is cheaper, drier and legally more complex because of forest and sanctuary boundaries.
The plain is where the infrastructure is. A four-lane NH-319 stretch from Parariya to Mohania, costing over Rs 820 crore, was inaugurated in 2025 and connects Ara to NH-2 (ThePrint (PTI)). See the infrastructure section for what is built and what is only planned.
A practical way to read the district is to split the search into three questions. Is the plot on the canal plain or the plateau? Is it inside or beside forest, sanctuary or tribal land? And does it sit on the highway belt around Mohania or in the interior? The answers decide the water, the legal checks and the likely resale market, and they matter more than the block name.
- Uttar Pradesh border
- Kaimur plateau
- Bhabua
- Mohania
- Rice and wheat
- Wildlife sanctuary
Transaction costs
Stamp duty & registration in Kaimur (bhabua)
7% · 9%
Stamp duty from 19 June 2026: rural · urban
up from 6% and 8%; reported by Prabhat Khabar
2x · 1.6x
MVR in urban and peripheral · rural areas
from 19 June 2026
+5% a year
Further MVR rise each financial year
full revision every three years
Kaimur follows the state rates. Prabhat Khabar reported on 18 June 2026 that the MVR was raised from 19 June, doubling in urban and peripheral areas and rising 1.6 times in rural areas, with a further 5% rise each year and a full revision every three years; general stamp duty went from 6% to 7%, with a 0.4% stamp duty concession and the existing 0.1% registration fee concession for women (Prabhat Khabar, 18 June 2026). Before the change, the CAG audit of Bihar’s revenue for 2017-18 recorded 6% stamp duty plus a 2% registration fee, and 2% extra in municipal areas (CAG Report No. 2 of 2019). A Prabhat Khabar report from the Thakurganj sub-registry office in Kishanganj on 19 June 2026 gave stamp duty at 7% in rural areas (up from 6%) and 9% in urban areas (up from 8%), in line with the extra 2% for municipal areas in the CAG audit (Prabhat Khabar, 19 June 2026). The registration fee was not restated in either report, so confirm the full cost at the sub-registrar office. Our guides to stamp duty in Bihar and the MVR rate explain the calculation.
Know the belt
What is moving prices in Kaimur (bhabua)
Four belts with different drivers. Read the check line before shortlisting.
Bhabua and the district centre
Headquarters · Bhabua Road rail
Bhabua is the district headquarters, about 14 km from the Bhabua Road station on the Grand Chord line. Land on the town fringe is bought for small residential and farm plots, and the June 2026 peripheral MVR rule applies to much of it.
Check: whether the plot is inside the municipal or 4 km peripheral belt, and the approach road from the town.
Mohania and the Grand Trunk Road
Highway town · NH-319 link
Mohania, the second sub-division, sits on the Grand Trunk Road and is the start of the four-lane NH-319 stretch towards Ara and Patna (ThePrint (PTI)). Roadside land is bought for small commercial and logistics use, and prices fall quickly a few hundred metres off the road. Mohania is also the sub-division headquarters, so the sub-divisional office and the sub-registrar are close by, which shortens paperwork.
Check: highway service-road access, right-of-way boundaries and whether the plot is on canal command land.
Chainpur, Chand, Bhagwanpur and Adhaura
Plain-to-plateau edge
These blocks lie at the foot of the plateau, with forest, hill streams and waterfalls. Land is cheaper and plots are larger, but forest boundaries and wildlife rules matter. Water is more variable than on the canal plain.
Check: forest, sanctuary or tiger-reserve buffer status, and whether the plot has a working well.
Kudra, Durgawati and the Karmanasa side
West and east plain · canal command
The western plain beside the Karmanasa and the eastern Durgawati side are rice and wheat land. The CGWB booklet puts Kudra at the highest groundwater use in the district at 44.6% in 2009, and Adhaura at the lowest at 19.5% (CGWB, 2013). Plots are valued as productive canal-fed farm land.
Check: canal distributary access, state-line boundary and the plot’s flood record.
Asking prices
Asking prices are quoted per kattha or decimal and vary sharply between the highway belt, the canal plain and the plateau. We do not publish a district price series because we found no named source. Compare any ask against the MVR for the mauza and against registered deeds for similar plots, and treat a plateau price that matches a plain price as a warning sign.
Connectivity
How Kaimur (bhabua) connects — road, rail and air
A Grand Trunk Road and Grand Chord district, with the plateau reachable only by local roads.
🚗 By road
✈️ By air
🚆 By rail
Travel times are approximate and depend on traffic. Check railway timetables and NHAI notices before relying on them.
Growth catalysts
Upcoming infrastructure & developments
Status labels reflect sources read in November 2026. Government timelines are not guarantees.
01Open
02Catalysts
Agriculture & terrain
Soil, crops & water in Kaimur (bhabua)
A rice and wheat district with strong canal irrigation on the plain and a dry plateau.
Crops
The 2018 KVK contingency plan records rice on about 81,700 ha in kharif and wheat on about 68,400 ha in rabi in 2009-10, with chickpea, lentil, linseed, mustard and greengram on smaller areas (KVK Kaimur).
- Kharif: rice
- Rabi: wheat, chickpea, lentil
- Smaller crops: mustard, linseed, greengram
Soil, rain and water
Normal rainfall is about 1,055 mm in the CGWB booklet (1,164 mm in the KVK plan). The plan records clay loam (46%), sandy loam (31%) and red laterite (24%). Canals supplied about 83,000 ha of the 149,000 ha net irrigated area in 2008, tubewells 49,000 ha and tanks 16,000 ha. Groundwater development was 31.6% in 2009, with every block safe (CGWB, 2013).
- Rainfall about 1,055 mm (CGWB)
- Canals supply over half of irrigation
- Groundwater stage 31.6% (2009)
Plateau water scarcity
On the Bhabua plateau, groundwater occurs only in joints and fractures in Kaimur sandstone, and the booklet calls it a poor repository with lean-season scarcity a key concern (CGWB, 2013).
Drought and flood
The KVK plan lists both drought and flood as contingencies for the district, so ask about the last bad monsoon.
Cropping intensity
The 2018 plan gives cropping intensity of about 136%, lower than the best Bihar districts, which reflects the rain-fed plateau and the sandy and laterite patches (KVK Kaimur).
Canal reliance and tail-end plots
Canals supplied about 83,000 ha of the 149,000 ha net irrigated area in 2008 (CGWB, 2013). Plots at the tail of a distributary can run short in dry years, so ask which distributary serves the field and how the last two seasons went.
At a glance
Kaimur vs. nearby districts
| District | Land and water | What links it to Kaimur |
|---|---|---|
| Rohtas | East neighbour, the rice-bowl district on the Sone canal | Shares the Grand Chord line and the Kaimur plateau |
| Buxar | North neighbour on the Ganga and Patna–Buxar road | Linked by the Grand Trunk Road and Ara roads |
| Chandauli and Sonbhadra (UP) | West and south, across the state line | Cross-border labour and trade; different revenue rules |
| Bhojpur | North-east, linked by NH-319 and Ara | The Ara bypass and NH-319 four-laning connect them |
Kaimur has more water than most south Bihar districts on the plain and less on the plateau, and its land law is more complex near the sanctuary. For listings across the state, see all land for sale in Bihar.
Farmland India view
Why investors look at Kaimur (bhabua)
Five reasoned points for Kaimur, each tied to a source on this page.
The plain is well watered
Canals supply over half the irrigated area and groundwater use is only 31.6% (CGWB), so the plain can carry two crops with little pumping.
Road upgrades are real near Mohania
The Parariya–Mohania four-lane stretch is open (ThePrint), which helps access to Ara and Patna.
Conservation limits cap the plateau
The tiger reserve plan restricts use around the sanctuary (Down To Earth), so the plateau is a farm and forest market, not a development one.
The June 2026 MVR reset raises entry costs
Registered values and stamp duty are higher than a year ago (Prabhat Khabar).
A thin market rewards patience
Kaimur is a small, rural market. Buy for use and income, not for a quick resale.
Grand Chord rail keeps the district connected
Bhabua Road sits on the Gaya–Mughalsarai line with long-distance services, which supports resale demand for residential plots near the town and the highway.
Confirm Jamabandi, mutation, zoning and acquisition status directly — these are not certified by Farmland India’s review.
STRAIGHT TALK
Risks & challenges in Kaimur (bhabua)
District-specific risks. Read the state page for the general Bihar risks on ceiling, conversion and records.
Forest and sanctuary boundaries
Land near the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary can fall inside forest or the tiger-reserve buffer, which restricts use (PTI via The Week).
Forest Rights Act and tribal holdings
Titles under the Forest Rights Act are not transferable, and tribal land transfers can be restricted. Check at the Circle Office and Sub-Divisional Office.
Plateau water scarcity
Wells are shallow and yields low on the plateau (CGWB).
Drought and flood
Both are listed as contingencies for the district in the KVK plan (KVK Kaimur). Check the local record.
State-line plots
Villages near the Uttar Pradesh boundary need a careful check of which records govern the sale.
Government and ceiling land
Surplus, ceiling and government land cannot be sold. Check the plot on Bihar Bhumi and with the Circle Officer (CO).
Highway right-of-way and service roads
Roadside plots near Mohania and the NH-319 stretch can fall inside land acquired for the highway. Check the revenue map and the NHAI alignment before paying for frontage.
Seasonal access on the plateau
Plateau plots can be hard to reach in the monsoon, when hill streams cut local roads. Visit in the rains as well as in the dry season.
Who to contact
Local revenue & planning offices
Start with the Kaimur District Collectorate at Bhabua (Kaimur district site) for the District Magistrate and Land Acquisition Officer, then the Circle Office (anchal) of the block, the Sub-Divisional Offices at Bhabua and Mohania, and the sub-registrar office. Mutation status is on Bihar Bhumi. For rules on conversion, see the Bihar Agriculture Land (Conversion for Non-Agricultural Purposes) Act, 2010.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
Everything buyers, NRIs and investors ask before their first reviewed farmland purchase in Kaimur (bhabua).
Visit full wiki01 of 04
Is the Kaimur tiger reserve notified?
The Centre gave in-principle approval in October 2024 to develop the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary as Bihar’s second tiger reserve, with 450 sq km of prime habitat and a buffer including 58 villages. We found no later notification, so check the current status before buying near the sanctuary.
02 of 04
Did land rates change in Kaimur in 2026?
Yes. Bihar raised the Minimum Value Register from 19 June 2026: doubled in urban and peripheral areas and 1.6 times in rural areas, and general stamp duty went from 6% to 7%, as reported by Prabhat Khabar on 18 June 2026.
03 of 04
Can I buy forest-rights or tribal land in Kaimur?
Titles under the Forest Rights Act are heritable but not transferable, and tribal land transfers can be restricted. Ask the Circle Office and Sub-Divisional Office to confirm the land category before paying.
04 of 04
Is there a price guide for farmland in Kaimur?
We found no newspaper or official price series for Kaimur farmland, so we show none. Use the revised 2026 MVR for the mauza and land category, and recent registered deeds in the same village, as your references.
Transparency
Sources and references
Official and legal
- CGWB: Ground Water Information Booklet, Bhabua (Kaimur) district
- KVK Kaimur: District Agriculture Contingency Plan, 2018
- Kaimur district administration
- CAG, Report No. 2 of 2019, Revenue Sector, Bihar
- Bihar Bhumi, Revenue and Land Reforms Department
- Bihar Agriculture Land (Conversion for Non-Agricultural Purposes) Act, 2010
News and projects
- Prabhat Khabar, 18 Jun 2026: MVR doubled in urban areas, stamp duty to 7%
- ThePrint (PTI): Rs 7,200 crore projects including NH-319 Parariya–Mohania
- PTI via The Week, 7 Oct 2024: Kaimur tiger reserve approval
- Down To Earth, 8 Oct 2024: Bihar second tiger reserve in Kaimur
- Prabhat Khabar, 19 Jun 2026: Kishanganj registry rates (stamp duty 7% rural, 9% urban)
Data-currency note: sources were read in November 2026. Project status, the MVR and land rules change often; check the linked source and the relevant office before relying on any figure.
For developers
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