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District guide
Buying Land in Siwan
A Ghaghra-edge district on the Uttar Pradesh border: potato, mango and vegetable land on sandy loam, drought more common than floods, and few big projects.
2,219 sq km
Area (district portal)
33.3 lakh
Population (Census 2011)
1,087 mm
Normal annual rainfall
About 138%
Cropping intensity
*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 — Siwan
Rev. 2026 · Farmland India desk
State
Bihar
Sub-divisions
Two sub-divisions (Siwan and Maharajganj) and 19 blocks, as listed on the district portal
Key markets
Siwan town · Maharajganj · Mairwa · Darauli · Guthani · Hussainganj · Goreakothi · Barharia
Demand anchors
Potato, mango and vegetable farming (RPCAU contingency plan) · Ghaghra border with Uttar Pradesh (district portal) · Siwan bypass reported (Prabhat Khabar) · Zeradei and Darauli heritage sites
Rail
Siwan Junction is the main station; Maharajganj and other towns sit on the district’s lines.
Size and population
2,219 sq km and 33,30,464 people at the 2011 Census (district portal)
Pricing unit
Asking prices are usually quoted in kattha or decimal; no sourced price series is shown
Local units
Kattha and bigha vary in size across Bihar and are not fixed by a single official conversion; 1 decimal is one-hundredth of an acre (435.6 sq ft). Always convert to acres or sq ft on the deed.
Land records portal
biharbhumi.bihar.gov.in for Jamabandi, mutation and maps
Land law is state law. These rules are maintained on the Bihar page and apply to every district within it.
Siwan — 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
Siwan — district-specific notes
The Bihar state page applies to Siwan 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.
⚠ The Ghaghra forms the district’s boundary with Uttar Pradesh (district portal). River-edge land can be diara (newly formed or shifting riverbed land), and the contingency plan lists about 13% of the area as diara soil (RPCAU contingency plan). Check whether the plot is recorded as diara and whether its boundaries have been surveyed since the last flood.
⚠ Two sub-divisions and 19 blocks, including four blocks created recently, mean some villages have moved circle offices (district portal). Check the circle and block name on the Jamabandi and the deed before paying.
⚠ The June 2026 MVR revision doubled government rates in urban and peripheral areas and raised rural rates 1.6 times (Prabhat Khabar, 18 Jun 2026). Check whether the mouza is classed urban or rural; the class decides the stamp duty rate, 9% urban or 7% rural.
⚠ Drought, heat waves and cold waves are listed as regular hazards in Siwan and flood as occasional (RPCAU contingency plan). Check the plot’s irrigation source rather than assuming rain will cover a crop.
⚠ About 5% of the area is alkali soil and a further 13% is diara (RPCAU contingency plan). Ask for a soil test, and avoid paying a farm-land price for land that cannot grow a normal rice–wheat sequence.
Read the full Bihar land buying guide for the ceiling, conversion, survey and NRI rules.
- Ghaghra boundary
- Diara land
- MVR revised 2026
- Drought and heat hazard
- Alkali soil patches
District overview
Siwan — a western border district of sandy loam, potato and mango
Siwan district covers about 2,219 sq km in the north-west of Bihar, with two sub-divisions, Siwan and Maharajganj, 19 blocks and 33,30,464 people at the 2011 Census (district portal). The Ghaghra forms its boundary with Uttar Pradesh. Zeradei (Ziradei), the village linked with Dr Rajendra Prasad, and Darauli are the portal’s notable places. Gopalganj lies to the north and east and Saran to the south-east.
This is a farm-first district without a headline project. Prabhat Khabar reported a plan for a Siwan bypass during the chief minister’s Pragati Yatra (Prabhat Khabar), but we found no confirmed cost or date. The agricultural contingency plan prepared by KVK Bhagwanpur Hat under Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University gives the better picture: normal rainfall of 1,087 mm, a net sown area of 164.4 thousand ha and cropping intensity near 138% (RPCAU contingency plan).
For farmland buyers, Siwan splits into three markets. The Siwan–Maharajganj town belt is the commercial edge, where urban MVR classes can apply. The central farm blocks of Mairwa, Guthani, Darauli and Hussainganj run on sandy loam with potato, vegetables and mango. The Ghaghra edge carries diara and drought exposure and needs the closest title and survey check. No newspaper or official source gives a price band, so confirm the MVR and recent deeds village by village.
- Siwan
- Maharajganj
- Ghaghra border
- Potato and mango
- Diara land
- Drought-prone
Transaction costs
Stamp duty & registration in Siwan
7% / 9%
Stamp duty, rural / urban, from 19 June 2026
up from 6% and 8%, as reported by Prabhat Khabar
2.0x / 1.6x
MVR multiplier from 19 June 2026
2.0x urban and peripheral land, 1.6x rural land
5% a year
Annual MVR increase
with a full MVR review every three years
Siwan follows the state rates. Prabhat Khabar reported on 18 June 2026 that from 19 June the Minimum Value Register (MVR, the government’s floor value for registration) was doubled for urban and peripheral land and raised 1.6 times for rural land, that stamp duty went from 6% to 7% in rural areas and from 8% to 9% in urban areas, and that the MVR will rise 5% each year with a full revision every three years (Prabhat Khabar, 18 Jun 2026). That report did not restate the registration fee, so confirm it at the Siwan sub-registrar office, and check whether the mouza (revenue village) is classed urban or rural, because that decides which duty rate applies. The 2017-18 audit of Bihar’s revenue explains how district valuation committees fix the MVR and the rule that it should not fall below the average of the five highest sale deeds in the area (CAG report No. 2 of 2019). Converting farmland to non-farm use outside the urban area adds a fee of 10% of market value (Conversion Act 2010). Our stamp duty guide and MVR guide explain how to look up the rate on Nibandhan.
Know the belt
What is moving prices in Siwan
Reported bypass and farm-belt items, with what to check on the ground.
Siwan and Maharajganj town belts
Bypass reported; no confirmed date
Siwan town and Maharajganj are the district’s two sub-division headquarters (district portal). Prabhat Khabar reported a plan for a Siwan bypass (Prabhat Khabar); without a cost or date, treat the alignment as unconfirmed.
Check: the municipal limit, the MVR class of the mouza and any road-widening entry in the record.
Mairwa, Guthani, Darauli and Hussainganj
Central farm blocks
These blocks sit in the interior of the Siwan sub-division (district portal). Sandy loam covers about 26% of the district and the plan lists potato (9.86 thousand ha), brinjal, cauliflower and onion among major vegetables (RPCAU contingency plan).
Check: soil type, tubewell depth and cold-store or market access for potato and vegetables.
Barharia, Raghunathpur and the Ghaghra edge
Diara and river-edge land
Land near the Ghaghra and the Uttar Pradesh border can be diara, which the plan puts at about 13% of the district (RPCAU contingency plan). Records here need the closest check because boundaries shift.
Check: whether the plot is recorded as diara, the last survey date and the flood level in the last bad year.
Mango and litchi pockets
Orchard land
Mango covers about 2.57 thousand ha, litchi 1.21 thousand ha, banana 0.82 thousand ha and guava 0.70 thousand ha (RPCAU contingency plan). Orchards sit on the lighter soils and are a smaller but stable market.
Check: tree age and density if buying an orchard, and the right of way to the plot.
Asking prices
No newspaper or official source gives a farmland price band for Siwan, so none is shown. Use the revised June 2026 MVR for your mauza and land category, and recent registered deeds in the same village, as your references. Ask the sub-registrar for the MVR class before you agree a price.
Connectivity
How Siwan connects — road, rail and air
Expressway-grade roads, two airports and a metro. Drive times to villages are not given because no source was found.
🚗 By road
✈️ By air
🚆 By rail
No drive times are given because we found no official figure. Distances depend on the road and any bypass that is built, so confirm current routes before relying on any travel time (district portal).
Growth catalysts
Upcoming infrastructure & developments
Status labels reflect sources read in November 2026. Government-announced timelines are not guaranteed; items with a single or older source say so.
00Open
01Catalysts
Agriculture & terrain
Soil, crops & water in Siwan
A potato, mango and vegetable district on sandy loam with diara and alkali patches, where drought and heat waves are regular hazards.
Crops
The contingency plan lists a net sown area of 164.4 thousand ha and a gross cropped area of 226.1 thousand ha, so cropping intensity is about 138% (RPCAU contingency plan). Potato is the largest horticulture crop by area and the plan’s main crop table is built around vegetables and fruit.
- Potato
- Rice in kharif
- Wheat in rabi
- Brinjal and cauliflower
- Onion
Soils
Sandy loam covers about 26% of the area, sandy soil 12.6%, diara 13.0% and alkali soil 4.8%, with 43.5% classed as other soils (RPCAU contingency plan). Sandy loam drains well and suits vegetables; diara and alkali land need care.
- Sandy loam
- Sandy soil
- Diara land
- Alkali patches
Horticulture
Mango covers about 2.57 thousand ha, litchi 1.21 thousand ha, banana 0.82 thousand ha and guava 0.70 thousand ha, with brinjal at 1.69 thousand ha and cauliflower at 1.59 thousand ha (RPCAU contingency plan).
- Mango and litchi
- Banana and guava
- Brinjal and cauliflower
Water and irrigation
The contingency plan we read does not give irrigation shares, so we do not quote them. Ask for the pump set, bore depth and canal access of each plot, because drought and heat waves are regular hazards in the district (RPCAU contingency plan).
Rainfall and flooding
Normal annual rainfall is 1,087 mm, of which 988 mm falls in the south-west monsoon (RPCAU contingency plan). Drought, heat and cold waves and pest outbreaks are regular, flood and frost occasional, and the district is not prone to cyclone or hailstorm.
At a glance
Siwan vs. nearby districts
| District | Land and water | What links it to Siwan |
|---|---|---|
| Gopalganj (north and east) | Gandak and Ghaghra plain | Land border; shared Uttar Pradesh boundary on the Ghaghra side |
| Saran (south-east) | Ganga–Gandak–Ghaghra floodplain | Land border; Sonepur airport and township plans lie across the district line |
| Uttar Pradesh (west) | Ghaghra floodplain | The Ghaghra forms the state boundary |
No price series is shown for any district in this table because no newspaper or official source gives one.
Farmland India view
Why investors look at Siwan
Five reasoned points for Siwan, each tied to a source on this page.
Farmland without a speculative premium
We found no sanctioned expressway, airport or township in the district, so land is priced mostly on farm use. That reduces both upside and the risk of buying into a project that slips.
Sandy loam and vegetables
Sandy loam on a quarter of the area supports potato, brinjal, cauliflower and onion (RPCAU contingency plan). Vegetable growers are the realistic buyers and tenants.
A border district with a moving river edge
The Ghaghra forms the Uttar Pradesh boundary and about 13% of the area is diara (district portal; RPCAU contingency plan). Title clarity at the river edge is the main due-diligence task.
A higher government floor
The 2026 MVR revision lifted the value on which stamp duty is charged, doubling urban and peripheral rates and raising rural rates 1.6 times (Prabhat Khabar, 18 Jun 2026). Budget for the duty on the revised floor.
Drought is the regular hazard
Drought and heat waves are regular, flood occasional (RPCAU contingency plan). Land with a reliable irrigation source holds value better than rain-fed land.
Confirm Jamabandi, mutation, zoning and acquisition status directly — these are not certified by Farmland India’s review.
STRAIGHT TALK
Risks & challenges in Siwan
District-specific risks. Read the state page for the general Bihar risks on ceiling, conversion and records.
Diara and river-edge land
About 13% of the area is diara (RPCAU contingency plan). Check whether the plot is recorded as diara and when it was last surveyed.
Drought and heat
Drought and heat waves are regular hazards (RPCAU contingency plan). Check the irrigation source before paying a farm-land price.
Alkali and sandy soils
About 5% of the area is alkali soil and 12.6% sandy (RPCAU contingency plan). Test the soil on the plot.
New blocks and circle changes
Four new blocks were created in the district (district portal), so older records may show a village under a former block. Confirm the block and circle in the Jamabandi and the deed.
Mismatched records
Old Khatiyan, digitised Jamabandi and new survey maps can disagree on area and plot numbers. Reconcile them and finish mutation (Dakhil Kharij) before the sale.
Joint family land
Unpartitioned land sold by one branch of a family can be challenged later. Ask for a partition deed or the written consent of every co-owner.
Colonies on farmland
Plotted colonies on agricultural land outside urban limits may lack conversion. Ask for the SDO order, not a broker’s assurance.
Under-valued deeds
Registering below the revised MVR invites a valuation reference and a demand for the shortfall. Declare the real price and pay the duty on the higher of the two.
Who to contact
Local revenue & planning offices
The Collectorate at Siwan, under the District Magistrate, runs revenue administration for the district, with details on the Siwan district website. Mutation, land possession certificates and rent receipts are handled by the circle offices (anchal) in each of the 19 blocks, and applications are made online through Bihar Bhumi; record corrections go through Parimarjan. Conversion applications go to the Sub-Divisional Officer of the relevant sub-division: Siwan or Maharajganj, and sale deeds are registered at the sub-registrar offices, with rates and e-services on Nibandhan.
KEEP EXPLORING
Explore more areas
Other districts in Bihar
- Araria
- Arwal
- Aurangabad
- Banka
- Begusarai
- Bhagalpur
- Bhojpur
- Buxar
- Darbhanga
- East Champaran
- Gaya Ji (gaya)
- Gopalganj
- Jamui
- Jehanabad
- Kaimur (bhabua)
- Katihar
- Khagaria
- Kishanganj
- Lakhisarai
- Madhepura
- Madhubani
- Munger
- Muzaffarpur
- Nalanda
- Nawada
- Patna
- Purnia
- Rohtas
- Saharsa
- Samastipur
- Saran
- Sheikhpura
- Sheohar
- Sitamarhi
- Supaul
- Vaishali
- West Champaran
COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
Everything buyers, NRIs and investors ask before their first reviewed farmland purchase in Siwan.
Visit full wiki01 of 04
Is there a price guide for farmland in Siwan?
We found no newspaper or official price series for Siwan 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.
02 of 04
Is there a big infrastructure project in Siwan?
We found no sanctioned expressway, airport or township in Siwan. Prabhat Khabar reported a plan for a Siwan bypass, but without a confirmed cost or date, and the Gorakhpur–Siliguri Expressway does not pass through the district. Treat the market as an agricultural one.
03 of 04
Which soils and hazards matter in Siwan?
A Dr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University contingency plan lists sandy loam on about a quarter of the area, diara land on 13%, sandy soil on 12.6% and alkali soil on 4.8%. Drought and heat waves are regular hazards and floods are occasional, so check the soil and the irrigation source.
04 of 04
Where do I apply for mutation and conversion in Siwan?
Mutation (Dakhil Kharij) is applied for online through Bihar Bhumi and processed by the circle office of the block. Conversion to non-farm use outside urban and master-plan areas needs an application to the Sub-Divisional Officer under the 2010 Act, and registration is at the sub-registrar office.
Transparency
Sources and references
Law and courts
- Bihar Agriculture Land (Conversion for Non-Agriculture Purposes) Act, 2010
- CAG, Report No. 2 of 2019, Revenue Sector, Bihar: Stamps and Registration Fees
Government
- Siwan district administration: about the district
- KVK Bhagwanpur Hat (RPCAU): Agriculture contingency plan for Siwan district
- Bihar Bhumi, Revenue and Land Reforms Department
- Parimarjan, Jamabandi correction portal
- Nibandhan e-services, Registration Department
News
- Prabhat Khabar: Siwan bypass during Pragati Yatra
- Prabhat Khabar: MVR doubled in urban and peripheral areas, 1.6 times in rural areas; stamp duty 7% rural, 9% urban, 18 June 2026
Further reading
- Buying land in Bihar (Farmland India)
- Bihar Bhumi Jamabandi online (Farmland India wiki)
- Dakhil Kharij mutation status (Farmland India wiki)
- MVR rate in Bihar (Farmland India wiki)
Data-currency note: sources were read in November 2026. Project status, the MVR and township rules change often; check the linked source and the relevant office before relying on any figure.
For developers
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