Circle Rate Delhi: Category A to H Lookup and Method (2026)

What the Delhi notification is called and who issues it

The Delhi document is a notification of the Revenue Department, Government of NCT of Delhi, issued by the Divisional Commissioner cum Inspector General of Registration. The 2011 notifications listed on the department's site carry titles such as "Minimum Rates for valuation of Lands and immovable Properties (Circle Rates)" and "Revised Circle Rate for valuation of lands and immovable properties". Later notifications we saw referenced by title on the department site include one with effect from 23 September 2014 and compilations of circle rates up to 30 June 2022, but we could not open those pages while writing.

Unlike Uttar Pradesh or Haryana, Delhi does not publish a village-by-village or colony-by-colony price list. Instead the notification does two things: it assigns every colony or locality to a category (A to H, with A the highest), and it sets, for each category, a land rate per square metre and construction cost rates per square metre for residential, commercial and industrial use. A separate part of the notification sets rates for agricultural land, historically per acre, with distinctions for villages in the Green Belt, urbanised villages and rural villages. The exact structure of the current notification should be read on the notification itself.

The rate is a floor, not a price. The sub-registrar values the land at the higher of the deed price and the circle-rate value, and stamp duty and registration fee follow the higher figure. Our guide to circle rate vs market rate covers the gap, and Section 50C and 56(2)(x) covers the income-tax side of a deed priced below the circle rate.

Delhi circle rate table (template)

The template below reproduces the structure of a Delhi circle rate notification: a category table for colonies and a separate agricultural table by district or zone. Fill it from the current notification, and write the notification number and date in the last column of each row.

Agricultural land table (fill from the current notification):

Press reports in August 2023 said the Delhi government had approved a district-wise revision of agricultural land circle rates with a ceiling of ₹5 crore per acre, replacing a flat ₹53 lakh per acre said to date from 2008, subject to the Lieutenant Governor's approval before notification. We did not read a notification giving effect to that revision, so treat those figures as press claims, not as rates.

How to look up the rate, step by step

1. Open the Revenue Department website at revenue.delhi.gov.in and go to its notifications or circle rate section. The 2011 archive page we opened lists each notification with a Download link.
2. Identify the latest circle rate notification by date. Delhi has at times issued short-term orders (for example temporary reductions) and compilations "till" a date, so read the effective period on the first page.
3. Find the colony or locality of the land in the category list and note its category letter.
4. Read the land rate per square metre for that category, and the construction rate for the use class if there is a building.
5. For agricultural land in a village, go to the agricultural part of the notification and read the per-acre rate for the district or village class.
6. Check the notes for multipliers (for example for multi-storey buildings, or for use other than residential) and for how land in a village outside any listed colony is treated.
7. Confirm the figure with the Sub-Registrar office for the district before you fix a price. Our state walkthrough is at circle rate lookup in Delhi.

How to read a category row and an agricultural row

A colony row in the Delhi scheme is short: colony name and category letter. The number then comes from the category table: a land rate per square metre and construction rates per square metre by use. The value of a plot is therefore area in square metres multiplied by the category land rate, plus covered area multiplied by the construction rate for any building, with any multiplier in the notes.

An agricultural row is different: it is set per acre for a district or a class of village. The khatauni (खतौनी) for a Delhi village may still record area in bigha and biswa, and the Delhi bigha is not the same as the UP or Rajasthan bigha, so convert carefully using the definition in the record; see gaj, square yard and square foot in Delhi NCR and what a biswa is. The fixed conversions are 1 acre = 4,840 sq yd = 43,560 sq ft = 4,046.86 sq m, and 1 gaj = 1 sq yd = 9 sq ft = 0.836127 sq m.

Two traps. First, a plot in a village abadi or an unauthorised colony may not appear in the category list; the notification's notes say how such land is valued and the Sub-Registrar office will apply them. Second, a farmhouse on agricultural land is valued as agricultural land plus construction, not as a category-A residential plot, unless the land use has been changed on record.

How agricultural rates differ from colony rates

Delhi's agricultural rate is a per-acre figure set by district or village class, while colony land is rated per square metre by category. The agricultural figure per square metre works out far lower than the lowest colony category, which is why the land class in the record is decisive:

• Land recorded as agricultural in a rural or urbanised village is valued on the agricultural table, whatever the seller calls it.
• Land in a Green Belt village stays agricultural for valuation and for use; see green belt and no-development zones.
• Land in a notified colony, DDA scheme or cooperative society is valued by category per square metre.
• Structures on agricultural land are valued separately at the construction rate for their use class and added.

Because the agricultural figure is low, the gap between deed price and circle-rate value is often wide on Delhi farmland, and the deed price becomes the duty base. Keep the deed honest: the income-tax rules in Section 50C and 56(2)(x) apply when a deed is written below the list value, and farmhouse rules decide what you can build.

The method: turning a rate into a valuation

1. Colony plot: area in sq m × category land rate, plus covered area × construction rate by use, plus any multiplier in the notes.
2. Agricultural land: area in acres × per-acre rate for the district or village class, plus any construction value. Convert bigha-biswa to acres using the definition in the record, never a generic figure.
3. Compare with the deed price. The higher figure is the base for stamp duty and registration fee.
4. Apply Delhi's stamp duty and registration fee to that base. We do not print the rates here; see our Delhi stamp duty calculator page for current figures and the concession for women buyers.

Three worked examples (illustrative rates)

The rates below are illustrative placeholders chosen to show the arithmetic. They are not Delhi's notified rates. Replace them with the figure from the current notification.

Example 1: a 300 sq m plot in a category-D colony

Illustrative category-D land rate ₹1,00,000 per sq m. Land value = 300 × 1,00,000 = ₹3,00,00,000. A 200 sq m covered residential structure at an illustrative construction rate of ₹20,000 per sq m adds ₹40,00,000: total circle-rate value ₹3,40,00,000. Duty follows the higher of this and the deed price.

Example 2: two acres of agricultural land in a rural village

Illustrative agricultural rate ₹2,00,00,000 per acre. Circle-rate value = 2 × 2,00,00,000 = ₹4,00,00,000. If the agreed price is ₹6,00,00,000, duty is charged on the price. If the agreed price is ₹3,50,00,000, duty is charged on ₹4,00,00,000 and the Section 50C and 56(2)(x) rules may be triggered.

Example 3: a farmhouse on agricultural land

One acre of agricultural land at the illustrative ₹2,00,00,000 per acre, with a 400 sq m farmhouse valued at an illustrative construction rate of ₹20,000 per sq m (₹80,00,000). Total circle-rate value = ₹2,80,00,000. The land is not re-rated as a category plot merely because a house stands on it.

Delhi compared with the NCR districts around it

Delhi's category system is unusual in the region. The neighbouring districts publish village-by-village or sector-by-sector lists instead. A buyer comparing farmland across the border should compare duty bases computed from each system, not the headline rates.

How to use this with your document

• Pull the khatauni from Bhulekh Delhi (see also khatauni in Delhi) and copy the village, khasra numbers, area and land class exactly.
• Find the current notification, note its number and date, and read either the category for the colony or the agricultural rate for the village class.
• Convert the area to square metres or acres and compute the circle-rate value with the method above.
• Write the higher of price and list value into your budget as the duty base and estimate duty and fee on our Delhi stamp duty page.
• Check the deed draft: consideration, area, unit and khasra numbers must match the record. See the land registration process and DORIS Delhi for the registration system.
• Ask the Sub-Registrar office for the applicable rate in writing before you fix a price with the seller.

What is unconfirmed

We could not open the current Delhi circle rate notification or any post-2011 notification PDF while writing; the department's pages for the 2014 revision and the compilations to 2021 and 2022 appeared in search results by title only, and the 2011 archive page shows titles without rates. We therefore print no Delhi rate for any category, no agricultural per-acre figure and no notification currently in force. The description of categories A to H, the per-square-metre and per-acre structure and the Green Belt and urbanised village classes follows the long-standing format of Delhi notifications and should be checked against the current one. The 2023 agricultural revision is reported from press only.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• Revenue Department, Government of NCT of Delhi: 2011 notifications page listing the circle rate notifications of 4 Feb 2011, 23 Feb 2011 and 15 Nov 2011
• Revenue Department, Government of NCT of Delhi: home page
• Outlook (7 Aug 2023): Delhi govt approves hike in circle rates of agricultural land (press report, not a notification)