The ASP scheme was first launched in 2015 to help citizens who lacked the technical knowledge to navigate the online registration process for Leave and License documents. However, over time, the department received numerous complaints about the ASPs, with some even being found to have engaged in irregularities during the document registration process.

According to a report from various regional offices, the ASP scheme is no longer necessary due to increased technical literacy among citizens and wider access to online services. The decision to cancel the ASP appointments was made with the public interest in mind.

The official announcement, made by Ravindra Binwade, I.A.S., the Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps, Maharashtra State, Pune, was issued on August 28, 2025. The circular, states that the decision is effective immediately. Following the new mandate, the department has instructed the relevant Deputy Inspector General of Registration and the Accounts Department to reconcile the security deposits submitted by the ASPs and make appropriate decisions regarding the remaining amount. The circular also directs the removal of all previous circulars and lists related to ASPs from the department’s website.

What this means for tenants?

This decision is a step towards a more transparent and direct process for property transactions, but it also shifts the responsibility of online registration to the tenants and landlords themselves.

Key Directives from the Circular

• The appointment of all Authorized Service Providers (ASPs) for the online registration of Leave and License agreements has been canceled with immediate effect.
• All circulars and lists related to the ASPs are to be removed from the department’s website.
• It is now the responsibility of the tenant and landlord to complete the online registration process for their leave and license agreement.

Also Read: Physical registration of Leave & License re-starts

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Based on the preference of over 2 crore customers on Magicbricks platform, the report further observed that rental demand has increased a significant 16% QoQ during this period, led by Chennai (24.9% QoQ), Navi Mumbai (20.1% QoQ) and Noida (19.2% QoQ). However, the supply has increased marginally by 1.8% QoQ, due to swift absorption of available rental units.

Explaining the dynamics, Abhishek Bhadra, Head of Research, Magicbricks, elaborated, “Prior to 2020, residential rental yields in India were averaging around 3 percent. However, since 2022, following the resumption of office operations, we’ve witnessed a notable surge in rental demand, consequently driving up rents and offering higher yields to landlords. We anticipate this upward trend in rents to persist over the next few months, particularly as rental activity typically peaks in the first two quarters of the fiscal year. Notably, residential and IT hubs like Bengaluru, Gurugram, Hyderabad and Noida have experienced significant increases in their rental yields, in line with our expectations.”

The report also observed that the demand for rental accommodation within the budget of Rs 10,000 to Rs 30,000 per month is the dominant segment accounting for 42% of the total demand share.

Source: Magicbricks Research

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Sudhir Pai, the CEO, Magicbricks, commented, “Over the past year, rental housing demand surged in major Indian cities, driven by returning employees and students. Return to office culture boosted the need for workplace-proximate housing while educational institutions resumed in-person activities, drawing students back to city centers. Meanwhile, as property values soared, homeowners seized opportunities for profitable property sales over rentals, reducing supply. This, coupled with high demand, notably hiked rents across prominent Indian cities..”

As per the Magicbricks Report, the popularity of 2 BHK units remains unchallenged, commanding a significant 53% share in both demand and supply, followed by 1 BHK (27%) and 3 BHK (18%). The demand for 3 BHK units declined from 36% in Q1 2023 to 18% in Q2 2023, while the demand for 1 BHK units increased from 17% in Q1 2023 to 27% in the present quarter. This shift highlights a growing inclination toward compact apartments.

The report concludes that beyond the factor of proximity to employment hubs, a significant driving force for demand this quarter is affordability. Rental accommodations with a monthly rent within INR 10,000 to 20,000 emerged as the favored choice among tenants. These preferences were predominantly observed within unit dimensions spanning from 500 to 1,000 square feet of covered area.

Also Read: Indian Real Estate Industry Soon To Become a RealTech Industry

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The poster read, “Left Kidney on Sale, need money to fund the security deposit amount landlords are asking for.”

The poster further read, “Just Kidding, need a house in Indiranagar.”

Though the person who pasted the banner across the city, claimed he was kidding, but he managed to bringforth the reality of the realty sector.

The tweet generated some funny responses, but at the same time, it also generated, responses that will make you realise how, difficult it is to rent a house in these urban cities.

In a city like Mumbai, one has to pay a security deposit equivalent to the rent of the three months.

This deposit is normally collected by landlords as a refundable security deposit, wherein they can deduct money if there’s any default from the tenant.

This secuirty deposit is refunded by the landlord once the period of agreement gets over and the tenants vacates the home. There is no interest paid by the landlord on the security deposit.

Also Read: FUND CITY by NAREDCO at Finance Conclave to Bolster Real Estate Investment

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Pidilite Industries Limited has rented a ground and nine Floors along with a terrace building in Andheri.

The building that Pidilite has rented is Opus Prime, located in Marol Industrial Area Phase 2, Central Road, Andheri.

According to documents provided by ‘CRE Matrix, a real estate data analytics firm’ the deal was signed between Pidilite and Beekalene Fabrics Private Ltd on September 2, this year.

The total lease period is 60 months of which the lock-In period is 60 Months for Licensor and 36 Months for Licensee. The rent escalation is 5% at the end of every 12 months.

The total useable area is 1.09 lakh sq ft and Pidilite will also have an access to 128 car parks in the building. The security deposit paid for the rental deal is Rs 10.8 crore.

In the last few days several big ticket rental deals were witnessed in the city of Mumbai.

A 2.39 lakh sq ft of land area was leased out for a whopping Rs 3.57 crore per month for a period of 258 months by Amazon Data Services India Pvt Ltd in Powai

In August, two separate rental deals were signed between Nykaa E-Retail Pvt Ltd and Marathon Realty Pvt Ltd. The first one is 201 & 301, 2nd & 3rd Floor, Marathon Chambers-A, IIT/ITES Park, Lower Parel, whereas the second one is 2705/2706/2707/2708, 27th Floor, A-Wing, IT/ITES Park, Marathon Futurex, Mafatlal Mill Compound, N.M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel. The total monthly rent is Rs 68.97 lakh.

Recently actor Salman Khan renewed the lease of his property that he has given on rent for another two years this time for a rent of Rs 89.60 lakh per month. The deal was signed in September first week, and the building is located on Linking Road in Santacruz.

Also Read: Delhi: Aakash Education’s Aakash Chaudhry pays ₹137 crore for a bungalow Mumbai: Citicorp pays ₹137 crore rent for 5 years for an office space

The post Pidilite Rents an office for Rs 1.8 Cr per month appeared first on Square Feat India.

Two big ticket deals in Delhi and Mumbai have created a buzz in the realty market. While one is a purchase, one is a rental deal.

In a big ticket deal that took place in Delhi on August 1. 2022, Aakash Chaudhry of Aakash Educational Services Ltd (now bought by BYJUs) has paid ₹137 crore for a bungalow.

The bungalow bought by Aakash is located in the Diplomatic Enclave of Kautilya Marg in Chanakya Puri area of the national capital.

According to Zapkey.com a data provider on realty based on publicly available documents, the bungalow that was registered in August 1, measures 1293.7 sq.mt. Stamp duty of ₹8.22 crore was paid for the registration of the deal.

According to reports, BYJUs recently acquired a majority stake in Aakash Educational Services.

While the national capital saw a big ticket deal, Mumbai witnessed a mega rental renewal.

Citicorp Services India renewed its lease of 1.6 lakh sq.ft. office space at Nirlon Knowledge Park in Goregaon.

According to CRE Matrix a real estate deal aggregator that provides data based on public documents, the office space is spread over six floors for a tenure of five years. The lock-in period is till September 2024. Citicorp Services will be paying a rental of nearly ₹137 crore across the total tenure which is of 60 months. The per month rent stands at ₹2.28 crore.

The lease tenure starts at September 15, 2022 and ends on September 14, 2027. The lock-in period is from September 15, 2022 to September 14, 2024. Whereas the notice period is of 6 months.

Citicorp Services India will be paying ₹13.87 crore as security deposit for the rental deal, showed the documents accessed through CRE Matrix. The landlord in this case is Nirlon.

As part of the rental deal, Citicorp will get access to 160 car parking slots. The lease was executed and registered on August 5.

A detailed email sent to Citicorp seeking their comment got us the following response, “Citi declines to comment.”

Abhishek Kiran Gupta, CRE Matrix, CEO, “This renewal lease by a multinational bank reaffirms the preference of Grade A quality buildings by large MNCs.
Morgan Stanley leased large space in Oberoi Commerz III
Duetsche Bank, Barclays, JP Morgan, BNP Paribas are existing tenants in Nirlon making it a financial institutions hub in Mumbai after BKC. With the completion of metro line on the western express highway, we foresee significant rise in Commerical offices development in mumbai suburbs along the express way.”

Also Read: New Housing Supply in Delhi-NCR Up 38% in Q1 2022

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Indian real estate is once again poised to grow at a rapid scale. It is holding a firm ground, marked by healthy economic sentiments and low-interest rates. Alongside end-user activities, investments are also getting a shot in the arm.

Meanwhile, the old debate to invest in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) or Residential Real Estate (RRE) is also resurfacing. Both asset class has their pros and cons. There is no standardized set of parameters to compare CRE and RRE. However, CRE outperforms its residential counterparts significantly, if we talk about rental yields. Commercial assets such as offices, retail, warehouses, etc. remain safe assets to bet on, as they can be a source of recurrent rental income.

The Rental Yields are higher in CRE in India

Globally rental from housing can be a source of smart returns. The downtown area of London can easily give a yield of around 4.5%. Likewise, Dubai and Bangkok can post returns of 5.5% and 5.3% respectively, fostering a conducive environment for better investor participation.

However, the same perspective does not hold true in the Indian market. In India, the growth in the rental rates has not been in proportion to the growth in property prices.

Housing yields are around 2-3%. , significantly lower compared to international markets. The rental yields are a little less than 3% in Delhi NCR.  In the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), it mostly ranges between 2.5-2.7%.  In the South, upcoming IT corridors in Bangalore can yield up to 3.3% (the general average is 2.4- 3 %.).

Meanwhile with the help of furnishing or other value addition, one can increase yield by 25-50 basis points. However, beyond a certain point, they can’t be increased.

In comparison, commercial properties render much higher yields. Grade-A office spaces can easily offer an average yield in the range of 6-7%.  Heightened economic activities coupled with a stable macroeconomic outlook in FY 23 are also auguring well for the commercial leasing in the country. Meanwhile, after a prolonged period of WFH, most organizations are implementing Back-to-office initiatives, fuelling demand.

Retail is also resuming after facing the whiplash of the pandemic. FY 23 is expected to be marked by a surge in transactions in the high street, hypermarket, supermarket, mall spaces, etc. Retail units can give yields to the tune of 8-9% and can be a prudent investment option.

Alternative CRE assets to invest

In the commercial segment, other subcategories are also climbing up the curve and piquing investor interest. For instance, warehousing is drawing investor interest in big volume. As per Knight and Frank’s research, in FY 21, warehousing transactions amounted to slightly less than 2.95 million sq. ft, jumping significantly from FY 20, when it totaled 1.29 million sq ft. The warehouse market in India will continue to spiral upwards, stemmed by growth in the consumer internet space, packaged food, FMCG, etc. Warehouses in India can easily give returns in the range of 5-6%, much higher than the residential market.

In a time, when there is a growing appetite for low-risk but high-return investment, commercial assets will be the preferred investment option. Despite fallouts from the rise in oil prices, the Indian economy will continue to recover in the current fiscal, thereby ensuring an enabling environment for commercial leasing. Meanwhile, the residential sector will also grow in a positive direction fuelled by an expansive middle class and growth in urbanization. However, the rental yields will continue to be in the lower range, weighing on the overall ROI.

Nakul Mathur, is MD, Avanta India, views expressed in this article solely belong to the author and do not represent those of SquareFeatIndia.

Also Read: Stamp Duty extension to boost Real Estate

The post Investment in Commercial Real Estate vs Residential Real Estate: A Comparative Analysis of Rental Yields appeared first on Square Feat India.

By Varun Singh

Mumbai on a daily basis sees, a thousand of homes going on rent, the number in most cases the monthly home sale figures are dwarfed by the rent agreements that are registered.

The year 2021 was unique in many way, the city and state saw a major dip in registration of home sales and even rent agreement.

The dip in the rent agreements was especially during the heavy impact months of the second wave of COVID.

The number of rent agreement registration was the lowest during April and May. This were the months when COVID’s second wave was at its highest.

But then overall when you see the figures it was decent, on an average most months saw more than 20,000 rent agreements getting registered.

The lowest was in the month of May when only 10,718 rent agreements were registered in Mumbai.

There are two types of leave and license agreements that are registered in the city, one if e-registration while the other is physical one.

The city of Mumbai has seen a huge rise in e-registration where one doesn’t have to step in the registration office and can do it from their confine of home.

Here is the list of the entire year.

So when one sees the figures it’s December when the maximum number of rent agreements were registered in the city.

In December 27,828 rent agreements were registered generating a revenue of ₹11.74 crore.

Also Read: e-Registration Of Rental Agreement From 12 In Feb 2014 Grows To 21.5k In Feb 2021

The post Which Month of 2021 Mumbai saw Most Rent Deals? appeared first on Square Feat India.

By Varun Singh

It is Diwali and we will also talk about positive aspects of real estate industry.

So in the month of October 2021, the sales that took place had surpassed home sales figures of October 2020.

But now as per an analysis of registration data by SquareFeatIndia it has come to the fore, that not just sales but also more rental deals took place in the month of October when compared to October 2020.

While taking about home sales, let’s discuss how many home’s were registered in October 2020, the number stood at 7928.

Whereas, in October 2021, the number of home sales registered stood at 8576.

Ok a lot has been spoken about home sales and the comparison between October 2021 and 2020.

Let’s now talk about the story that we are taking about.

There are two types of rental agreements that are registered with the state government’s Department of Registration and Stamps.

They are physical registration and e-registration

Physical Rental deals in October 2021, stood at 3087, the same in October 2020 was 2715.

Which clearly shows that even physical rental deals in October 2021 were more than that of 2020.

Not only this, e-registration of rental agreements stood in October 2021 at a total of 21158.

Whereas e-registration of rental agreement stood at a mere 19835 in October 2020.

This shows that more e-rental agreements were registered in October 2021.

More people took homes on rent in October 2021 than that of October 2020.

Leave and license agreements are registered with state department and even this generates revenue for the government.

For example via physical registration in October 2020 revenue generated was Rs 5.08 crore.

Which in October 2021 was 5.81 crore, via e-registration the revenue in this month stood at Rs 3.52 crore.

In October 2020 the revenue via e-registration of Rental agreements stood at Rs 3.11 crore.

Finally not just more agreements were registered in last month, but also more revenue was generated for the state government.

Also Read: At Rs 94 lac/month Is this North India’s Biggest Rental Deal?

The post More Rental deals took place in Oct 21 than Oct 20 appeared first on Square Feat India.

By Varun Singh

Madhuri Shankar Dixit, known for her smile and dance moves is now paying a per month rent that many in Mumbai dream to be their annual salary.

Madhuri Shankar Dixit, on October 26, rented an apartment on the 29th floor of Tower C of Indiabulls Blu.

The apartment rented by Madhuri is for a period of 36 months.

The rent is different for every 12 months.

While I come to the rent that she’s paying, let’s talk about in details of the flats.

The flat as already informed is on the 29th floor of the building Indiabulls located in Lower Parel/Upper Worli area.

Along with the apartment, Madhuri will also have access to 5 covered car parking in the building.

According to the documents provided by Zapkey, the deposit for the apartment that she has rented is Rs 3 crore.

Now coming to the rent she’s paying per month.

So for the first 12 months the per month rent is Rs 12.5 lakh, for the next 12 months it is Rs 13.12 lakh and for the final 12 months it is Rs 13.78 lakh.

Now you must have understood why I said the per month rent is what many in Mumbai or India aspire that it would be their yearly salary.

The rent will escalate 5% every year and then landlord is Kajal Fabiani.

A detailed message sent to Madhuri Dixit seeking her response got us no response.

Before this in Worli in 2018, Virat Kohli had rented an apartment in Raheja Legend for a monthly rent of Rs 15 lakh per month.

In 2020 Hrithik Roshan rented an apartment in Juhu for Rs 8.25 lakh per month.

Also Read: Hrithik Roshan’s rent for this Juhu flat will shock you

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