What Is Guidance Value in Karnataka and How to Check It on Kaveri (2026 Revision)

TL;DR

• Guidance value is the Karnataka government's minimum registration value for a property — the floor below which a sale cannot legally be registered. It is not the market value and not what the seller is asking; it is the state's published baseline used to calculate stamp duty and registration fees.
• Check it free at kaveri.karnataka.gov.in using the "Guidance Value" search: pick District -> SRO/Taluk -> Hobli -> Village or Ward, plus property type. No login needed for the value lookup.
• Stamp duty and registration fees are charged on the higher of your actual sale price or the guidance value — so if guidance value exceeds what you paid, you still pay duty on the higher number.
• Values are revised periodically and Bengaluru urban guidance values were revised upward (broadly in the 6-15% range) in early 2026 — third-party "guidance value calculator" sites are frequently stale, so always confirm on Kaveri itself at the time of registration.
• Guidance value confirms a price floor, not clean title — it says nothing about ownership, encumbrances, or litigation, which is why it sits inside the Land pillar of a full title search and not on its own.

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What is guidance value in Karnataka?

Guidance value is the minimum value at which the Karnataka government permits a property to be registered. It is set by the Department of Stamps and Registration for every locality, street, village, or ward, and it functions as the legal floor for computing stamp duty and registration fees on a sale.

In other states the same concept goes by different names — "circle rate" in Delhi and much of North India, "ready reckoner rate" in Maharashtra, "market value guideline" in Tamil Nadu. The idea is identical everywhere: the government publishes a baseline value per unit area so that buyers and sellers cannot under-declare the sale price to dodge stamp duty. In Karnataka, that baseline is the guidance value, and it lives on the Kaveri portal.

Guidance value is not market value (the myth-buster)

The single most common confusion is treating guidance value as what a property is "worth." It is not. Three distinct numbers are in play in any transaction:

Guidance value usually trails the open market, especially in fast-appreciating Bengaluru corridors, which is why the government periodically revises it upward to close the gap. But in some pockets — older areas, or areas that have cooled — guidance value can briefly sit at or above recent sale prices. Either way, you cannot assume guidance value equals fair value, and you should never use it as your offer price.

How do I check guidance value on the Kaveri portal?

Open kaveri.karnataka.gov.in (Kaveri 2.0) and use the "Guidance Value" search — it is a public lookup that does not require an account. The portal returns the current per-square-foot (and per-square-metre / per-acre, depending on land type) guidance value for the location you specify.

Here is the step-by-step:

The hardest part is usually picking the correct administrative location: District -> Taluk -> Hobli -> Village mirrors the revenue hierarchy, and a property registered under the wrong hobli or village will show a different (wrong) value. For revenue land, cross-check the village and survey details against the property's Bhoomi RTC (Pahani), which is the authoritative record of where the land sits and how it is classified.

What the guidance value result looks like

A typical result shows a rate per unit area — for example rupees per square foot for a built unit or residential plot, or rupees per acre/guntha for agricultural land — tagged to the locality and property type you selected. For apartments, the portal often distinguishes by composite rate or by floor/age bands depending on the area. Multiply the applicable rate by the saleable/built area (or land extent) to estimate the minimum registration value, then compare that to your sale price; stamp duty applies to whichever is higher.

How stamp duty and registration fees use the number

Karnataka charges stamp duty on a slab basis tied to the value of the property, with registration fees and a small surcharge/cess on top. The duty base is the higher of guidance value or sale consideration. As of 2026 the broad picture is:

• Stamp duty rises in slabs with property value (lower-value properties attract a lower percentage; higher-value properties the top rate).
• The registration fee was revised upward to 2 percent of the property value (the increase took effect in 2025) — its first change in many years.
• A cess and surcharge are levied on top of the stamp duty amount (a small additional charge calculated on the duty, not a separate percentage of the property value).

Treat these figures as indicative and confirm the live slabs on the Kaveri portal or with your sub-registrar before you budget, because the exact bands and add-ons change. The principle that does not change: duty is computed on the higher of guidance value or your actual price. If you negotiate a price below guidance value, you do not save on duty — you still pay on the guidance figure.

Why does the 2026 revision matter, and why are other sites stale?

Guidance value is revised periodically by the state, and Bengaluru urban values were revised upward (broadly in the 6-15% range) in early 2026 to narrow the gap with market prices, with further increases discussed across parts of the state. A revision changes your stamp-duty bill overnight for any registration on or after the effective date.

This is exactly why third-party "guidance value calculator" and aggregator websites are risky: many of them cache an older table and do not update for months after a government revision. If you rely on a stale number to estimate costs — or worse, to set your offer — you can under-budget your duty or misread the floor entirely. The only reliable source is the Kaveri portal at the time of registration. Deedwise reads the live Kaveri guidance value as part of the Land pillar precisely so the figure in a report is current rather than copied from a stale third-party table.

What guidance value CANNOT tell you

Guidance value is a pricing floor, not a verdict on the property. It is silent on everything that actually determines whether you should buy:

• Ownership. It does not tell you who owns the land, whether the chain of title is clean, or whether a mutation / khata transfer actually reflects ownership.
• Encumbrances. It says nothing about mortgages, charges, or liens. For active loans you need the encumbrance certificate and CERSAI search — see how Kaveri Online handles ECs and deeds.
• Litigation. It does not flag pending court cases, injunctions, or attachment orders against the property or its owners.
• Land-use and conversion status. A high guidance value does not mean the land is legally buildable, converted, or free of acquisition — and a khata or guidance value is never proof of title.

In other words, guidance value tells you the minimum you must register at; it tells you nothing about whether that registration would give you good title. Those questions belong to a full diligence exercise — the kind summarised in a Title Search Report and worked through in a developer's due-diligence checklist. Treating a guidance-value lookup as "diligence" is one of the quieter ways buyers walk into a defective title.

Frequently asked questions

What is guidance value in Karnataka in simple terms?

It is the minimum value at which the government allows a property to be registered, published by the Karnataka Department of Stamps and Registration for each locality and property type. It is the floor for calculating stamp duty and registration fees, not the market price and not the seller's asking price.

How do I check guidance value for free on the Kaveri portal?

Go to kaveri.karnataka.gov.in, open the Guidance Value search (no login required for the value lookup), and select District, SRO/Taluk, Hobli, and Village or Ward, then the property type. The portal returns the current guidance value per unit area for that exact location.

Is stamp duty charged on the sale price or the guidance value?

On whichever is higher. If your agreed sale price is above the guidance value, duty is computed on the sale price; if the guidance value is higher, duty is computed on the guidance value. Negotiating below guidance value does not reduce your stamp-duty liability.

Did Karnataka guidance values change in 2026?

Yes. Bengaluru urban guidance values were revised upward in early 2026 (broadly in the 6-15% range), with further increases discussed across the state, to bring government valuations closer to market prices. Because revisions take effect on a set date, always confirm the current value on Kaveri at the time of registration rather than relying on cached third-party calculators.

What is the difference between guidance value, market value, and circle rate?

Guidance value is Karnataka's term for the government's minimum registration value; "circle rate" is the same concept in Delhi and much of North India, and "ready reckoner rate" is the Maharashtra equivalent. Market value is what the property would actually fetch on the open market, which is usually higher than the government floor in active corridors.

Does a correct guidance value mean the property has clean title?

No. Guidance value only establishes the price floor for registration. It tells you nothing about ownership, encumbrances, pending litigation, or land-use legality — those require a full title search across records like Bhoomi RTC, Kaveri encumbrance certificates, CERSAI, and the courts, reviewed and signed off by a lawyer.