Homebuyers prefer the affordable and convenient option of buying ownership in co-operative housing societies, yet they have to consider the expense of stamp duty which is a prominent feature of real estate transactions. In this article, we will give you a general overview of what is meant by stamp duty and what factors to consider when determining the actual payment.

What is stamp duty?

Stamp duty is a form of tax that is levied by the government on the transfer of property which is legally documented. The stamp duty is to be paid by the homebuyer. According to Wikipedia, “Indian laws require stamp duty payments on…documents affecting rights and title to property…. For example, Maharashtra state’s stamp duty law is governed by The Maharashtra Stamp Act, 1958 (Bombay Act LX of 1958).” Your document of ownership ultimately validates your real estate transaction. As a homebuyer, you have to pay ‘one-time stamp duty’ to seal the deal. Stamp duty varies from state to state but each state has stamp duty acts that homebuyers are required to abide by. For example, Indian Stamp Duty Act, 1899 applies in Delhi after the sale is complete. Stamp duty applies on residential and commercial properties.

How much stamp duty is charged to homebuyers?

Presently, stamp duty is charged from 3% to 10% in different regions of the country. In Maharashtra, up until 2014, the Registration fee was Rs 25000 but after 2015, it has increased to Rs 30,000. Stamp duty is 5% in the state along with a surcharge of 1% for homebuyers in Mumbai. However, in the case of co-operative housing societies, the share transfer premium is decided by the managing committee of the society and does not exceed Rs 25,000 in most cases.

In Delhi, 4% stamp duty is charged for a woman homebuyer and 6% if the buyer is a male.

In urban areas in Karnataka, the stamp duty is 5.6% of the value of the apartment.

In Ahmedabad, the stamp duty is at 4.6%.

In Pune, it ranges from 3% to 5%, while in Kolkata, it is between 5% to 7%.

If you fail to pay the stamp duty, you are penalised from 8% to 20% of the actual stamp duty and may have to face imprisonment in certain cases. However, the penalty cannot exceed 200% of the actual stamp duty due amount.

How is the stamp duty calculated?

To understand how stamp duty is calculated, we’d have to be aware of the several factors associated with the calculation into account. These include the ready reckoner rate which is the standard value of your property assessed by the state government in which the property is built, or the circle rate which is the minimum value at which the transfer or exchange can occur. If the ready reckoner rate is lower and the agreement rate between buyer and seller is higher, the higher value is considered for charging the stamp duty intended use of the property (i.e residential, commercial, storage, manufacturing, etc.) Other factors taken into account are the area/locality in which the property is located, the age and gender of the owner and the type of property, e.g. flat, bungalow, estate, etc. The good news is that many online stamp duty calculators are easily available that give you a good estimate of how much stamp duty, you are to pay for the value of the property. For example, if you were to buy a property estimated at Rs 40,00,000 in Maharashtra, you will be charged Rs 1,55,200 as stamp duty in general. Of course, the rate may vary if the property was in Mumbai. These are estimates and the actual stamp duty may vary depending on the factors mentioned above. Savvy homebuyers shortlist several properties and compare overall rates keeping in mind the variations in stamp duties. Stamp duty can be paid through physical stamp paper, via a franking method in which an agent is required, or by the way of e-stamping.

In case of cooperative housing societies where transfer of shares is involved, the stamp duty is paid after determining the actual market value of the property (usually charged between the range of 3 to 5% depending on the location of the immovable property whether within the municipal corporation, cantonment, Nagar panchayat, Gram panchayat, etc). It is not decided upon the rates in the ready reckoner or the demand of the seller who is transferring the shares. So if the homebuyer is not willing to pay extra stamp duty, the sub-registrar gets involved and sends forward the request to the collector to determine the actual market value of the property.

If the property is inherited, the stamp duty is only Rs 200.

Exemption on stamp duty

According to co-operative societies act 2008, a society is exempt from stamp duty, taxes and fees on instruments executed by or on behalf of the society and relating to the business of the society.

Recently, the Bombay High Court has ruled that stamp duty cannot be charged for past transactions, which means that only up to 10% of penalty will be payable on deficient stamp duty (instead of the usual amount which went up to 400%) on transactions of sale/tenancy made on or before December 2018.

Stamp duty can be claimed as a tax deduction up to a limit of Rs 1,50,000. Home loans do not include stamp duty and registration charges and have to be paid out of pocket by the homebuyer.

Most of the people prefer living in gated communities because of the security features offered by these communities. One most common security aspect available is the authentication of visitors via intercom before letting them inside the community. If you have ever lived in a gated community, the chance that you have allowed people through the gates of your society, by validating their identity through an intercom would be high.

The intercom system also referred to as PBX (Private branch exchange) is typically installed by the builder and / or later fixed or installed by the community. There are certain aspects of the system that a community should be aware of before installing. However, before we dive into the details, let’s talk about the different intercom systems a gated community or builder typically considers. In most cases a PBX, IP PBX or a Centrex system is deployed for intercom.

What is PBX and IP PBX?

Private Branch Exchange (PBX) is an internal telephone network that is generally used within a private community, like within a business organisation or within a gated community. In the context of a gated community, residents use the facility to interact with fellow residents, facility offices, security guards etc and they can make calls within the community.

IP PBX is an advanced version of PBX. The most significant feature added to this version is the addition of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). With this, in addition to free internal calls, the community can also route external calls over the internet, which is cheaper than a regular call. The pictorial example of the working of a PBX system is given in the last section.

Centrex is also a type of a PBX. However the switching equipment will be installed at the central office and not at the residents/ customers location. Generally, the telephone agency manages all the equipment and software that is required to implement a Centrex service.

Things to consider before deploying a PBX system

  • The cost of a installing a regular PBX system would be around:
    • Hardware (e.g. exchange system): Rs 50,000/ per piece for about 500 users.
    • Installation ( wiring and other components): Approx. 1 lakh.Maintenance: Approx. 100 INR per flat per month.
  • The total cost for an apartment of about 500 flats would be approx. 3 to 3.5 lakhs
  • If a problem that occurs with the PBX system, the community will be left mediating between the phone service company and the PBX vendor. The community will be left trying to meet ends in order to get the system working again.
  • Any given PBX can support only a set number of phones. Hence removing or adding phones from the existing system will be a huge problem. Also, if the community is expanding by a large number, they might have to add another PBX system, which again is a substantial additional cost.
  • Requires one time Fixed Cost and AMC ( Annual maintenance cost). As time goes by, the AMC cost would keep increasing and after a certain period, would require complete replacement.
  • There would be no particular way to figure out if the line connected to the resident’s phone line is dead or is not responding.
  • ‘Moral Hazard Issue’, a situation where the resident may not take care of the device since it is not his/hers, might be a point of concern. This would increase the AMC cost to management committee. 

How are intercoms/ PBX systems used in gated communities?

Every house in the community has an intercom device at their home and one at the entry and exit gates of the society. There is a specific code allotted to every intercom, which would be used to call the specific device. The call is routed through an internal exchange. All these intercoms are interconnected to increase the connectivity, communication and security in the apartment. Whenever a visitor enters the gate of the community, he/she tells the guard the house number they want to visit and the guard dials the code of the intercom in that specific house. The guard then validates the visitor’s identity by asking the resident if he/she is expecting the visitor and based on the resident’s response the visitor is either let into the community or told to leave.

Drawbacks with this method of validation

  • In case the resident is not at home or is unable to take the intercom call due to some situation, the visitor’s entry or exit into the community is left for the guard to decide.
  • There is no equipment portability with wired intercoms, since the device needs to be plugged in. Hence the resident would need to leave whatever they would be doing at that moment and got to the intercom to attend the call.
  • In case the wire is disrupted, due to stormy weather, electrical problems or utility power-cut, the device becomes invalid and the sole reason of installing an intercom fails.
  • Being an electronic device, the lifetime of the intercom device would be around 3–4 years. Hence replacing the device is a recurring cost that has to be borne by the community apart from the initial hardware and the installation costs.
  • The resident does not have the option of choosing the calls they want to take or avoid.

Additional technical information about PBX

As per a technological website, “The users of the PBX phone system can communicate within their company or organization and the outside world, using different communication channels like Voice over IP, ISDN or analog. A PBX also allows you to have more phones than physical phone lines (PTSN) and allows free calls between users.”

Hardware components of a PBX system

  • CPU: Like computers, a PBX device too has a CPU ( Central Processing unit). It controls all switching activities, call logging, connect, routing of calls, disconnect etc.
  • Power Supply: A power supply of-48V/-24DC DC is required for the telephone instrument to supply a dial tone, ring tone etc. The capacity of the unit depends on number of extension lines of the PBX. It is generally designed with a plugin card built into the PBX cabinet.
  • Line Cards: These are used in order to increase the number of extension lines. This hardware equipment provides connects the telephone instrument at the user end.
  • Operator console: Is used to control incoming calls and routing incoming calls to extensions with the help of human intervention.
  • Trunk Lines: They are Analog or digital connections to the outside world of the PBX.
  • Handsets: This is the device that will be placed in every house of the gated community and at every important check post of the community.
  • Exchange: A large switching station that connects and routes calls. It could be internally or externally.

For a growing start-up, the greatest motivation comes from seeing customers happy and engaged. With Mygate, the story is no different. From introducing innovations like e-Intercom, real-time staff management, and digital validation of residents and visitors, to enabling smooth accounting, billing, and community management, Mygate is steadily establishing itself as the all-in-one ERP for gated communities.

With a rapidly growing number of societies adopting Mygate in recent months, we are moving closer to our vision of making community living smarter, more transparent, and digitally empowered.

While our biggest critics are our customers, they are also our strongest supporters and here is what some of them had to say about us after using Mygate.

Vidhya from Rohan Jharoka II

She said, “I am able to track my maids and that is a superb blessing. I know when she is in and out of the apartment now.” Click here to hear the entire testimonial.

Camaron Vallepalli from Adarsh Vista

She said, “We are thrilled with having information about who is coming in out of the community at our fingertips”. Click here to hear the entire testimonial.

Richa from Prestige Ozone

She said, “Mygate app is very simple and easy to use, we don’t use the intercom at all. We now get all our notification on the mobile”. Click here to hear the entire testimonial.

Suresh from Mantri Espana

He said that “The ability to add and remove the daily help that are coming into the community is one thing really got us”. Click here to hear the entire testimonial.

Sarvesh from Rohan Jharoka II

He said, “ Mygate provided a very optimal solution for the vendor attendance. Mygate has also disrupted the traditional way of visitors logging in and out”. Click here to hear the entire testimonial.

We are already deployed at hundreds of communities across India, and the number continues to grow. With leading developers such as Adarsh, Sobha, Mantri, and Salarpuria among our customers, Mygate is rapidly strengthening its position as the preferred all-in-one community management platform streamlining accounting, billing, security, and resident services for gated communities nationwide.

The core of Mygate lies in innovation and thought leadership in community living. Our team is continuously enhancing the platform to set new benchmarks in society management. A prime example is our e-Intercom solution, which has transformed the way visitor authentication is handled in gated communities. Today, Mygate extends far beyond security, offering a comprehensive ERP platform that streamlines accounting, billing, community management, and resident engagement ensuring societies operate smarter and more efficiently.

We started of the process building our e-Intercom by first understanding the way gated communities communicate/ authenticate visitor entries within the apartments. Wired intercom also known as PBX (Private branch exchange) is most commonly used. We understood the working of this system, the effort required to install and the associated challenges.

Keeping in mind the various aspects of a wired intercom, we introduced e-Intercom to overcome and improve this outdated system of authentication. This feature of Mygate is breaking the general norm of how visitor authentications are done in a gated society. With e-Intercom, the resident can approve/reject the entry of a visitor from wherever he/she is.

How does e-Intercom work?

The moment a visitor enters the society, the guards takes their essential details like mobile number, name and the flat/villa details they want to visit. For delivery boys, details about the company they are from and their photo is also taken by the guards.

Once all this information is entered into the guard app and submitted, an in-app notification about the visitor’s arrival is sent to all the residents on their mobile. The app notification on the mobile gives the resident an option to either allow or deny the visitor’s entry into the society.

In case the residents do not respond to the message, or if the resident has poor or no internet connectivity or has not downloaded Mygate app, Mygate servers will generate an automated IVR ( Interactive voice response) call to designated number ( a primary and a secondary landline or mobile number) which is provided by the residents, in order to seek their approval. If the resident does not respond to any of the above steps, as the last resort the guard tries to reach out to the resident via the wired intercom.

How much does e-Intercom cost?

We believe that living in a secure environment is an ever growing need and hence Mygate’s e-Intercom feature is available at zero hardware/ infrastructure cost. We also undertake the complete training of the security guards and the facility managers of a society . In addition, there are regular refreshments/up-gradation training sessions held for all the guards and facility managers.

With a vision to digitally transform gated communities, Mygate offers a comprehensive ERP platform that integrates security, billing, accounting, and community management into a single solution. Today, we are trusted by hundreds of communities across India, including marquee names like Adarsh, Shobha, Mantri, and Salarpuria. Our platform has become a cornerstone for societies aiming to build safer, smarter, and more efficient communities. Discover how Mygate can add value to your society’s operations and resident experience.

Bengaluru, 15 October 2018 – Mygate, India’s leading community management and ERP platform for gated societies, has been adopted by more than 2,50,000 homes across 1,000+ communities in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune. Achieving this milestone within just 18 months of its commercial launch, Mygate is now expanding rapidly into ten cities, including Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi NCR, with a target of 10x growth in 2019.

To accelerate this expansion, Mygate has raised INR 65 crore in Series A funding, led by Prime Venture Partners. The investment will be utilized to further enhance the platform’s ERP capabilities, covering security, billing, accounting, and community engagement, while deepening its presence across India’s major metros.

Gated communities with essential amenities have become the preferred choice for urban residents. While security and safety are key reasons why families choose gated living, most societies still rely on outdated methods such as manned guarding, paper registers, and landline-based intercom systems to manage access. Hardware-heavy solutions like access cards, biometrics, and car stickers also dominate, but they are capital intensive, work in silos, and their effectiveness diminishes over time.

At the same time, modern residential premises are experiencing an ever-rising footfall of staff, service providers, cabs, and delivery executives making conventional processes increasingly inadequate.

This is where smart, integrated platforms like Mygate ERP transform community living. By digitizing gate management, streamlining visitor and staff entry, and combining these with features for billing, payments, accounts, amenities, and communication, Mygate ensures that societies not only remain secure but also function seamlessly. It replaces isolated, hardware-heavy systems with a unified, intelligent, and scalable solution tailored for the needs of today’s gated communities.

Mygate is a comprehensive ERP platform for gated communities that digitises core operations such as security, accounting, billing, and community management. It eliminates the need for multiple isolated systems like RFID cards, biometrics, or vehicle stickers, giving Management Committees a single, integrated solution to streamline processes, reduce costs, and ensure complete transparency. With real-time data and automated workflows, MCs can manage residents, staff, and finances more efficiently, while maintaining a secure and well-organised community.

With Mygate ERP, gated communities can streamline security operations while optimising guard deployment, resulting in both cost efficiency and higher accountability. By digitising manual gate processes, guards become more effective and less prone to errors, while the MC gains real-time visibility of all visitor and staff movements. The platform is intuitive, requiring only basic training, and with over 25,000 guards already proficient on Mygate, the learning curve is minimal. Crucially, Mygate takes end-to-end responsibility for continuous guard training and retraining, ensuring smooth operations throughout the contract period. For Management Committees, this translates into reduced overheads, transparent security workflows, and a reliable system that seamlessly integrates with accounting, billing, and overall community management.

Mygate comes with zero hardware or infrastructure cost, making it a highly scalable and affordable solution for gated communities. The platform goes far beyond traditional security, offering features such as child safety alerts, e-intercom for visitor authentication, parcel and delivery management, real-time domestic help tracking, complete staff attendance monitoring, multi-home management, digital validation of staff and residents, and a multi-tiered access system. For Management Committees, this means reduced operational overhead, greater transparency, and an all-in-one ERP that integrates accounting, billing, and community management into a seamless digital experience.

Commenting on the milestone, Vijay Arisetty, Co-founder & CEO of Mygate, said:
“We are humbled by the rapid adoption of Mygate across India’s top metros. The response from customers has been phenomenal, reaffirming the need for smarter, technology-driven solutions in gated communities. Security and community management were long overdue for a digital transformation, and Mygate is proud to be at the forefront of this change. With this funding, we will continue to invest in technology, strengthen our ERP and security platform, and expand our team across cities to ensure the highest level of service for our customers. Our focus remains on innovation, trust, and delivering cost-effective, future-ready solutions for every community we serve.”

Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners, said:
“From our very first interaction with the product to our conversations with the team, we have been consistently impressed with Mygate’s vision and execution. Customers deeply value the platform, and the team is passionate and focused on addressing the challenges of community living through smart, technology-led solutions. What began with reimagining gated community security has now evolved into a comprehensive ERP platform that makes community management seamless, transparent, and future-ready. We are delighted to lead this investment and support Mygate in its journey to scale nationwide.”

Funding Led by Prime Venture Partners

for gated premises, today announced that it has raised INR 16 crore (approx $2.5 million) in its first round of funding, led by Prime Venture Partners. Since its launch in Bengaluru in 2016,

MyGate has validated 24 million visits through their mobile app across 100,000 homes. The company will use the funds to invest in technology and scale to 2 million homes across the top 7 cities within the next two years. As a testament to its popularity amongst gated communities, 5000 guards are already using MyGate in Bengaluru.

The security services market in India is a $6 billion industry according to Grant Thornton report, of which the gated-premise security market, comprising of manual guards and security equipments, is estimated at $2 billion. In the top 7 cities in India, MyGate estimates show that there are more than 100,000 gated communities with 35 million residents. The company is focussed on tapping into this unaddressed market and redefining security at the gates.

Security at gated communities has long followed conventional “man-guarding”, paper and pen system. The process is inefficient and error prone, making the life of security guards difficult. In addition, authentication of residents, visitors, and support staff is a huge challenge. Despite significant investments in physical infrastructure like access cards, boom barriers, biometrics, landline intercom, and others, residential premises are unable to keep track of domestic helps, visitors, delivery trucks, taxicabs & other vehicle movements. In addition, authentication of residents, visitors, and support staff is a huge challenge.

MyGate is a mobile-app-based system and offers a simple yet comprehensive solution by digitizing and often automating manual tasks. The solution comprises of an Android app for security guards and an Android or iOS app for residents, with a fallback to a regular voice call for non-smartphone users. With this system all visitor entries and exits are logged digitally, with complete visibility and control of the resident. MyGate also offers several advanced capabilities such as e-intercom (automatic visitor authentication), kids safety alerts, staff attendance, infrastructure-free vehicle management, touchless resident identification, clubhouse access management, management reporting, and visitor overstay alerts.

MyGate’s two-day onboarding process combined with a pay-as-you-go (SaaS) commercial model has enabled it to be rapidly deployed at several hundred gated communities within one year of its launch. Some of these include properties by builders like Sobha, Prestige, Purvankara, Rohan, Lodha, Salarpuria, Mantri, Adarsh e.g. Adarsh Palm Retreat Villas, Purva Riviera, Prestige St. Johns Woods, Mantri Tranquil and many more. While the MyGate’s primary focus is on residential communities, the technology and the solution are already being piloted at other gated premises, notably office buildings, schools and factories.

Supporting Quotes

Vijay Arisetty, CEO & Co-founder, MyGate

“Security for gated-premises is a multi-billion market that is fundamentally underserved by often obsolete legacy providers and solutions. MyGate provides an outstanding experience for people living in gated communities, allowing them to keep track of their visitors and all the relevant developments in the community with the help of an app. In Prime, we found a hands-on investment partner with a long-term vision and practical execution expertise; we are excited to have them join us as our extended team.”

Sanjay Swamy, Managing Partner, Prime Venture Partners

“I’m delighted to welcome MyGate to the Prime portfolio and feel privileged to be part of this journey. We first experienced MyGate as consumers and loved the product experience; when we met the team, we were very excited by their incredible vision to transform the physical security experience as well as their focus and relentless pursuit of excellence. MyGate is addressing a huge market opportunity and is already the undisputed leader in this space — this funding will help them further expand their thought-leadership and market-leadership!”