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A property valuation reference for India, kept current as the law changes
Property Valuation in India
A bank wants one number. Your insurer wants a different one. The tax office, on a good day, wants a third. This page exists so you know which is which before you commission a report — and exactly what a properly scoped one should contain.
One job, half a dozen names
Ask five people what to call the person who does this work and you'll get five different answers — and all five will be right, depending on who's asking and why. Here's the vocabulary you'll actually run into.
Key facts
| Also called | Valuer, property valuer, property appraiser, registered valuer |
| Typical output | A written report stating basis of value, method, and valuation date |
| Common bases of value | Fair/market value, realisable value, distress value, insurable value, investment value |
| Common approaches | Market comparison, cost, income capitalisation, residual, discounted cash flow |
| Who may need to sign, by purpose | Income-tax registered valuer, IBBI-registered valuer (Land & Building), Chartered Engineer, or Chartered Accountant |
| Key statutes involved | Companies Act 2013 (S.247), Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules 2017, Income-tax Act, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code 2016 |
| Regulator | Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), as the "Authority" under the 2017 Rules |
How we got here
Registered valuation in India isn't a new idea dressed up in new paperwork — it has a real paper trail.
The Wealth Tax Act sets out the first formal categories of "registered valuer" — immovable property, machinery, jewellery, shares — under Rule 8A.
The Wealth Tax Act is withdrawn, but the "registered valuer" definitions it created keep echoing through other tax provisions for years afterward.
Section 247 of the Companies Act, 2013 comes into force alongside the Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules. IBBI becomes the "Authority," and today's three asset classes — Land & Building, Plant & Machinery, Securities or Financial Assets — are born.
The Income-tax Act, 2025 replaces the six-decade-old 1961 Act, renumbering nearly every section. A separate bill, still with a parliamentary committee, proposes making IBBI a formal statutory "Valuation Authority." The ground is still moving.
The legal framework, briefly
Company-law and insolvency valuations
Certain valuations required under the Companies Act — capital reduction, buy-backs, mergers — must be signed by someone registered under the 2017 Rules. For land and buildings, that means an IBBI-registered valuer in that specific asset class. Insolvency proceedings under the IBC run on the same registration framework.
Income-tax purposes
Under the old 1961 Act, provisions like Sections 50C and 55A let a tax officer refer a valuation to a Valuation Officer when a claimed value looked out of step with fair market value. The principle survives in the new 2025 Act — the section numbers don't. What has changed more substantially: income-tax registered valuers now sit under their own Section 514 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, with qualifications by asset class prescribed separately and a new application form, replacing the old reliance on Wealth Tax Act definitions — effective for Tax Year 2026-27 onward.
Two different “Section 247”s — don't mix them up
Section 247 of the Companies Act, 2013 is the IBBI registered-valuer provision this page has been describing. Section 247 of the new Income-tax Act, 2025 is something else entirely — search-and-seizure powers, which separately allow tax officers to call on Section 514 valuers. Same number, two unrelated laws.
Verifying a valuer's registration
Every IBBI-registered valuer carries an individual registration number — format roughly IBBI/RV/[circle]/[year]/[serial] — checkable against IBBI's public register. Registration belongs to the person, not the firm, so "we have IBBI registered valuers" is really only half an answer.
Why the old definition still matters
In 2025, the Madras High Court held that SARFAESI auction valuations must come from a valuer registered under Section 34AB of the Wealth Tax Act, 1957 — the same 1957-era "registered valuer" category from the history section above, still being actively enforced by courts decades after the Act itself was withdrawn. "Registered valuer" isn't one fixed thing; which registration counts depends entirely on which law is doing the asking.
Bases of value
The single most common way a valuation goes wrong isn't bad arithmetic — it's answering the wrong question.
Fair market value
What a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither one under pressure.
Realisable value
What it would likely fetch within a normal, unhurried marketing period.
Distress value
What a forced or urgent sale would bring — usually lower.
Insurable value
The cost to rebuild the structure. Land excluded entirely.
Investment value
Worth to one specific buyer's plans, not the open market.
Approaches to value
Market comparison
Recent comparable sales, adjusted for differences. The default for homes and land.
Cost approach
Rebuild cost, less depreciation. Used when comparables are thin.
Income capitalisation
Turns expected rent into a capital figure. Built for let-out commercial space.
Residual method
Works backward from a finished development's value to today's land value.
Discounted cash flow
Projects future income, discounts it to today. Common on larger commercial assets.
When you actually need one
Buying or selling
An independent number to negotiate against.
- Fair market value report
- Title deed, tax receipt, plan
Bank or NBFC loan
Lenders won't sanction a mortgage — or a large education loan secured against property — without one.
- Report in lender's format
- Title deed, occupancy cert, KYC
Capital gains tax
Especially where an asset predates 1 April 2001.
- Valuation as on a specific date
- Purchase deed, improvement records
Inheritance or partition
An independent figure keeps a family settlement fair.
- Fair market value report
- Succession docs, co-owner consent
Insurance
Rebuild cost, not sale price.
- Insurable value report
- Approved plan, cost records
Litigation
A defensible figure a court can rely on.
- Evidentiary valuation report
- Full title chain
Investment property accounting
Ind AS 40 requires fair-value disclosure for property held to earn rent or for capital appreciation, even when the cost model is used on the balance sheet.
- Fair value assessment
- Asset register, book values
Insolvency (IBC)
Only an IBBI-registered valuer will do here.
- IBBI-compliant report
- Asset schedule, corporate records
Recovery & auction (SARFAESI)
Before a bank sells a secured property, Rule 8(5) of the 2002 Enforcement Rules requires a valuation from an approved valuer to fix the reserve price.
- Valuation report for reserve price
- Title and loan documents on file with the lender
Government land acquisition
Section 26 of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act sets out how a Collector determines market value — independent valuation evidence can support or contest that figure.
- Market value opinion
- Comparable registered sale deeds
Who actually orders this report
The same four walls can need a different figure for each of these — which is why the purpose comes before everything else, including price.
Every sector runs on property, somewhere
Public & institutional
Housing schemes, cantonment land, school and hospital campuses, panchayat buildings — government-linked property changes hands, gets leased, or gets audited more often than most people assume.
- Housing & Urban Development
- Governance & Administration
- Defence
- Home Affairs & National Security
- Education & Training
- Health & Family Welfare
- Rural Development & Panchayati Raj
- Social Justice & Empowerment
- People & Organisations
Commerce, industry & energy
Factory land, office campuses, and the corridors that pipelines and transmission lines run through each carry a property-valuation question distinct from the machinery sitting on top of them.
- Commerce & Industry
- Communications & Information Technology
- Chemicals & Fertilizers
- Petroleum, Oil & Natural Gas
- Coal & Mine
- Energy & Power
- Environment & Natural Resources
Transport, tourism & culture
Transit-linked land, heritage properties, stadiums and studios each bring their own valuation quirks — a listed heritage building doesn't value like a highway-adjacent plot.
- Transport & Infrastructure
- Tourism
- Art & Culture
- Youth Affairs & Sports
- Information & Broadcasting
Agriculture-linked structures
Not the farmland itself — that's a separate valuation altogether — but the dairy, hatchery, cold storage unit, or godown standing on it.
- Agriculture & Cooperation
- Animal Husbandry & Fishing
- Food & Public Distribution
- Forestry & Wildlife
Finance, law & research
Already threaded through the sections above — lending, litigation, and institutional R&D campuses all lean on the same property-valuation groundwork.
- Finance, Banking & Insurance
- Law & Justice
- Science, Technology & Research
- Employment & Labour
Cross-border
Foreign missions and NRI-owned property sit slightly outside the domestic framework above.
- International Affairs — see Visa & Net-Worth Valuation
What actually goes into the report
- Engagement scope and purpose
- Valuation date and basis of value
- Property identification — location, area, construction, condition
- Site inspection details, including what wasn't checked
- Methodology used, and why
- Supporting evidence — comparables, rents, or cost data
- Assumptions and limiting conditions
- Valuer's declaration of independence and registration
- Annexures — photographs, location map, documents reviewed
How the process actually runs
1
Scope
Purpose, asset, date, and any format the recipient needs.
2
Documents
You send what you have; we tell you what's missing.
3
Inspection
Physical where it matters; disclosed remote basis where it doesn't.
4
Method
The right approach, applied and explained.
5
Report
Drafted, checked, delivered in the format you need.
Documents, by purpose
Bank loan
- Title / sale deed
- Latest property tax receipt
- Approved building plan
- Occupancy / completion certificate
- Encumbrance certificate
- Photographs, ID/KYC
Capital gains / tax
- Purchase deed
- Prior valuation, if any
- Improvement cost records
- Sale agreement
Insurance
- Approved building plan
- Construction cost details
Litigation
- Full title chain
- Court reference or order, if any
- Consent of co-owners where relevant
Visa / net worth
- Title documents
- Latest tax receipt
- Photographs
What separates a credible report from a rushed one
- Registration matches both the asset class and the purpose
- Registration number is independently checkable against IBBI's register
- Inspection basis — physical or remote — is stated plainly, not implied
- Methodology and evidence are shown, not just asserted
- Basis of value actually matches the stated purpose
- Assumptions and limitations are written down, not left implicit
Property valuation vs. the neighbours
| Capital Gain Valuation | You need a value specifically as on 1 April 2001, for indexed cost of acquisition. |
| Visa Valuation | The valuation exists to support an immigration net-worth requirement. |
| Govt. Approved Valuation | A specific department has stated a valuer-empanelment requirement. |
| Plant & Machinery Valuation | The asset is industrial equipment, not land or a building. |
| Company Act Valuation | You're valuing shares or a business, under a Companies Act purpose. |
Where a poorly scoped valuation falls apart
- Wrong basis of value for the stated purpose
- No inspection where one was actually required
- Valuer's registration doesn't match the legal requirement of the assignment
- Report format doesn't match what the recipient actually asked for
- Stale market evidence or the wrong valuation date
- Assumptions never written down — which is where disputes are born
Glossary
| Fair market value | What a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, neither one under compulsion. |
| Registered valuer | A person registered under an applicable framework to value a specified asset class. |
| IBBI | Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India — the "Authority" regulating registered valuers. |
| RVO | Registered Valuer Organisation — trains, examines, and oversees valuers on IBBI's behalf. |
| Chartered Engineer | An engineer holding a recognised professional certification, used for technical valuation. |
| Basis of value | The specific question a valuation answers — market value, insurable value, and so on. |
| Cost approach | Valuation based on depreciated cost to reproduce or replace an asset. |
| Income capitalisation | Valuation that converts expected income into a capital value. |
| DCF | Discounted Cash Flow — future cash flows projected, then discounted to present value. |
| Encumbrance | A legal claim or restriction on a property that can affect value or transfer. |
| Valuation date | The specific date as of which the estimated value applies. |
| Circle rate | A government-notified reference value, which can differ from market value. |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is property valuation?
An independent professional estimate of what an immovable asset is worth, for a stated purpose, as of a specific date, by a suitably qualified valuer.
What is a property valuer called in India?
Usually just "valuer." You'll also hear registered valuer, IBBI registered valuer, government approved valuer, and property appraiser — see the terminology section above.
When do I actually need one?
A bank loan, a sale or purchase negotiation, capital gains tax, insurance, a family settlement, litigation, or a visa net-worth requirement are the common triggers.
Who's allowed to sign a legally valid report?
It depends entirely on the purpose. Company-law and insolvency work generally needs an IBBI-registered valuer for Land & Building; income-tax and lending purposes may accept a Chartered Engineer or an income-tax registered valuer instead. Confirm with whoever is receiving the report.
Is a site visit always required?
For most purposes, yes. A clearly disclosed desktop or remote basis is sometimes acceptable where agreed in advance — but it has to be disclosed, not assumed.
What's the difference between market value and insurable value?
Market value includes the land. Insurable value is what it costs to rebuild the structure alone — the two numbers can be very different on the same property.
How do I check a valuer's registration is real?
IBBI-registered valuers each carry an individual registration number, checkable against IBBI's public register.
How long does this take, and what does it cost?
Both depend on property type, location, and how quickly documents and site access come through. We quote after reviewing scope rather than before.
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