GST and Stamp Duty on Flats in Hyderabad vs Bangalore: What Actually Applies

The price quoted on a brochure is never the price you pay. GST and stamp duty and registration sit on top, and in Hyderabad and Bangalore they add up differently. Here is what actually applies in each city, and why the two totals aren't the same number.

GST: the same rule in both cities

GST on an under-construction flat is a central tax, so it doesn't vary by state. What varies is whether your purchase qualifies as "affordable housing."

• 5% GST, without input tax credit, on a standard residential unit.
• 1% GST, without input tax credit, on affordable housing: units priced up to ₹45 lakh with a carpet area up to 60 sqm in metros (Hyderabad and Bangalore both qualify as metros for this rule) or 90 sqm outside metros.
• No GST on a ready-to-move-in unit that already has its completion certificate, and none on land itself.
• Commercial property is taxed separately, at 12%, with input tax credit allowed.

The practical effect: two buyers paying ₹95 lakh for near-identical flats can owe very different GST if one unit clears the affordable-housing carpet-area limit and the other doesn't. Check the carpet area on the RERA filing, not the builder's marketed super built-up figure, before assuming which rate applies to you.

Stamp duty and registration: this is where the cities genuinely diverge

Telangana uses a flat structure. For urban property: 4% stamp duty, 0.5% registration, and 1.5% transfer duty, for a total of roughly 6% regardless of the purchase price. Rural property is charged differently, at roughly 7.5% total.

Karnataka uses a slab system instead of a flat rate. Stamp duty is 2% below ₹20 lakh, 3% between ₹20 and ₹45 lakh, and 5% above ₹45 lakh, plus a cess and surcharge on top of the stamp duty itself. Registration is charged separately at 2% of the property value. For most Bangalore apartment purchases, which sit above ₹45 lakh, the combined total lands around 7.5–7.6%, noticeably higher than Telangana's flat 6%.

So the same ₹1 crore flat can carry a meaningfully different statutory bill depending on which city it's in, on top of whatever GST rate applies. Neither number is negotiable; both are set by the state and the centre, not the builder.

What this looks like on an actual price

Take a ₹95 lakh flat that doesn't qualify as affordable housing:

• In Hyderabad: ₹4.75 lakh GST (5%) + roughly ₹5.7 lakh stamp duty and registration (6%) ≈ ₹1.05 crore all-in.
• In Bangalore: ₹4.75 lakh GST (5%) + roughly ₹7.2 lakh stamp duty, cess and registration (≈7.6%) ≈ ₹1.07 crore all-in.

The gap isn't large on a single flat, but it's real, it's fixed by law rather than by negotiation, and it's the single most common thing missing from a first-pass budget.

Where to check the exact number for a specific project

relai records each project's own filed GST and registration percentage as part of its evaluation, and the scorecard for every scored project shows the resulting all-in cost per configuration, not just the base price. If you're comparing a specific unit, that's the number to use rather than a citywide average, since exact figures can be revised and slab boundaries matter.

Rates above are current as of publication and change with state and central budget updates. Verify against your state's registration department before you rely on them for a transaction.