According to the state registration department's data, Pune registered 1.56 lakh registrations in this fiscal till now and generated a Metro cess of Rs1,610.21 crore. Mumbai suburban's contribution so far is Rs1,305.87 crore from 1.11 lakh registrations amid steady transactions in the realty sector in both these areas.

The Metro cess adds 1% to the stamp duty for property registration to fund public infrastructure projects like Metro, flyovers and bridges in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Thane. In 2022-23, the four cities recorded 3.54 lakh registrations and generated Rs2,895.38-crore Metro cess. An uptick in registrations — overall 4.36 lakh in the four cities till now — has pushed up the Metro cess collection to Rs4,141.66 crore in this financial year.

The state urban development department on December 24 allocated Rs293 crore to Nagpur for infra projects. "Funds are disbursed according to the Metro works' requirement. We recently allocated the funds to Nagpur Maha Metro," a top official of the urban development department said on Saturday.

Developers' bodies had earlier approached the state govt to reconsider the implementation of Metro cess, fearing the additional stamp duty would slow down real estate bookings. Many believed the increased cost could hit revenue collections in the highest revenue-generating cities like Pune, Nagpur, and Mumbai.

State President of Credai, Pramod Khairnar, said they have made their representation to reduce the stamp duty across the state and even in the cities where the Metro cess was in vogue. "The state has collected enough stamp duty. It should consider reducing stamp duty. Whenever the stamp duty is reduced, the registrations pick up," he said.

State won't discontinue it, says senior official of registration dept

The state registration department's senior officials said the state government would not discontinue the Metro cess in the next financial year because the work was in progress on various Metro stretches in the state.