Bengal Realtors Back BJP on ULC Act Repeal

Kolkata, May 13 (PTI) Realtors on Wednesday welcomed the West Bengal BJP's stated position in favour of revoking the Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) Act and facilitating land aggregation for industry, stating that the move could help attract large-ticket investments to the state.

Fragmented land holdings and regulatory hurdles have long deterred major projects in the state.

"Industry estimates suggest that repealing the ULC Act could unlock over Rs 20,000 crore in new investments from private equity, institutional funds, and developers for land development, housing, and commercial projects," Nitesh Kumar, MD and CEO of Emami Realty, told PTI.

This would boost state revenues through higher stamp duty, GST collections, and related economic activity, while improving housing affordability via increased supply, Kumar said.

For the real estate sector, the proposals are game-changing, he said.

The reactions came after state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said the party favours removal of the Urban Land Ceiling framework and supports government intervention in creating viable land banks for industrialisation.

"We have to bring large industries to Bengal to ensure a better future for the state. The previous government had no comprehensive land policy. As the land parcels in Bengal are fragmented, the intervention of the government is required if big industries have to be attracted," Bhattacharya had said during an interaction with a business chamber.

The BJP's position contrasts with the policy followed by the government led by Mamata Banerjee, which has maintained that land for industry should be procured directly by private companies from willing owners without state acquisition.


Reacting to the BJP's stand, CREDAI West Bengal president Sushil Mohta said the Urban Land Ceiling framework had become outdated and was now acting as a bottleneck for planned urbanisation and industrial growth.

"The challenge before West Bengal today is no longer land hoarding. The challenge is the lack of availability of large, developable, contiguous land parcels required for modern urban infrastructure and organised growth," Mohta told PTI.

He said modern projects such as IT parks, industrial estates, logistics hubs, hospitals and integrated townships require planned large-scale land assembly, which becomes difficult under restrictive land ceiling norms.

According to him, developers are often forced to create multiple entities to hold fragmented parcels for a single project, increasing legal complexity, compliance burden and project delays.

Mohta also argued that most of the major Indian states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, had already moved away from the Urban Land Ceiling regime and benefited through investments in industrial parks, IT corridors and integrated townships.

Mahesh Agarwal, Managing Director of Purti Realty, termed the BJP's position "progressive and pragmatic", saying the 1976 legislation no longer aligned with the needs of a rapidly industrialising economy.

"Instead of unlocking land for development, it created procedural bottlenecks, deterred investment, and led to significant delays due to litigation and regulatory complexity," Agarwal told PTI.

"It is encouraging to see the current government taking a forward-looking approach by revisiting such outdated frameworks. This reflects a commitment to ease of doing business, transparency and sustainable development," he added.

Industry stakeholders believe easier aggregation of land parcels and simplified approval systems could improve investor confidence at a time when the state is seeking fresh industrial investments across manufacturing, logistics and commercial real estate sectors.