India has nearly completed the digitisation of its land records, but a Parliamentary committee has said the bigger task now is to link them with property registration, surveys, and courts.
The Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, headed by Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, reviewed the progress of the Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP).
As of January 31, 2026, 99.81 per cent of Records of Rights had been computerised and 97.42 per cent of cadastral maps had been digitised. But these records had been integrated in only 84.32 per cent of villages, leaving a significant gap between digitisation and actual integration.
The programme, which began in 2008, has received ₹2,664.33 crore from the Centre so far. Under its current phase, the allocation was increased from ₹875 crore to ₹984.61 crore.
There has also been progress in linking land records with property registration. 95.73 per cent of Sub-Registrar Offices have been computerised and 88.56 per cent are electronically linked with revenue offices. In 17 states, property registration can automatically trigger mutation, or the updation of ownership records.
More than 37 crore land parcels across 29 states and Union Territories (UTs) have been given Unique Land Parcel Identification Numbers, known as Bhu-Aadhaar. 17 states and UTs have adopted the National Generic Document Registration System, while five—Assam, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh—have gone fully paperless.
The system is also being linked with courts. 26 states and UTs have approval to connect e-Courts with land and registration databases, allowing buyers to check whether a property is involved in litigation.
The committee said that the next phase, DILRMP 3.0 for 2026-31, should focus on completing pending surveys and making the different parts of the land administration system work together. It has called for registration and mutation to be linked in every state so that a sale automatically updates ownership records.
It has also recommended legal recognition for digitally signed land records, so that citizens can use them for property transactions and bank loans without obtaining physical copies. It wants landowners to receive SMS alerts whenever a transfer or mutation application is filed against their property.
The committee has called for faster computerisation of Revenue Courts and clear deadlines for mutation and correction cases. It has also asked the government to complete pending surveys and re-surveys and finish the construction of Modern Record Rooms, which are currently 72.5 per cent complete.
The next phase is expected to use artificial intelligence, GIS, drones, cloud computing and blockchain-based systems.
The government is already testing NAKSHA, which uses drones and satellite surveys to create digital land records in urban areas. It covers 157 urban local bodies, with surveys completed in 119, and is planned for expansion to all 4,912 urban local bodies.
A separate Land Stack pilot is also being tested to bring land ownership records, maps, registration and municipal data onto a single platform.
The committee has also flagged the special challenges in the Northeast, where customary and community ownership systems do not always fit the individual ownership model used elsewhere.
The report's message is clear: putting land records online is only the first step. The real test will be whether India can create a system in which records are accurate, regularly updated, legally valid, and connected to registration and court databases.
