For the longest time, the agricultural land market inKarnatakasaw little movement, archaic land ceiling laws being a major reason. But over the past six months, transactions have surged, resulting in a revenue mop-up for the government.
Farmland sales prices are up 5-15% in six months, with most of the increase coming since the new laws were introduced, said Bhaskar C, a land aggregator. The demand for good farmland is outstripping supply of farms for sale. The strong demand to own farmland is one of the main factors pushing prices higher.
Section 63 was also amended to raise the cap on ownership of farmland. Earlier, the ceiling for a family of four was 54 acres and for a larger family, it was 108 acres. The amendment made it 108 acres for a person or a family of four, and 216 acres for a larger family. This is higher than Kerala (42 acres), Nadu (60) and Andhra Pradesh (54 ).