Bachchan buys ₹31-cr flat, pays ₹62L duty
MUMBAI: Veteran actor and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan purchased a 5,704-square feet duplex apartment in Andheri for ₹31 crore, HT has learnt. The Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHICREDAI) said Bachchan saved more than ₹90 lakh from the deal. “Any sale boosts the whole cycle of real estate like the payment to banks, contractors and also fetches government revenue in the form of stamp duty and registration amount. Hence, the government needs to bring back the stamp duty cut,” said Deepak Goradia, president, MCHICREDAI.
Bachchan has bought the property from Crystal Pride Developers in Atlantis Building at Andheri (West). The property is reported to be on the 27th and 28th floors of the under-construction 34-storey building. It also includes six mechanised parking slots.
Bachchan purchased the apartment on December 31, 2020, and registered the same on April 12, 2021.
The actor paid ₹62 lakh as stamp duty by taking advantage of a stamp duty scheme of the Maharashtra government under which buyers have to pay just 2% of the stamp duty instead of the normal 5%. The scheme was launched to improve revenue which has fallen significantly amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Zapkey.com which accessed the registration documents, “The pandemic has given a boost to the sale of luxury apartments, and many celebrities, businessmen, professional CXO’S have bought houses to take advantage of the pandemicled price correction and stamp duty correction,” said Sandeep Reddy, co-founder, Zapkey.com.
Atlantis Building in Andheri also has two other Bollywood buyers, actor Sunny Leone and Anand L Rai, director of Bollywood blockbuster Tanu Weds Manu. While Leone paid ₹16 crore for her 4,365sqft apartment, Rai had to shell out ₹25.30 crore for his 5,917sqft apartment.
Bachchan was not available for a comment.
The real estate sector has been facing a slowdown for several years and the pandemic has only made matters worse.
The government, in August 2020, reduced stamp duty levied on sales of apartments to 2% from September 1 till December 31, 2020, and then hiked it to 3% from January 1 till March 31, 2021. The move played a significant role in boosting sales of both primary and secondary market. The state, however, refused to extend it further.
Gulam Zia, executive director, Knight Frank, a real estate consultancy firm, said, “Buyers took advantage of twin factors of price cuts and schemes offered by builders. Builders are ready to negotiate and cut prices as they want to sell properties. Stamp duty cut was a huge savings and many took advantage of it.”