States look to digitise land deals with blockchain

NEW DELHI: Indian states are exploring a switch to blockchain technology to record land deals digitally and bring transparency to a system that is rife with fraud and leaves the poor at risk of eviction.

At least two Indian states are investigating blockchain — a ledger system tracking digital information — to help modernise Indian property deeds and boost economic growth.

Land records in most Indian states date back to the colonial era, and most land holdings have uncertain ownership. Fraud is rampant and disputes over titles often end up in court.

Putting India’s land records on blockchain — the technology behind the bitcoin currency — would greatly increase efficiency and reduce fraud, analysts say.

“The land registry is a good candidate for blockchain as there is no way to verify titles quickly,” said Vishal Batra at IBM Research, who works on the technology.

“The process lends itself to fraud, as an owner can re-sell a property, and the buyer is ignorant. With blockchain there would be savings and efficiency, and there can be no fraud.”

The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public “ledgers” of all transactions, potentially replacing a mass of overlapping records with one simple database.

Once a land record or real estate transactions is on blockchain, all the parties involved — banks, government, brokers, buyers and sellers — can track the deal.

Countries across the world are beginning to embrace or test the technology in their national property records.

Official said the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are in talks to put land records on blockchain.

Distortion to India’s land markets is a barrier to faster growth, accounting for 1.3 per cent of lost gross domestic product growth every year, according to the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of the global consulting firm.