A new compliance review has raised concerns over transparency within India’s housing regulatory system, revealing that a majority of state regulators have not published statutory disclosures mandated under the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act. The findings have intensified debate around institutional accountability at a time when homebuyer protection remains central to restoring trust in the property market.
The assessment, released by the Forum For People’s Collective Efforts, indicates that more than three-quarters of State Real Estate Regulatory Authorities have either failed to publish annual reports or have not followed the prescribed disclosure format. Under the Real Estate Regulation and Development Act, regulators are required to issue annual reports detailing project registrations, complaint redressal, enforcement actions and financial outcomes. The review found that several states have never placed a full annual report in the public domain since the law came into force, while others published reports initially but later discontinued the practice. Even among states that remain current, disclosures are said to deviate from the standardised format issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in 2023, which sought uniform reporting across jurisdictions. Housing policy experts argue that incomplete reporting weakens market confidence. While headline data such as project registrations and case disposals are often shared, granular details including the number of delayed projects, compensation paid to allottees, recovery of penalties and enforcement of orders are inconsistently disclosed. Without this information, analysts say, it becomes difficult to assess whether regulatory interventions are translating into tangible outcomes for homebuyers.
The debate is unfolding against the backdrop of earlier assessments of stalled housing projects. A committee led by former bureaucrat Amitabh Kant had previously estimated that lakhs of residential units across India were delayed, with significant financial exposure for buyers and lenders. Experts caution that weak oversight and patchy transparency could allow similar risks to re-emerge, particularly in rapidly expanding peripheral markets. Urban planners note that as India pushes for infrastructure-led growth and higher housing supply, regulatory institutions must keep pace. Transparent reporting enables policymakers to identify systemic bottlenecks, improve dispute resolution timelines and strengthen financial discipline among developers. It also supports climate-resilient planning by revealing whether projects are adhering to approved timelines and compliance norms. The homebuyers’ forum has urged the Centre to direct all regulators to adhere strictly to statutory reporting requirements and has called for corrective action against persistent non-compliance under the Act’s supervisory provisions. Some stakeholders have also suggested that stronger oversight mechanisms may be required to ensure uniform standards nationwide.
As India’s real estate sector matures and attracts greater institutional capital, governance standards will remain under scrutiny. For homebuyers, reliable data is more than an administrative formality it is a safeguard that underpins confidence in one of the most significant financial decisions households make.
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