Land banking, a new concept in India, refers to aggregating parcels of land to effectively repurpose properties. The use of GIS in the process has made it vastly more effective.
Land banking is an upcoming concept in the Indian real estate industry. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has reported that the India Industrial Land Bank (IILB), a GIS-based portal of all industrial infrastructure-related information, has seen a 30% increase in page views for each month since April 2021. It received 55,000 page views in June compared to 44,136 page views in May 2021 and 30,153 page views in April 2021. In the preceding quarter (Apr-Jun 2021), the total number of users of IILB were 13,610, out of which 12,996 were unique users with total page views of approximately 1.3 lakh.
The portal is a one-stop storehouse of all industrial infrastructure-related information — connectivity, infra, natural resources & terrain, plot-level information on vacant plots, line of activity, and contact details. The IILB presently has approximately 4,000 industrial parks mapped across an area of 5.5 lakh hectares of land, serving as a decision support system for investors scouting for land remotely.
The system has been integrated with industry-based GIS systems of 17 states to have details on the portal updated on a real-time basis and will achieve pan-India integration by December 2021 according to the ministry.
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What are land banks
Land banks are entities created to effectively manage and repurpose properties. Land banking is the practice of aggregating parcels or blocks of land at current market rates or lower, for future development. A land aggregator groups land by tracking the geographical and topological locations, which are primed for investment, based on social infrastructure and demographic factors.
The concept of land banks began in the US as a result of deindustrialization that took place in the 1920s and ’30s. However, their use has been adapted by different countries based on their individual needs. India’s ambitious land bank project was flagged off in July 2020 by Piyush Goyal, the Minister of Commerce and Industry at the India Ideas Summit held under the aegis of the US-India Business Council (USIBC). But the project’s seeds were sown even earlier when the NITI Aayog report of 2018 stressed on the need to create land banks in India.
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Land banking in India
The land bank system in India is an integration of Industrial Information System (IIS) and Geographic Information System (GIS). The information available on the system will include drainage, forest; raw material heat maps (horticulture, agricultural, mineral layers); and multiple layers of connectivity.
Integrating an existing database on land with GIS harbors immense potential. GIS is already used extensively for accurate and detailed mapping and has been of tremendous aid to such sectors as telecommunication and network services, urban planning, transportation planning, navigation, natural resource management, and many others. It would then be the next logical step to amalgamate existing land database with GIS.
The use of GIS to collect data regarding land banks would make the process easier, precise and detailed. GIS enabled land records and digitized cadastral maps (maps showing land ownership that might also include information on land use) through digital land records modernization program makes it easier to identify government land availability in clusters suitable for industrialization. It would also result in more expedient data storage and processing.
Of course, land banking is an idea that comes with its share of controversies and doubts. There is concern that agencies might take a ham-fisted approach towards land acquisition, particularly from small and marginal landholders. According to Dheeraj Sharma, CEO, GIS Consortium India Pvt Ltd, land related disputes account for over 65 percent of all civil cases. In such a scenario, land banking must proceed with the interests of all stakeholders in mind.
The use of GIS in land banking provides a boost to an economy that is afflicted with the COVID-19 pandemic and is in dire need of rejuvenation. It could immeasurably help in correctly identifying land parcels, their market values and the scope of their subsequent redevelopment. It adds value to a concept that is laden with promises.
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