It has now come to light that while toll plazas operating on national highways across Karnataka have collected a whopping Rs 3,702.61 crore in toll fees in the last five years, they owe the state government around Rs 232 crore in stamp duty — an amount that remains unpaid due to administrative gaps and jurisdictional loopholes.
According to documents obtained under the RTI Act by Belagavi-based social activist Prashant Ashok Burge, the agreements between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and private toll operators have been executed in Delhi. Toll agencies are citing this as a reason to avoid paying stamp duty in Karnataka, claiming that the duty was already paid in Delhi. As a result, the state’s exchequer is facing a significant loss, with no concrete action yet taken to recover this amount.
Revenue hit for state
According to the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957, all agreements executed by toll agencies operating within the state are subject to paying stamp duty to the state government. The applicable stamp duty ranges from 0.5 per cent for agreements of one year, 1 per cent for contracts up to 10 years, 2 per cent for contracts of 10–20 years, and up to 3 per cent for longer durations. However, despite collecting thousands of crores in toll revenue, many agencies have failed to make this mandatory payment.
Sources in the Revenue Department revealed that Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has taken up the issue with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. A high-level meeting chaired by the Chief Secretary on February 17, 2025, discussed how to recover these arrears from toll contractors.
However, a legal grey area persists. Toll operators argue that Section 3 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, exempts them as their agreements are signed in Delhi. The Attorney General of India had reportedly given an opinion in 2011 that Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) concession agreements are exempt from stamp duty. This has created ambiguity and weakened the state’s efforts to enforce the dues.
Toll boom, stamp duty gap
Karnataka has seen a massive increase in toll plazas and collections in recent years. Between 2019–20 and 2023–24, toll collections rose from Rs 1,881.99 crore to a record Rs 4,086.18 crore annually. Fourteen new toll plazas were added in just three years — including the high-profile Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway opened in March 2023 — taking the total number of toll gates on national highways in Karnataka to 58 as of January 31, 2025.
Despite this, the estimated Rs 232 crore in pending stamp duty has not been collected, and officials say the actual figure may be even higher. The Commissioner of Registration and Stamps has indicated that a more precise estimate needs detailed figures directly from the NHAI, including toll collections, contract tenures and agency details.
Legal bottlenecks and missed enforcement
The agreements between NHAI and private contractors are typically for three months to one year at a time. While the toll fee collected is deposited directly into the Consolidated Fund of India, the state’s share, in the form of stamp duty, is being sidestepped.
Former Commissioner of Stamps and Registration B.R. Mamatha had written to both the toll operators and the NHAI demanding payment of outstanding dues. Some agencies reportedly paid token amounts, but these were far lower than what was contractually required. District-level offices of the Stamps Department were directed to recover the dues, but with little success so far.
According to senior officials, there are 53 private agencies managing toll operations in the state of Karnataka. If stamp duty is strictly enforced, it could fetch the state well over Rs 500 crore in revenue — a significant amount that could be invested in infrastructure and welfare schemes.
A plan is now being developed to encourage the NHAI to share comprehensive data about toll plaza operations in Karnataka. The Chief Secretary has directed the Secretary of the Public Works Department to get detailed records from the NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The state government is also likely to write to the Centre to resolve the jurisdictional conflict.
Officials say the state rules are clear — under Article 32(A)(i) of the Karnataka Stamp Act, 1957, contractors are required to pay 1 per cent of the contract value as stamp duty. Yet, due to poor follow-up and the agencies’ reliance on Delhi’s registration, this revenue has slipped through the cracks.
