When Priya began the paperwork on a resale flat in Mulund, the seller handed her a thick folder of photocopies and a confident smile. Everything looked in order until her lawyer asked one quiet question. Can we see the Index II for the seller own purchase? The seller hesitated, then admitted that the flat had changed hands once through an unregistered arrangement years earlier. That single missing one page document, easy to pull online in minutes, had just exposed a break in the chain of title that the thick folder was designed to hide.

The short answer. Index II is a one page summary that the Maharashtra registration department creates for every registered document, and it confirms that a Mumbai property transaction was officially registered. You can download it free online from the IGR Maharashtra portal. The trade off to understand is this. Index II is powerful proof that a registration happened and it reveals the key facts of the deal, but it is not the sale deed and it is not, on its own, proof of who owns the flat today.

What exactly is Index II?

Index II is the registrar one page snapshot of a single registered document. When any sale deed, agreement or mortgage is registered in Maharashtra, the sub registrar office records a summary entry, and that summary, printed out, is the Index II, known in Marathi as suchi kramank do. It captures the essentials in a compact form, the parties to the deal, a description of the property, the consideration value, the stamp duty and registration fee paid, and the registration number, date and office. Think of it as the cover note the government keeps for a transaction, distilled onto a single readable page.

Because it is generated by the registrar and not by the buyer or seller, it is difficult to fake and easy to cross check. That combination is what makes it so useful as a first filter when you are evaluating a resale flat in Mumbai.

There is a second reason buyers value it. Index II is short and standardised, so you can read it in a minute even without a lawyer, while a full sale deed runs many pages of dense legal language. That does not mean you skip the sale deed, but it does mean Index II is the fast, cheap check you run first, before you invest time and fees in deeper due diligence. If the one page summary already reveals a problem, you have saved yourself the cost of the longer investigation.

What does an Index II show a buyer?

It shows you who transacted, what property, at what declared value, and when it was registered. For a resale purchase these facts are gold. The names tell you whether the person selling to you is the same person who legally bought the flat earlier. The property description and identifiers let you confirm you are looking at the right unit. The consideration value shows what the flat was declared to have sold for last time, which is useful context. And the registration number, date and sub registrar office let you trace the transaction in the official record. Read together, these lines let you confirm that the story the seller tells matches the story the government recorded.

What it does not show is equally important. Index II summarises one document. It does not, by itself, prove that the seller has clear, unencumbered title today, and it does not replace a full reading of the sale deed and the earlier documents in the chain. It will not tell you about an ongoing court dispute that was never registered, an unregistered family arrangement, or unpaid dues to the society. For those you need the encumbrance search, a title investigation and a society no dues certificate. So use Index II for what it is excellent at, confirming and summarising a registered transaction, and lean on the other records for everything it cannot see.

How do I download Index II in Mumbai?

You download it free from the official IGR Maharashtra portal using the citizen eSearch service. The department has made this fully online, so for most records you do not need to visit an office at all. Start at the IGR Maharashtra site, open the eSearch free service, choose your region, and search either by the document registration number with its year and sub registrar office, or by property details. Solve the on screen captcha and download the PDF. Keep the document number, year and the correct sub registrar office handy, because those three together pull the exact record quickly.

The table below places Index II next to the other documents Mumbai buyers rely on, so you can see what each one is for and stop confusing them.

How should I read the Index II I pull?

Read it line by line and match every field against the documents the seller has given you. A mismatch is a signal, not a formality. Work through the checklist below in order, because each check builds on the last.

1. Confirm the seller name on the Index II matches the seller name on the sale deed they are giving you.
2. Check that the property description and identifiers match the flat you are actually buying.
3. Note the registration number, date and sub registrar office, and confirm they are complete and legible.
4. Compare the declared consideration value against what you would expect for that period.
5. Trace the previous owner shown here back a further step to confirm the chain has no gap.
6. Flag any name that appears with a different spelling or an unexplained additional party.
7. Keep the downloaded PDF with your file, since you will want it when you resell later.

If every line reconciles, you have meaningful comfort that the seller earlier purchase was registered and genuine. If a line does not reconcile, stop and ask for an explanation in writing before you move any further.

Where does Index II fit against the sale deed?

Index II confirms a registration, but the registered sale deed is the primary proof of ownership. This is the boundary you must never blur. The sale deed is the actual legal instrument that transfers the flat, the complete document with all the clauses, schedules and signatures. Index II is only the registrar summary of such a document. A clean Index II tells you a registration exists and gives you its headline facts, which is exactly why it is such a good first check, but you still read the full sale deed to understand the actual terms and you still verify current title through the wider record. In practice buyers use Index II to decide whether a deal is worth deeper investigation, then rely on the sale deed and the encumbrance record to close. Our guide on why registering the sale deed matters explains the document that Index II summarises.

How does Index II work with the property card?

Index II and the property card answer two different questions, and a careful buyer reads both. Index II tells you that a specific transaction was registered and what it contained. The property card, the urban land record from the city survey office, tells you who the land record shows as the holder and whether any charges are noted against it. For an independent house or a plot these two together are a strong pair. For an apartment, the land often sits with the society, so the property card will show the society or the land parcel while your flat ownership flows through the sale deed and the share certificate. Reading Index II alongside the property card on Mahabhulekh gives you both the transaction view and the land view, and it is the mismatch between the two, when it appears, that saves buyers from a bad deal. Pull both early, before you part with any advance, and let the documents rather than the sales pitch guide your decision.

A final word on habit. The buyers who avoid trouble are rarely the ones with the most expensive lawyers. They are the ones who insist on seeing the primary records themselves, in the correct order, before emotion takes over. Index II costs nothing and takes minutes, yet it is skipped again and again because a folder of photocopies looks reassuring. Priya deal in Mulund was saved by a single free download that the seller hoped nobody would ask for. Make it a rule that you pull the Index II yourself for any resale flat you are serious about, and you turn a common blind spot into a routine, low effort safeguard.

Common questions from Mumbai buyers

Is Index II proof that I own the flat in Mumbai?

No. Index II confirms that a transaction was officially registered and summarises its key details, but it is not the title itself. Your ownership rests on the registered sale deed. Treat Index II as strong supporting evidence that a registration happened, and always read it alongside the full sale deed and the chain of past documents.

Where do I get Index II for a Mumbai property?

You download it free from the IGR Maharashtra portal at igrmaharashtra.gov.in using the eSearch service. Pick your region, then search by the document registration number with year and sub registrar office, or by property details. In 2026 the citizen eSearch download is fully online and does not require a visit to any office.

What information does an Index II contain?

An Index II lists the parties, meaning the buyer and seller, a description of the property, the consideration value on which stamp duty was charged, the stamp duty and registration fee paid, and the registration number, date and sub registrar office. It is a compact one page snapshot of everything the registrar recorded about that single transaction.

Why should I check Index II before buying a resale flat?

Because it lets you confirm that the seller own purchase of the flat was properly registered, and it reveals the parties and the declared value of that earlier deal. Cross checking the Index II against the sale deed chain helps you spot a gap, a mismatch in names, or an unregistered link before you pay any money.

Last updated 2026-08-08. PropNewz Team.