Premium FAR Policy in Bengaluru Explained: What Buyers Should Know About Taller Towers

On 21 February 2025, a single gazette notification quietly changed the skyline maths for Bengaluru. With Gazette Notification No. UDD 78 MNJ 2024 (E), the Karnataka government amended the Zonal Regulations of the Revised Master Plan and brought back a tool many builders had been waiting for: the ability to buy extra building rights above the base limit on a plot.

For a buyer touring a glossy sample flat, none of this is visible. You see a tower, a clubhouse, a render of a swimming pool. What you do not see is how much of that height and density was bought, not granted by default, and what that purchase means for the parking, water and lifts you will live with for decades.

This guide walks through the premium FAR policy Bengaluru buyers keep hearing about, in plain language, and points to the few documents that actually tell you the truth about a project.

The short answer. Karnataka's Premium FAR policy, notified on 21 February 2025, lets developers buy additional Floor Area Ratio above the base limit by paying the planning authority, capped at 40% of a property's permissible FAR. More FAR means more units and amenities on the same land, but higher density can strain parking, water and lifts, so you must check the sanctioned plan and the road width, not just the brochure.

Here is the one fact worth lifting: in Bengaluru, since the 21 February 2025 gazette notification (UDD 78 MNJ 2024 (E)), premium FAR can add up to 40% above a plot's permissible FAR, as reported by the Deccan Herald and explained in legal notes on the policy.

What is FAR, and what changed with premium FAR?

FAR, the Floor Area Ratio, sets how much built-up area is allowed on a plot relative to the size of that plot. It is also called FSI, the Floor Space Index, and the two terms mean the same thing in everyday use. A higher FAR means a developer can build more floor area on the same piece of land, which usually translates into more floors or more units.

Every plot has a base FAR fixed by its zone and the master plan. What changed is that Karnataka's Premium FAR policy now lets developers go above that base limit by buying additional FAR, on payment to the planning authority. In other words, extra building rights are no longer only a matter of what the zone allows by default. They can be purchased. You can read a clear summary in this King Stubb and Kasiva note on the Premium FAR policy, and the Deccan Herald on the revival of premium FAR covers why builders welcomed it.

How much premium FAR can a builder actually buy?

Premium FAR cannot exceed 40% of the permissible FAR of a property. That is the ceiling set by the policy. Beyond that 40%, a developer who wants still more building rights cannot simply pay for additional premium FAR. The extra has to come through a different route, Transferable Development Rights, or TDR, which is itself restricted to a maximum of 20% of the allowable FAR.

So the structure is layered. Base FAR comes from the zone. On top of that, premium FAR can be bought up to 40% of the permissible FAR. And separately, TDR can add up to 20% of the allowable FAR. Each layer has its own cap and its own paperwork. If you are curious about that second mechanism, our explainer on how Transferable Development Rights work in Bengaluru breaks it down for buyers.

How does road width decide eligibility?

Road width is the gatekeeper, because the policy ties how much premium FAR a plot qualifies for to the width of the road it faces. The logic is simple: wider roads can absorb the extra traffic and density that more built-up area brings, so they unlock more premium FAR.

Plots on roads 30 to 40 feet wide qualify for up to 20% premium FAR. Plots on roads 40 to 60 feet wide qualify for up to 40%. Plots on roads over 60 feet wide allow a higher combined expansion once TDR is added on top. This is why two adjacent projects can have very different heights and densities purely because of the road in front of them. Before you fall for a tower, check what road it actually sits on.

Why should a flat buyer care about premium FAR?

A flat buyer should care because premium FAR directly shapes how crowded daily life in the building will be. The trade-off is the heart of it: premium FAR enables more units and amenities on a plot, which can mean a bigger clubhouse, more open podium space, and sometimes a sharper price for the developer to pass on. But higher density can strain parking, water and lifts.

Picture two hundred extra flats added because the plot bought the maximum premium FAR. Those flats bring cars that need parking, residents who need water pressure on the twentieth floor, and a morning rush that the lift cores have to clear. None of that shows up in a render. It shows up in the sanctioned plan, in the number of car parks per unit, and in the borewell and water-tank provisioning. The honest move is to read those documents, not the brochure.

Where does the cost of all this height land?

The cost of buying extra building rights does not vanish; it gets built into the project economics, and some of it reaches you through pricing. A developer who has paid the planning authority for premium FAR has a higher land-and-approval cost spread across more units. Sometimes that lowers per-unit pricing because the land cost is shared more widely. Sometimes it simply funds a taller, denser building.

What buyers often miss is the second layer of charges that height brings, separate from FAR itself. Higher floors usually carry floor-rise charges, and better-positioned units carry preferential-location charges. We have written about why floor-rise and preferential-location charges add up on tall towers, and it is worth reading before you assume the headline price is the price.

How do premium FAR, TDR and base FAR compare?

They compare as three distinct sources of building rights, each with its own cap and its own road-width dependence. The table below lays out how they sit relative to one another so you can ask sharper questions when a sales team starts talking about how tall the project will be.

What should you verify before you book in a high-rise?

Verify the paperwork that height rests on, in order, before any token amount. A taller tower is not a problem in itself; an undocumented or overstretched one is. A project like a high-rise project such as CNTC Presidential Tower in Rajajinagar is the kind of development where these questions matter, because the difference between a comfortable building and a strained one is decided in the sanctioned plan, not the showroom.

Use the checklist below as your sequence of questions. It is deliberately ordered from the documents that confirm the building is legal to the ones that tell you how livable it will be at full occupancy.

1. Ask for the sanctioned plan and confirm the built-up area matches what is being sold, including any premium FAR.
2. Check the width of the road the plot abuts, since it decides how much premium FAR the project could legally claim.
3. Confirm whether the project uses premium FAR, TDR, or both, and that each stays within its cap.
4. Count the sanctioned car parks per unit and compare them with the total number of flats.
5. Ask how water is sourced and stored, and whether the provisioning matches the higher density.
6. Review the number and capacity of lifts against the number of units per floor and per core.
7. Read the price break-up for floor-rise and preferential-location charges so the final cost holds no surprises.

What is premium FAR in Karnataka?

Premium FAR is extra Floor Area Ratio that a developer can buy above a plot's base limit, on payment to the planning authority. Karnataka introduced it through a gazette notification on 21 February 2025, amending the Zonal Regulations of the Revised Master Plan. It lets builders construct more built-up area than the base zone would otherwise allow.

How much premium FAR can a builder buy?

Premium FAR cannot exceed 40% of the permissible FAR of a property. If a developer wants more building rights beyond that ceiling, the extra must come through Transferable Development Rights, or TDR, which is itself capped at a maximum of 20% of the allowable FAR. Each layer has its own separate limit.

How does road width affect premium FAR?

Road width sets the eligibility limit. Plots on roads 30 to 40 feet wide qualify for up to 20% premium FAR. Plots on roads 40 to 60 feet wide qualify for up to 40%. Plots on roads over 60 feet wide allow a higher combined expansion when TDR is added on top of the premium FAR.

Why should a flat buyer care about premium FAR?

Because it shapes density. Premium FAR lets a developer add more units and amenities on the same plot, but higher density can strain parking, water and lifts. The safe approach is to read the sanctioned plan and confirm the road width and provisioning, rather than trusting the brochure, before you commit to a flat.

Last updated 2026-06-15. PropNewz Team.