Is Your Plot Zoned for a Home? Bangalore's RMP 2015, Planning Bodies and the Checks to Run
Two neighbouring plots can cost the same and still carry different rights, because the land under each may fall in a different zone. The map that settles this is the city's master plan. Inside the BDA limits that is still RMP 2015, and this guide shows how it works, who produces the plans around Bangalore and how to test a plot before committing money.
First, a Short Routine
A flat in a sanctioned project has normally been vetted by the developer and the authorities, while a plot or independent house leaves the whole planning risk with the buyer. One routine suits both:
- Locate the plot by survey number on its area's land-use map.
- Check that housing is allowed in the zone, and read the FAR and height limits for the street outside.
- If the plot is in a layout, request its approved plan and the land conversion order.
- If it is a flat or villa in a project, read the sanctioned building plan and the RERA entry.
- Look around for lakes, drains, road-widening lines and airport height limits.
- Hand the papers, and the boundary itself, to a surveyor with a licence and to a lawyer.
Why There Is a Plan at All
A 1961 state law, the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, makes every planning authority draft a long-term blueprint. The one for Bangalore is the Revised Master Plan. For every parcel it names a permitted use, and for every use it sets zonal rules.
Those rules cover FAR, site coverage, setbacks, height and parking, frequently depending on the size of the plot and the street width. A building approval depends on conformity with the use and the rules together.
2015, 2031 and 2041 in Order
The state issued the 2015 plan on 22 June 2007 for the BDA's planning area. Although its target year is behind us, it carries on, and land-use questions there are still answered from its maps.
A BDA draft published in 2017 under the name RMP 2031 was withdrawn in 2020 so that it could be revised. Consultants were invited in August 2025 to bid for preparing the 2041 edition. Until that edition is notified, 2015 remains the reference.
Who Draws Which Part of the Region
The BDA plans the central city and forms layouts of its own. Regional coordination belongs to the BMRDA, which has planning bodies under it for outlying towns, among them Kanakapura, Magadi, Nelamangala, Hoskote and Anekal. BIAAPA covers land around the airport, where Devanahalli falls, and BMICAPA the road corridor to Mysore.
Civic administration changed in 2025, when the Greater Bengaluru Authority took charge through its corporations. Those handle building approvals, khata and property tax, while the BDA continues, for the moment, to prepare the master plan for its area.
What the Colours Mean
Housing falls into two categories: residential (main), where homes dominate, and residential (mixed), where homes share streets with commercial neighbours. Commercial land covers business districts and frontage on main roads. Hi-tech areas and industrial estates are industrial, and schools, hospitals and government land are public and semi-public.
Parks, lakes and other open spaces get their own colour. The last category, agricultural or green belt, is where housing layouts are normally not permitted. Farmland becomes a legal layout only after rezoning and a conversion order, and many unapproved fringe layouts lack both.
Lakes, Drains and Further Limits
Lakes and the storm water drains called rajakaluves, in primary, secondary and tertiary grades, are ringed by buffers where building is banned. Courts have tested their width. In October 2025 the state reduced buffers for drains, and in February 2026 for lakes. A surveyor should confirm the present rule for the plot at hand.
Flight paths impose height clearances, heritage areas have special controls, and a road earmarked for widening can shave the frontage of a plot. A parcel that looks fine on paper may lose usable area to such lines.
When the 2041 Plan Arrives
Rezoning from agricultural to residential, or a road redrawn wider, changes buildable area and price. Buyers in Devanahalli and on Sarjapura Road pay attention because growth is fast there.
Rely on the plan in force, not on a draft. Drafts can be altered or shelved, as 2031 was. When the 2041 plan opens for public comment, anyone can see how it treats a particular parcel.
