Bangalore's Master Plan in Plain Words: RMP 2015, the 2041 Draft and What to Check on a Plot
A plot in Bangalore is not free to be used for anything. A government plan assigns each parcel a purpose and caps what can rise on it. That plan is the 2015 edition of the Revised Master Plan, which stays legally valid while its successor is drafted. The sections below cover its reach, the agencies behind the maps and the checks to finish before a booking amount changes hands.
What the Plan Controls
Under a state statute dating from 1961, every planning authority has to prepare a long-range development plan for its territory. In Bangalore that document is the RMP. It marks what each parcel may be used for and attaches rules to every category.
Those rules decide how much can be built, expressed as floor area ratio (FAR), plus how much of the plot the building may cover and how far it must stay from the boundary. Height caps and parking requirements follow, often linked to the plot's size and the road in front of it. A building plan gets sanctioned only if it respects both the permitted use and these rules.
Which Plan Is Valid Now
The government notified RMP 2015 on 22 June 2007 for the local planning area of the BDA. The year in its name is behind us, but it continues to apply until a replacement is approved. Land-use decisions inside BDA limits are therefore still checked against its maps.
The BDA put out a draft for 2031 in 2017, and the government pulled it back in 2020 for rework. Then, in August 2025, the authority asked consultants to bid for a Revised Master Plan 2041. The 2015 plan stays in place until the new one is finalised and notified.
Agencies Behind the Maps
The region has several planners. The city core falls to the BDA, which also forms its own layouts, while the BMRDA links planning across the larger metropolitan area. Beneath the BMRDA, separate local authorities handle towns such as Magadi, Kanakapura, Nelamangala, Hoskote and Anekal.
Two special-purpose authorities exist as well. BIAAPA covers the airport and its surroundings, Devanahalli among them, and BMICAPA looks after the corridor leading to Mysore. In addition, the Greater Bengaluru Authority, created in 2025, supervises civic administration through its corporations, which process building approvals, khata and property tax. The BDA remains the master planner for its own area until the law changes.
How the Map Is Coloured
Home buyers mostly meet the housing zones, which come in two forms. Main residential areas are meant for housing first, with other activity limited, while mixed residential areas let homes coexist with shops and small offices.
Elsewhere the map shows commercial belts along business districts and main roads, and industrial land that takes in hi-tech parks and industrial estates. Institutional land is set aside for schools, hospitals and government. Parks and water bodies are marked as open space, and agricultural or green-belt land is where housing layouts are generally not allowed.
Land shown as agricultural cannot turn into a plotted layout through a sale alone. The owner must first obtain a land-use change and then a conversion order for non-agricultural purposes, and each takes time. Many unapproved layouts on the city's fringe never cleared those hurdles.
Lakes, Drains and Other Strings
Buffers where building is barred ring lakes and follow the storm drains known locally as rajakaluves, whether primary, secondary or tertiary. Their width has been argued in court. The state cut the drain buffers in October 2025 and trimmed the lake buffers in February 2026, so a surveyor must confirm what applies to the exact plot.
Other limits exist too. Parcels near the airport face height clearances, heritage areas have their own controls, and a road marked for widening can take a strip from the frontage. A site with a tidy title may still lose usable area to one of those lines.
Six Checks Before Paying
A flat in an approved project has usually been through most of these questions, though reading the papers is still wise. A plot or a standalone house leaves the full risk with the buyer. Either buyer can work through this list:
- Take the survey number to the land-use map kept by the authority for that area.
- Confirm that the zone permits housing, then note the FAR and height allowed on that width of road.
- For plotted land, ask to see the approved layout plan and the order that converted the land.
- For a project, verify the building plan sanction and the RERA registration.
- Scout for lakes, storm drains, road-widening lines and airport height limits close to the site.
- Have a lawyer and a licensed surveyor go over the papers and walk the boundary.
Why the 2041 Plan Will Matter
A new plan can change what a parcel is worth. Re-colouring land from farm use to housing, or drawing a road wider than before, alters the buildable area and the price. People buying near Devanahalli or on Sarjapura Road, where growth is quick, follow these shifts with interest.
The safer path is to rely on the plan in force and not a promised amendment, since drafts get revised or dropped, as the 2031 one did. After the 2041 plan is released for public comment, owners and buyers can read how it treats a specific parcel.
