FAR and FSI in Bangalore: What Floor Area Ratio Means for Home Buyers
Floor area ratio (FAR) is the planning figure that decides how much building a plot in Bangalore may carry. It explains why one project rises 30 floors while its neighbour stops at four, and it is the yardstick for telling approved floors from added ones. This guide covers how FAR is worked out, what sets it in the city, how premium FAR and TDR raise it, the rule changes of 2025 and 2026, and the checks a buyer should run.
What FAR and FSI Mean
FAR compares two areas: the floor area counted across every level of a building, and the land it is built on. The first figure divided by the second gives the ratio. Floor space index (FSI) is the same measure under another name, sometimes written as a percentage. An FSI of 200% and a 2.0 FAR describe one and the same permission.
The arithmetic is simple. At a FAR of 2.0, a 4,000 sq ft plot may carry 8,000 sq ft of counted floor area, and a 10,000 sq m site with a FAR of 2.5 may carry 25,000 sq m. How that area is stacked into floors depends on other rules, such as setbacks, ground coverage and height limits.
Some parts of a building are left out of the count. Parking in basements and on stilt floors is generally excluded, along with a few service areas. This is why the total built-up area of a large project is always higher than the land area times the FAR.
What Decides the FAR on a Bangalore Plot
The city's FAR rules come from the zonal regulations of the Revised Master Plan 2015 (RMP 2015), which remains the plan in force. For land outside the city's planning area, the local planning authority's own master plan applies. Within each plan, three things do most of the work:
- The width of the road the plot faces: wider roads carry a higher FAR
- The size of the plot: larger sites move into higher slabs
- The land use zone and the planning ring the plot falls in
Under the RMP 2015 tables, the ordinary FAR for housing starts at 1.75 on small plots and narrow roads. It reaches 3.00 for a site of more than 20,000 sq m on a road of 24 to 30 metres, and 3.25 where the road is wider than 30 metres. Two plots a street apart can therefore hold very different permissions, and a tall building nearby proves nothing about the plot next to it.
These figures are a guide to the range. The FAR for a specific property is the one written on its sanctioned plan, and that is the figure a buyer should ask for.
Premium FAR and TDR
A developer may build above the ordinary FAR in two lawful ways, and each must be shown on the approved drawings. Both routes are legitimate when the approval is on paper.
Premium FAR
Premium FAR is additional buildable area that a developer buys from the planning authority. The state added it to the RMP 2015 zonal regulations through a notification dated 21 February 2025. The first version tied the extra area to road width: 0.2 times the ordinary FAR on roads of 9 to 12 metres, 0.4 times on 12 to 18 metres, and 0.6 times above 18 metres.
A second notification on 5 February 2026 widened this. Additional FAR of up to 0.6 times the ordinary FAR is now open to sites on any road wider than 9 metres. The charge is linked to the guidance value of the land, and the premium FAR must be used on the site it was granted for. Within the city, the five city corporations grant it for their own areas.
Transferable development rights
Transferable development rights (TDR) are certificates given to an owner who hands over land for public works, a wider road being the usual case. The holder may use the rights as extra floor area on another eligible plot or sell them to a developer. Under the premium FAR rules, the total extra FAR on a site, from premium FAR and TDR together, is capped at 60% of the ordinary FAR.
In practice, the cap works like this. A site with an ordinary FAR of 2.5 may reach 4.0 with the full extra allowance, and a site at 3.25 may reach 5.2. The 10,000 sq m site in the earlier example would move from 25,000 sq m to 40,000 sq m of counted floor area.
What Changed in 2025 and 2026
FAR rules in the city have moved several times in two years, so a figure remembered from an older purchase may be out of date. The main steps were these:
- February 2025: premium FAR introduced into the RMP 2015 zonal regulations
- February 2026: the extra allowance of up to 0.6 times extended to all sites on roads wider than 9 metres
- April 2026: draft building bye-laws proposed a tolerance for small FAR deviations, with added floors kept outside it
- June 2026: the Karnataka High Court upheld the premium FAR notifications
- June 2026: draft amendments to the zonal regulations published for public objections
The High Court ruling came on 15 June 2026, when a division bench dismissed an appeal and two petitions that had challenged the premium FAR notifications. Premium FAR is therefore a settled part of the rules for now.
The draft amendments of 4 June 2026 are still proposals. They would define a high-rise as a building of 21 metres or more and allow high-rises only on roads at least 12 metres wide. They would also let an owner count land given up free for road widening when the FAR is worked out. The final version may differ, so decisions should rest on the rules in force on the date of the plan sanction.
Why FAR Matters to a Home Buyer
FAR shapes daily life in a project. A higher FAR on the same land means more homes sharing the lifts, the parking, the water supply and the open space. It also tends to spread the land cost over more flats, which can soften the price of each one. Density is a trade-off to weigh, and more FAR is neither good nor bad on its own.
The legal side matters more. Any floor area above the approved FAR has no sanction, and it can delay the occupancy certificate for the whole building. Banks lend less readily on such homes, and the problem stays with the flat at resale. The city's 2026 drafts allow only a small margin of FAR deviation to be regularised, and an extra floor is outside that margin altogether.
Extra FAR also affects each owner's undivided share of land. When a developer adds floors through premium FAR or TDR, the same land is divided among more flats. The share recorded in the sale deed should match the final sanctioned plan.
FAR Checks Before Buying
These checks apply to a new project, a resale flat or a small builder-floor building alike. Most need only the approved drawings and a site visit.
- Get a copy of the sanctioned plan and write down which authority approved it, with the plan number and date.
- Read the FAR statement on the plan: the plot area, the FAR allowed and the FAR consumed.
- Count the floors on site and compare them with the floors on the plan.
- Find out if TDR or premium FAR went into the building, and look for the payment receipt or the TDR certificate details.
- For a project under construction, match the sanctioned FAR and the tower heights with the Karnataka RERA registration.
- For a completed building, ask for the occupancy certificate, which confirms that the building follows its plan.
- Have an architect measure the built area where the building looks larger than its plan.
A developer who is building within the rules has no reason to hold back the sanctioned plan. Reluctance to share it, or a floor described as awaiting approval, is a signal to pause until the paper catches up.
We help buyers read sanctioned plans and RERA registrations for projects across the city, from East Bangalore to the northern suburbs. Contact our team with the project name for help with the documents to request.
