The IGRS Telangana portal at registration.telangana.gov.in handles two things that most guides treat separately: registering property transactions, and searching records on properties that have already been registered. Both functions live on the same portal, but they use different sections and work in different ways.
For NRIs managing property from abroad, the records lookup side is usually where the friction starts. The portal offers four search modes, each suited to a different situation. Choosing the wrong one, or selecting the wrong Sub-Registrar Office, produces no results even when records clearly exist. That blank result gets misread as a clean title, which is a different problem entirely.
This guide covers which portal to use for which task, how to select the right search mode on IGRS, and what specific errors mean and how to fix them.
IGRS Telangana vs Bhu Bharati: which portal for what
Before searching, it helps to confirm you are on the right portal. There are now two active government portals covering Telangana property records, and they handle different types of information.
IGRS Telangana (registration.telangana.gov.in) Handles: property registration (sale deeds, gift deeds, mortgage deeds, lease deeds, partition deeds), encumbrance certificate search, market value lookup, document number search, and SRO appointment booking. This portal covers all registered transactions, for both urban and agricultural properties, going back to approximately 1983 in digital form.
Bhu Bharati (bhubharati.telangana.gov.in) Handles: pattadar passbooks, Rights in Land and Tenancy Certificates (RTC), Pahani (Adangal), Record of Rights (ROR 1B), land mutation, and Bhudhar number assignment. Bhu Bharati replaced the Dharani portal in April 2025, under the Telangana Bhu Bharathi Act, 2025. It is the authoritative source for agricultural and assigned land ownership records.
The practical split for most searches:
| Task | Portal to use |
|---|---|
| Encumbrance certificate | IGRS Telangana |
| Registered transaction history | IGRS Telangana |
| Market value / guideline value | IGRS Telangana |
| SRO appointment booking | IGRS Telangana |
| Pattadar passbook | Bhu Bharati |
| Pahani / ROR 1B | Bhu Bharati |
| Mutation status | Bhu Bharati |
| Land record errors / corrections | Bhu Bharati |
For urban residential properties within GHMC limits, IGRS handles both registration and the most relevant record lookups. Agricultural land requires both portals: IGRS for transaction history, Bhu Bharati for ownership and cultivation records.
For a full account of why the Dharani-to-Bhu Bharati transition happened and what it means for existing records, see our explainer on the portal change.
Choosing the right search mode on IGRS Telangana
The EC search on IGRS offers four ways to locate a property’s records. Picking the wrong one is the single most common reason searches return no results.
By Document Number
Use this when you already have a specific registered document and want to retrieve it or confirm it is in the system.
Telangana document numbers are serial numbers assigned at registration. On the physical deed, the number appears in the format serial/year (for example, 9845/2023). On the portal, you enter the serial number and year separately alongside the district and SRO fields. If the portal rejects the number, try entering it without any leading zeros, as the portal’s format sensitivity varies by SRO and registration era. If it still fails, switch to a survey number search for the same SRO and period.
This is the fastest and most precise search mode when the information is available.
By Survey Number (or Plot / Sy. No.)
This is the standard mode for an EC lookup and covers the widest range of situations.
The survey number is the Revenue Department’s identifier for a land parcel. For urban properties within approved layouts, the survey number is typically a subdivision number such as 123/A or 45/B/1. For agricultural and rural plots, it is usually a plain number such as 78 or 234/1. Enter only the number itself, without unit text like “Sq. Yards,” “Acres,” or “Cents.”
Two things to check before entering:
First, Telangana has resurveyed and renumbered many urban survey parcels as layouts were approved and GHMC limits expanded. If the survey number on your sale deed does not return results, check whether a resurvey replaced the number. Neighbouring properties’ EC results can sometimes reveal the updated number if the deed references the same street or block.
Second, when entering subdivision numbers (e.g., 45/B/1), try alternate formats: 45B1, 45/B/1, and 45B/1. The portal’s indexing is not always consistent in how it stored subdivision suffixes at point of registration.
By Door Number (House Number)
Door number search is for urban properties that have an assigned municipal address. This is the GHMC or municipality-assigned number on the property, not the survey number.
Use this mode when you have a city address but do not have the survey number or original document. The portal surfaces all registered transactions linked to that municipal address. It is particularly useful when a property has been sold, gifted, or mortgaged multiple times under the same door number even as survey subdivisions changed.
The limitation: properties in unapproved or recently regularised layouts, gated communities without municipal door numbers, or rural areas do not have door numbers in the IGRS system. For those, use the survey number mode.
By Party Name (Owner Name)
A name search returns documents where the entered name appears as buyer or seller in the registered deed. It is the least reliable search mode and should be used only when no property identifier is available.
The portal matches on the name as it was typed at registration. Spelling variations, missing middle names, initials versus full names, or a name change after marriage will all cause a mismatch. A nil result from a name search does not mean no transactions exist.
If you need to use this mode, try multiple variations: with and without middle name, with initials only, and with common transliteration alternatives for Telugu names (Rao versus Rао, Reddy versus Redy, and so on). Cross-reference any results you find against the survey number to confirm they relate to your property.
Getting an EC and booking an SRO appointment
Once you have confirmed the right SRO and chosen your search mode, the EC process itself is straightforward. For a step-by-step walkthrough, including what to do when records are missing and how to obtain a certified physical copy, see our guide to getting an EC online.
For SRO appointment booking, the process goes through the same portal via the Public Data Entry module. Stamp duty, the full NRI requirements including POA and FEMA declaration, and the biometric verification process are covered in our Hyderabad property registration guide.
Common portal errors and how to handle them
No records found when you expect results
This is the most frequent issue. It does not mean the property is encumbrance-free.
The first thing to verify is the Sub-Registrar Office. The EC database is indexed by the SRO that registered the original transaction, not by the property’s current location or nearest SRO. A property in Madhapur may have been registered under the HMDA SRO, the Jubilee Hills SRO, or the Gachibowli SRO depending on when it was registered and how SRO jurisdictions shifted. If your first search returns nothing, try the two or three SROs adjacent to your property’s location before drawing any conclusion.
If the SRO is correct and the search still returns nothing, the next question is the date range. Records before 1983 are not on the portal. For older properties or agricultural land, a nil result for a search starting in 1983 means the digital record starts at a later date, not that the transaction history is clean. A manual search at the SRO using Form 22 is the only way to check pre-1983 periods.
For properties in districts formed during Telangana’s 2016 reorganisation, the SRO that registered the original deed may no longer have the same name or boundary. A property registered in old Karimnagar may now sit in the Rajanna Sircilla or Peddapalli district, and searching under “Karimnagar” alone will not surface it. Our guide to records in Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, and Khammam covers the split district issue in detail.
Session timeout and CAPTCHA failure
The IGRS portal has a session timeout and uses CAPTCHA on most search forms. If the page reloads mid-search or the CAPTCHA fails repeatedly, the form data resets. Note down your survey number, SRO, and date range before starting a search so you can re-enter without looking them up again. If searches return a blank page after submitting, clearing cookies and retrying in incognito mode resolves most cases. Using Chrome reduces CAPTCHA issues; the portal has known compatibility problems with Safari and some Firefox versions on certain form elements.
Invalid document number
The portal rejects document numbers that do not match its expected format. The document number is a serial number printed on the physical deed, entered without slashes (the year is entered in a separate field). Older deeds may have the number written in a combined format on the paper: strip it down to the serial number alone. If it is still rejected, switch to the survey number search for the same SRO and a date range around the known registration year.
Market Value tool not loading
The Market Value and the EC search are separate tools on the portal that occasionally fail independently of each other. If the Market Value tool errors out, clear your browser cookies and retry. The tools have distinct URL paths and sometimes one will load correctly when the other is temporarily unavailable. If the tool remains unavailable, guideline values can also be obtained at the SRO directly.
Biometric failure at the SRO
Aadhaar-based biometric verification has been mandatory for all parties at SROs since January 2026. The standard Aadhaar eKYC process uses both fingerprint and iris scans. For NRIs attending through a POA holder, the holder’s Aadhaar biometrics must be active and linked before the appointment date. If biometric verification fails, raise a biometric exemption request with the SRO officer with supporting documentation. Do not leave the SRO without confirming the resolution path, as rescheduling an appointment can add days to the timeline.
A note on NRI access
All the records lookup tools on IGRS Telangana are accessible from outside India. You do not need to be physically present, logged in via an Indian number, or connected through a VPN. The EC search, document retrieval, and market value tools work from any browser, anywhere.
The SRO appointment and registration process requires physical attendance in India, or a registered POA holder if you cannot attend. The records side of the portal requires no presence at all.
Assetly pulls records directly from IGRS and Bhu Bharati, so if the portal itself is returning errors or you want your property records organised in one place without navigating it yourself, that is the faster route.
