In a bid to revive the ailing real estate business due to COVID-19 led lockdown, India's western state of Maharashtra on Wednesday reduced stamped duty to 3 percent from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31 and to 2 percent in subsequent quarter between Jan. 1 to March 31.

As per prevailing law, stamp duty is levied at 5 percent of the agreement value of the real estate transactions.

The state government's decision to reduce the stamp duty augurs well for the revival of real estate in Mumbai Metropolitan region as it will encourage buyers to invest in real that has been ailing amid the pandemic, said Nayan Shah, president of an industry body on real estate sector.

To ease inventory pile-up and cost overruns, several developers have already been offering discounts along with incentives like easy payment scheme and assorted freebies and the stamp duty reduction will be welcomed by the fraternity, another developer from Mumbai said.