Indian State Testing Blockchain Technology for Land Registry

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Indian State Testing Blockchain Technology for Land Registry
Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has decided to use blockchain technology to build a secure system of land registration.

According to a report in CNBC, the state government has teamed up with Swedish start-up ChromaWay to create a blockchain-powered system to make the land registration process more transparent.

ChromaWay will connect blockchain technology to a traditional database to build a web application for the land sale and purchase process.

The blockchain-based solution will help the state fight frauds in the land ownership system, J.A. Chowdary, special chief secretary and IT advisor to the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, told CNBC.

“The current system is rife with corruption,” Chowdary said, noting that an estimated $700 million “is being paid in bribes at land registrars across India.”

“Fraud is rampant and disputes over titles often end up in court. Matters related to land and property make up about two-thirds of all civil cases in the country,” Chowdary added.

According to the report, ChromaWay will work with the Indian state to create a secure and better system of buying and selling real-estate by combining a traditional land registry database with blockchain technology. The company will use its Postchain” platform, which uses blockchain technology and mature database systems.

A “transparent, resilient and secure” can be created by “combining blockchain with [a] database,” CNBC quoted ChromaWay CEO Henrik Hjelte as saying.