Going Digital : Credit Effects of Land Registry Computerization in India

Despite strong beliefs that property
titling and registration will enhance credit access,
empirical evidence in support of such effects remains scant.
The gradual roll-out of computerization of land registry
systems across Andhra Pradesh's 387 sub-registry
offices allows us to combine quarterly administrative data
on credit disbursed by all commercial banks for an
eleven-year period (1997-2007) aggregated to the
sub-registry office level with the date of shifting
registration from manual to digital. Computerization had no
credit effect in rural areas but led to increased
credit-supply in urban ones. A marked increase of registered
urban mortgages due to computerization supports the
robustness of the result. At the same time, estimated
impacts from reduction of the stamp duty are much larger,
suggesting that, without further changes in the property
rights system, impacts of computerization will remain marginal.