Registered valuer, government approved valuer, chartered engineer. Which do you need?

Three phrases get used as if they mean the same thing. They do not, and the wrong one on your report is a common reason for rejection. Here is the distinction in one line each.

• Registered valuer under income tax law. Registered with the Income-tax Department to value assets for income tax purposes. This is the one most people mean when they say government approved valuer.
• IBBI Registered Valuer. Registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India for valuations required under the Companies Act and insolvency proceedings.
• Chartered engineer. A professional engineering credential. Useful for technical certificates. Not a valuation registration at all.

Which one do you actually need?

Work backwards from who is going to read the report.

Income tax matters

Capital gains, fair market value as on 1 April 2001, a lower deduction application, Schedule AL in your return, a case before an assessing officer. These call for a valuer registered under the income tax machinery. The registration is maintained by the department, with registers held at the level of the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner, and the registration number belongs to the individual who signs.

Historically this credential traced back to Section 34AB of the Wealth-tax Act 1957. The new Income-tax Act 2025 carries registration of valuers forward under Section 514, with the associated rules setting out qualifications, the form of report and the duty to value impartially and to decline any asset in which the valuer has an interest. If you want certainty about how an existing registration carries across the transition, ask the valuer to show you the current register entry rather than relying on a general description.

Company and insolvency matters

Issue of shares, schemes of arrangement, mergers, non cash consideration, corporate insolvency resolution, liquidation. These require an IBBI Registered Valuer in the relevant asset class, which for property is Land and Building.

Bank lending

Banks maintain their own panels. A valuer may hold every registration going and still not be on the panel of the specific bank considering your loan. Ask the bank for its panel list before commissioning anything. This is the single most avoidable wasted fee we see.

Visa, immigration and net worth

There is no Indian registration specific to this. What foreign authorities want is a credential they can verify and a report that states it. Some, like the British Columbia entrepreneur stream, ask explicitly for an appraiser certified by the jurisdiction where the property sits. A verifiable Indian registration number satisfies that.

Plenty of valuers hold more than one

An experienced firm often holds both the income tax registration and an IBBI registration for Land and Building. That is precisely why the phrases get used interchangeably in marketing. It does not make them the same thing, and it does not mean any given individual holds both.

How to check, in about two minutes

1. Ask for the registration number and the name it is held in. Registration belongs to a person, not to a firm. The name on the register must match the name that will sign your report.
2. Ask which register. Income tax or IBBI. If the answer is vague, that is your answer.
3. Check the asset class. For property it must cover Land and Building, or immovable property. A registration for plant and machinery does not help you.
4. Check it is current. Registrations lapse.
5. Search the public register. The IBBI maintains a searchable list. Income tax registered valuer lists are published by jurisdiction.

We think you should do this to us as well as to anybody else. A firm that will not give you a number to check has told you something.

What a chartered engineer certificate is not valid for

A chartered engineer can certify construction cost, structural condition, area measurement and similar technical facts, and those certificates are genuinely useful. What that credential does not do is make somebody a registered valuer for income tax purposes. If your assessing officer has asked for a valuation report from a registered valuer, an engineer's certificate will not close the point, however competent the engineer.

The practical rule

Before you commission anything, ask the institution that will receive it what they require, in writing if you can. Bank, assessing officer, court, consulate. Five minutes spent on that question saves the cost of a report nobody will accept.