What a property e-auction is
A property e-auction is a public sale in which a government authority — a development authority or an estate office — sells plots or built units to the highest bidder. The authority publishes a notice, opens a registration window, and collects a refundable deposit from each participant online. It then runs the bidding on a fixed date: usually online, though some authorities hold the bidding in person at a venue named in the notice.
The winning bid must be at or above the reserve price — the published floor below which no bid counts. The authority then issues the paperwork that leads to allotment, which is the authority formally assigning the plot to the winner.
This guide explains the sequence every such auction follows so you can read any official notice and know what stage you are looking at. BiddingPulse researches these auctions and lays out the facts each notice carries; registration, deposit, and bidding all happen on the official government source, never on BiddingPulse. Where this guide gives real dates or figures, it names the exact document they come from, because the details differ by authority and by phase — so always confirm them on the official source before you act.
Step 1 — the auction notice
Everything starts with the notice. The authority publishes a dated document (often a tender or an e-auction notice) that lists the sites on offer, their sizes and tenure — whether you own the plot outright (freehold) or hold it on a long lease (leasehold) — the reserve price, the deposit amount, and the full timetable. The notice is the single source of truth for that phase: every later step traces back to a clause or a table in it.
For example, the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) issued its notice on 25 June 2026 for a residential-plot auction in Indirapuram Extension. — per the GDA auction notice dated 25.06.2026 (Auction notice p. 1).
A notice is not a promise of any result. It is the authority stating what it is selling and on what terms; reading it in full is how you learn the reserve, the deposit, and the deadlines for the specific plots you are interested in.
Step 2 — registration on the official portal
To take part you register on the official portal the notice names, and each authority uses its own. GDA uses its notice page; the Estate Office of U.T. Chandigarh uses the central government portal (eauction.gov.in); the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has its own e-auction portal; the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) uses the Karnataka Public Procurement Portal (KPPP). Registration usually means creating an account, submitting the documents the notice asks for, and doing so inside a set window.
The window is dated in the notice. The GDA Indirapuram Extension notice sets its registration and brochure window as 27 June to 13 July 2026. — per the GDA auction notice p. 1.
Step 3 — the earnest-money deposit (EMD)
Alongside registration you place the earnest-money deposit — the EMD — which is a refundable deposit you put down to show you are a serious bidder. It must reach the authority by the deadline in the notice; miss it and you cannot bid. How the amount is set differs by authority: GDA’s Indirapuram Extension plot list prints a rupee figure per plot that works out to about 10% of the reserve (a ratio computed from the figures, not one the notice states). — per the GDA plot list for the 17.07.2026 auction.
The DDA 22nd-phase tender set a first-stage EMD of 5% of the reserve, paid by NEFT, RTGS, or e-payment, while BDA’s T-08/2026-27 notification sets a flat ₹4 lakh per site regardless of the reserve. — per the DDA 22nd Phase e-auction tender dated 22.04.2026 (Ch. I clause 2.2) and the BDA English e-auction notification T-08/2026-27.
If you do not win, the EMD is returned to you per the authority’s terms; if you win and then fail to complete the next steps, the authority can forfeit it. Our companion guide on the EMD walks through the shares, deadlines, and refund and forfeiture terms in more detail — always confirm the exact figure and cut-off on the official source before you deposit.
Step 4 — the bidding
On the auction date, registered bidders who have placed the EMD compete by bidding at or above the reserve; the highest valid bid when the window closes wins. Where you do this depends on the authority.
For most authorities the bidding is online. The DDA 22nd-phase residential auction ran on the DDA e-auction portal on 1 June 2026 between 10 AM and 1 PM IST, and BDA’s T-08/2026-27 e-auction runs in timed rounds on the Karnataka Public Procurement Portal over 28 to 31 July 2026. — per the DDA 22nd Phase tender (Ch. I clauses 2.3.3 and 2.3.6) and the BDA English e-auction notification T-08/2026-27.
A few authorities take registration and the deposit online but hold the bidding in person. For GDA’s Indirapuram Extension auction, the notice names Hindi Bhavan, Lohiya Nagar, Ghaziabad as the venue, with the auction on 17 July 2026 at 11 AM IST — a bidder there attends in person. Check the per-authority guide, and the notice, for where a given auction’s bidding happens. — per the GDA plot list for the 17.07.2026 auction (p. 1).
The final figure a plot fetches is decided by this competitive bidding, not by the reserve — so it can land above the reserve. BiddingPulse does not run the bidding, take bids, or report the final sale price.
Step 5 — allotment letter and payment schedule
After bidding closes the authority processes the highest bidder and issues the paperwork that sets the payment schedule — commonly a letter of intent (the letter saying you won) followed by a demand-cum-allotment letter (the letter that formally assigns the plot and asks for the balance). The pattern is usually a staged payment: a top-up soon after the award, then the balance within a longer window. Under the DDA 22nd-phase tender the highest bidder tops the deposit up to 25% of the bid within 7 days of the letter of intent, and pays the remaining 75% within 60 days of the demand-cum-allotment letter. — per the DDA 22nd Phase tender (Ch. I clauses 2.2 and 2.4.4–2.4.5).
The Estate Office of U.T. Chandigarh follows the same shape on different timings: the successful bidder deposits 25% of the bid, minus the EMD already paid, within 48 hours of the award, and the remaining 75% is due in a lump sum within 90 days of the auction. — per the Estate Office Chandigarh terms and conditions for e-Auction 2026_CH_189.
These schedules are authority-specific and phase-specific: the exact days, amounts, and consequences of a missed stage are set out in the notice and terms for the auction you are following. The per-authority guides below lay out what each one does.
Reading it for yourself
The five steps above are the spine of every public property e-auction in India, but the dates, deposits, and payment terms are set per authority and per phase. The reliable way to read any auction is to open its official notice, find the schedule table and the deposit and payment clauses, and confirm each figure there. BiddingPulse gathers those official documents and lays the facts side by side with a link back to each source, so you can check them yourself before you take any step on the official portal.