A note on the word "scam"
Most money lost in Dholera is not lost to outright fraud. It is lost to ambiguity that a seller had no incentive to resolve — a brochure that shows the SIR masterplan next to land outside the boundary, a scheme described as "TP4" without mentioning it is at draft stage, a road drawn on a layout that has not been built.
That distinction matters practically. Outright fraud is rare and hard to execute against a buyer who checks the revenue record. Ambiguity is everywhere, entirely legal, and costs buyers far more in aggregate. The checks below are aimed at ambiguity.
1. Outside-SIR land sold as inside
The most expensive misunderstanding in this market. Land inside the notified Special Investment Region sits in a town planning scheme, carries a final plot number, has a designated land use, and has a committed infrastructure programme behind it. Land outside the boundary has none of those things — it is ordinary revenue land under Gujarat law.
The pattern: marketing shows the Dholera SIR masterplan, the airport render and the expressway alignment, alongside a plotting layout that is nowhere inside the notified area. Nothing stated is technically false. The impression created is entirely false.
The check: ask one question in writing — is this survey number inside the notified SIR boundary, yes or no? A seller who will not answer in writing has answered.
2. Draft-stage schemes sold as final
A town planning scheme moves through draft, preliminary, final and sanctioned stages. At draft stage the layout is proposed and plot boundaries can still move. At sanctioned stage they are fixed and enforceable.
Buyers are routinely shown a scheme number — "this is TP4" — without the stage. The final plot you are shown at draft stage may not be the final plot you receive.
The check: ask for the scheme number and its current stage in writing, and cross-check against the sanctioned scheme record held by DSIRDA.
3. The demarcation swap
A buyer is driven to a well-developed parcel with visible road frontage, walks it, likes it, and later registers a different parcel some distance away. Because most buyers never physically demarcate boundaries against the survey map, the substitution is invisible until much later.
The check: insist the parcel is walked corner by corner against the survey map, and confirm the survey number of the land you are standing on before any payment.
4. Agricultural land sold as ready to build
Agricultural land requires non-agricultural (NA) conversion before development — a separate process with its own timeline, cost and uncertainty. It is frequently sold with the conversion described as a formality.
This also determines eligibility. Under FEMA, an NRI or OCI cannot acquire agricultural land at all. Buying it in contravention creates a defective title that is difficult to unwind.
The check: obtain the NA order as a document. Not an assurance, not a photograph of an application — the order.
5. Roads that exist only on the layout
Frontage on a wide road materially raises value. Layouts routinely show road networks that are planned rather than built, and a plot sold on "70 metre road frontage" may front a field.
The check: drive the access road. If it is not there, price the parcel as if it never will be, then treat construction as upside.
6. Proximity claims measured generously
"Near the airport", "adjacent to the expressway", "walking distance from the fab" are unregulated phrases. Distances are measured in straight lines, from boundary to boundary, or simply invented.
The check: put the coordinates into a mapping tool and measure the actual driving distance yourself.
7. Undisclosed co-owners
Revenue records frequently show multiple owners — inherited shares, unrecorded succession, family members abroad. Every one of them must be party to the sale. Deals collapse at registration when one co-owner in a chain declines to sign, often after money has moved.
The check: read the full mutation history on the 7/12, not just the current entry, and confirm every named holder is signing.
8. Assured returns without registered documentation
Arrangements promising a fixed annual return on land are common. Where the commitment exists only in an unregistered memorandum of understanding, enforcement is extremely difficult.
The check: any return commitment must sit in a registered document, and you should have your own advocate read it before signing.