At a glance
Channel partner management is how an Indian residential builder registers the brokers who bring it buyers, decides which partner owns each referred lead, and calculates, approves and pays their commission. Most broker disputes come from three gaps: no written rule for who registered a buyer first and for how long, a commission that is “earned” at booking but has no agreed trigger for payment, and payouts made without recording the TDS deducted. A workable programme writes each of those down before the first referral, checks every partner’s RERA agent registration, matches every referral by phone number against the leads you already hold, and releases commission against money the buyer has actually paid.
Updated . Rules as of October 2026 — check your state RERA rules and your CA.
What a channel partner is in Indian real estate
A channel partner in Indian real estate is an outside broker, firm or individual who introduces buyers to a builder’s project and is paid a commission when a sale results.
In law, a channel partner is a “real estate agent”. The RERA Act defines the term widely: anyone who negotiates for a buyer or seller and is paid for it by commission or otherwise, including a person who introduces prospective buyers and sellers through any medium, and property dealers, brokers and middlemen.
Who owns a referred lead
Lead ownership is the rule that decides which partner is paid when a buyer could have come through more than one route — two brokers, or a broker and your own website. No law sets it; each builder chooses its rules and should put them in the channel partner agreement. These are the common choices.
| Question | Common options | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| How does a partner claim a buyer? | Register the buyer’s name and phone with the builder before the first visit — by form, email, a referral link or a partner portal | A claim sent by WhatsApp to one sales executive is hard to prove later. Use one channel with a timestamp. |
| Who wins when two partners claim the same buyer? | First registration wins; or the partner who brings the buyer to the site visit wins | First-registration is simple to apply; visit-tagging rewards the partner who did the work but needs the visit recorded on the day. |
| What if the buyer is already in your CRM? | An existing lead stays with whoever has it — your team or the earlier partner — and the new claim is logged as a duplicate | Match on the phone number, not the name: names are spelled many ways, phones are not. |
| How long does a claim last? | A validity window — for example 30, 60 or 90 days from registration or from the site visit — after which the buyer is open again | Say whether a site visit or follow-up inside the window extends it. |
Whatever you choose, tell the partner at the moment of the claim whether it was accepted or was a duplicate, not weeks later at booking.
Commission structures and payout triggers
Commission is usually set per partner or per project in the channel partner agreement. Two decisions matter: how the amount is calculated, and when it is earned compared with when it is paid.
| Structure | How it works | Typical fit |
|---|---|---|
| Flat percentage | A fixed % of the agreement value (for example, 2%) for every unit sold | Most projects; easy to explain and to check |
| Slab | The % rises with the number of units or the sales value a partner closes in a period | Rewarding high-volume partners or a launch push |
| Per unit | A fixed rupee amount per unit, whatever its price | Plotted developments and units of similar value |
| Payout trigger | When the partner is paid | Risk to the builder |
|---|---|---|
| On booking | In full once the booking amount is received | Highest: if the booking cancels, the money must be recovered from the partner |
| On agreement | In full once the agreement for sale is registered | Lower: the buyer has committed, but has paid only part of the price |
| As the customer pays | In proportion to the money collected from the buyer | Lowest: commission never runs ahead of collections |
Many builders combine them — for example, half on agreement and the rest as the buyer pays. Write down what happens to commission when a booking is cancelled before you pay anything, not after.
The rules in India: RERA, TDS and GST
Rules as of October 2026 — check your state RERA rules and your CA.
These are the central rules that touch a channel partner programme. States add their own RERA rules on top, so treat this as a checklist for your CA and legal team, not as advice.
RERA: a broker must be registered to sell in a registered project
Under section 9(1) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, no real estate agent may facilitate the sale or purchase of a plot, apartment or building in a RERA-registered project without first registering with the state Real Estate Regulatory Authority. The authority grants one registration for the whole state and a registration number, which the agent must quote in every sale it facilitates (section 9(5)). Registration is valid for a period set by state rules and can be renewed (section 9(6)).
Sources: RERA Act, 2016 (PRS India)
RERA: what a registered broker must and must not do
Section 10 requires a registered agent not to facilitate sales in a project that is not registered with the authority, to keep the books, records and documents the rules prescribe, and not to engage in unfair trade practices — such as falsely claiming that it or the builder holds an approval or affiliation it does not have, or making misleading statements about its services. An agent who breaks section 9 or 10 faces a penalty of ₹10,000 for every day of default, up to 5% of the cost of the plot, apartment or building whose sale it facilitated, as determined by the authority (section 62). Separately, a builder’s application to register a project must list the names and addresses of its real estate agents, if any (section 4(2)(j)).
Sources: RERA Act, 2016 (PRS India)
TDS: 2% on brokerage above ₹20,000 a year
A builder paying brokerage or commission to a resident partner deducts TDS at 2% (an individual or HUF builder below the turnover limit for tax audit is outside this rule — ask your CA), at the time the commission is credited to the partner’s account or paid, whichever is earlier, once the total paid to that partner in the financial year exceeds ₹20,000. The rate was cut from 5% to 2% from 1 October 2024 and the threshold raised from ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 from 1 April 2025, under section 194-H of the Income-tax Act, 1961. From 1 April 2026 the same deduction sits in section 393(1) of the Income-tax Act, 2025, at the same 2% and ₹20,000. A higher rate applies if the partner has no valid PAN.
Sources: Income Tax Department: section 393 · TDSMAN: section 393(1), brokerage · TaxGuru: 194-H cut to 2% · ClearTax: section 194-H
GST: a registered partner bills brokerage with GST, generally at 18%
Real estate brokerage is a taxable service, and a GST-registered partner charges GST on its commission invoice, generally at 18%. Whether a particular small broker must register for GST, and whether you can claim the input tax credit, depends on the partner and on your own GST position — ask your CA.
Sources: ClearTax: GST on brokerage
Common mistakes with channel partners
No written lead-ownership rule
Put the claim method, the tie-breaker and the validity window in the agreement, or every overlap becomes a negotiation.
Not checking the partner’s RERA registration
Note the agent’s RERA registration number and its expiry when you empanel the partner, and check it is still valid before paying. The registration number has to be quoted in every sale the agent facilitates.
Paying in full at booking
A booking that cancels in month two leaves you chasing a broker for money already spent. Tie payment to the agreement or to collections.
Payouts without TDS recorded
Paying the gross amount and sorting out TDS at year end leaves the partner’s tax credit and your records out of step. Record gross, TDS and net on every payout.
How ZevroCRM handles channel partners
- A partner registry with firm, RERA registration number and commission rate per partner. A rate above 10% is refused as a typo, not clamped.
- One referral link per partner; the first claim wins. A partner portal gives the broker their own view of leads and payouts.
- Every enquiry, including broker enquiries, is deduplicated by phone.
- Commission accrues at conversion as a snapshot, is approved by a manager, and is released as receipts come in — with TDS recorded like every other deduction.
- Releasable commission = earned × collected ÷ booking value, so a payout never runs ahead of what the buyer has paid.
- Money is never un-approved: a commission with a payout against it cannot be cancelled, and a cancellation must carry a reason that stays in the audit trail.
- Channel partners and commissions are on the Growth plan and above.