In only three years, online registration of documents has seen a surge of 58 per cent. Of the 1.35 lakh registrations in Mumbai in 2014-15, only 259 were made online. The figure shot to 19,878 in 2015-16. And now, the first three months of this financial year have already seen 30,359 online registrations out of the total 52,302. This shows the inclination of people towards online registration instead of registering their documents manually which often means waiting in long queues.

Online searches have gone up too. The free search system is used for downloading documents that are registered with the stamp duty office. According to statistics, free search has gone up from 5.80 lakh in 2012 to 48.21 lakh in 2017. However, the highest number of free searches was in 2016 at 24.10 crore.

These figures, sourced from the state's Inspector General of Registration's office, include all kinds of registrations but primarily include property registration. The documents registered are that of sale, leave and licenses, transfer of property, cancellation of registration, deeds and others.

According to Prakash Rohira, a realtor from Bandra, the number of e-registrations is up because people do not like standing in queues and visiting offices. "When things can happening at a click on your computer, why would you take the pain of visiting a registration office and stand in queue, wait for your token number to be announced and follow all the tiresome formalities?"

The figures have seen a drastic change, from a mere 0.19 per cent of documents being registered online in 2014-15 the percentage has gone to 58.05 in the first three months of 2017-18. "More documents are being registered online and the trend is visible. Even the crowd at registration offices has started coming down which is a good sign," said a senior official.