Before you fall in love with a floor plan, one question decides what's actually possible on your land: how much can you legally build on it? In Delhi NCR that answer comes down to three rules — FAR, ground coverage and setbacks — set by your plot's sanctioning authority. Get them right and your design sails through approval. Get them wrong and you're redrawing plans or, worse, dealing with an unauthorised construction. This guide explains each rule in plain English and shows how they differ across NCR.
FAR: the number that caps your total build
FAR — Floor Area Ratio — is the ratio of your total built-up floor area (summed across every floor) to your plot area. If your plot is 100 sq.m and the permissible FAR is 2.0, you may build 200 sq.m of total floor area, whether that's spread over two floors, three or four. FAR is the master cap: no matter how you stack the floors, their total can't exceed plot area × FAR.
Ground coverage: the footprint cap
Ground coverage limits how much of your plot the building may occupy at ground level, expressed as a percentage. At 60% ground coverage on a 250 sq.m plot, the building footprint can be at most 150 sq.m — the remaining 100 sq.m stays open (setbacks, parking, yard). Ground coverage and FAR work together: coverage caps the footprint of each floor, FAR caps the total across floors. That relationship is why smaller plots often get higher coverage but you still need several floors to use your full FAR.
Setbacks and height
Setbacks are the mandatory open margins between your building and the plot boundary — front, rear and sides — and they effectively determine your buildable footprint within the coverage cap. Larger plots require larger setbacks. Height and floor count are capped too: most NCR authorities permit stilt+4 (stilt parking plus four floors) on eligible residential plots, subject to plot size and abutting road width.
How the rules differ across NCR
This is where many homeowners get caught out: the same plot size yields different permissible FAR and coverage depending on which authority sanctions it. Here's an indicative picture (always confirm against your sanctioned plan — figures vary by zone, road width, sector and plot category):
| City / Authority | Plot band | Ground coverage | FAR | Max floors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delhi — DDA / MPD-2021 | up to 100 sq.m | 90% | 3.5 | 3 |
| Delhi — DDA / MPD-2021 | up to 250 sq.m | 75% | 3.0 | 3 |
| Delhi — DDA / MPD-2021 | up to 750 sq.m | 60% | 2.4 | 3 |
| Delhi — DDA / MPD-2021 | up to 1000 sq.m | 50% | 1.8 | 4 |
| Gurgaon / Faridabad — Haryana DTCP | up to 150 sq.m | 66% | 2.31 | 4 |
| Gurgaon / Faridabad — Haryana DTCP | up to 250 sq.m | 60% | 1.98 | 4 |
| Noida — Noida Authority | up to 300 sq.m | 60% | 2.75 | 4 |
| Noida — Noida Authority | up to 500 sq.m | 55% | 2.50 | 4 |
| Ghaziabad — GDA (UP) | up to 300 sq.m | 55% | 2.50 | 4 |
Estimate your buildable area
Our FAR calculator applies your city's authority slabs to your plot size and returns an indicative built-up area, ground coverage and floor count in seconds.
Open the FAR calculatorStilt+4 and the parking rule
A common NCR configuration is stilt+4: an open stilt level for parking beneath four residential floors. The stilt typically doesn't count toward FAR the way habitable floors do, which is why it's popular — it buys covered parking without eating into your buildable area. Eligibility depends on plot size and, in Delhi, DDA norms (broadly plots of 100–1000 sq.m). Your authority's exact rule governs.
Getting it right on your plot
The rules above are indicative starting points. Your actual permissible FAR, coverage and height depend on your plot's zone, the width of the road it abuts, its sector and category, and the current sanctioned norms — which is exactly the kind of detail ZuildUp works out as part of a turnkey build. We design plot-aware from day one, so the plan you approve is the plan that sanctions and gets built. If you'd like a city-specific view, our city pages cover the approval track for Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is FAR in construction?+
FAR (Floor Area Ratio) is the ratio of total built-up floor area to plot area. A FAR of 2.0 on a 100 sq.m plot lets you build 200 sq.m of total floor area across all floors. It's the single number that caps how much you can build.
What is the difference between FAR and ground coverage?+
Ground coverage limits how much of the plot the building can occupy at ground level (a footprint cap), while FAR limits the total floor area summed across all floors. Ground coverage controls the footprint; FAR controls the total build.
How many floors can I build in Delhi NCR?+
Most NCR authorities permit stilt+4 on eligible residential plots, though the exact limit depends on plot size, road width and your authority. Our FAR calculator gives an indicative figure for your plot and city.
Does FAR differ between Delhi, Gurgaon and Noida?+
Yes — each authority sets its own slabs. Delhi follows DDA/MPD-2021, Gurgaon and Faridabad follow Haryana DTCP norms, and Noida and Ghaziabad follow their respective UP authorities. The permissible FAR and coverage for the same plot size can differ meaningfully between them.