The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has put up an impressive performance on the revenue generation front by collecting a whopping ₹1,917 crore by way of property tax for the financial year 2023-24.
Of this, a total of ₹429 crore was collected merely in the last two weeks before March 31, which is a feat unto itself. Out of this, ₹123 crore was collected on the final day.
Deploying the proverbial carrot and stick approach, the corporation offered one time settlement scheme to defaulters on the one hand and started seizures of commercial properties on the other.
A statement from GHMC Commissioner D. Ronald Rose said this was a record collection and 15.5% more than the previous year’s collection of ₹1,660 crore. It is even higher than the revised budgetary estimates of ₹1,810 crore, the statement said. However, the collection fell short of the targeted ₹2,100 crore.
The one time settlement scheme has been a pivotal factor in its success which offered 90% interest waiver on property tax arrears, it said. More than ₹300 crore was recovered under this scheme alone.
The ₹765 crore collected through the early bird scheme within the first month of the financial year too set a new record this year.
The commissioner attributed the record collection to the efforts by bill collectors, tax inspectors, assistant municipal commissioners, deputy and zonal commissioners and other staff, despite being burdened by election duties.
