Property tax collections way behind target in Hyderabad

GHMC struggles to meet property tax collection target for 2023-24 financial year, facing revenue generation challenges.

With less than a fortnight left to go for this financial year to end, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is way behind its target collection of property tax for the year 2023-24.

Only about 70% of the targeted collection of ₹2,100 crore has been realised so far, which amounted to ₹1488 crore as on March 17. Of this, a record ₹765 crore was collected through the Early Bird Scheme, within the first one month of the financial year.

Serilingampally zone is leading with 77% targeted collection, followed by Kukatpally at 74%. LB Nagar trails behind all zones, with only about 65% of the target realised.

This is no good news for the corporation which is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to generating enough revenue to meet its commitments.

Thanks to the one-time settlement scheme announced at the end of February, collections have gradually picked up, officials say. The OTS scheme allows the defaulters of property tax to pay all the dues at once, and avail themselves of a 90% interest waiver on the accumulated dues.

Thanks to the scheme, in the first 17 days of March, the collection has been about ₹76 crore. Yet, it is a small portion of the targeted collection for the month, at ₹685 crore. Last year too, the property tax collection, at ₹1,682 crore, fell short of the targeted ₹2,000 crore.

With the schedule announced for the parliamentary elections, target realisation seems difficult this year too.