Discount on interest on accumulated arrears of property tax was announced by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Friday (March 7, 2025)
| Photo Credit: Screengrab of https://eodb.ghmc.gov.in/MobileUpdate.aspx
Faced with the challenge of meeting Property Tax collection targets, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has once again announced the One Time Settlement Scheme (OTS) option for the defaulters, with huge concession on the penalty payable.
The government has issued orders on Friday (March 7, 2025), approving the GHMC Commissioner’s proposal for the OTS, waiving 90% of the interest on the accumulated arrears if the tax payers settled the bill up to the financial year 2024-25.
For the tax payers who have already paid the accumulated arrears with full interest, the GHMC is offering to carry forward 90% of the interest amount to the subsequent years’ property tax bills.
Target of ₹2000 crore in current financial year
The corporation is targeting a collection of ₹2000 crore by way of property tax in the current financial year, a little over last year’s collection of ₹1917 crore. However, the revenue so far does not look promising, and could fall short of last year’s target, officials fear.
As on March 6 this year, the collections hover around 77% of the target, at nearly ₹1548 crore. Of more than 19 lakh property tax assessees, only 12.75 lakh have paid the amount. However, officials are exuding confidence about meeting the target, as the current collection is more than the last year’s on the same date. GHMC had announced OTS last year too, which sped up the collections, and earned a windfall of about ₹320 crore for GHMC in the month of March alone.
6.35 lakh warrants issued
GHMC has stepped up the efforts to improve the tax realisation since the beginning of February this year, when it began to issue distress warrants threatening the property owners with seizure of property. So far, close to 6.35 lakh warrants have been issued, garnering about ₹6.64 crore revenue for the corporation. Seizure of properties was done in 32 cases across the GHMC, an official informed under the condition of anonymity.
GHMC has also intensified its efforts towards issue of trade licenses, in order to improve its revenue from trade license fee. The revenue from trade license fee has already exceeded the last financial year’s mark. Against ₹68 crore collected by March 6 last year, the cumulative collection up to the same date this year stands at ₹80.5 crore.
A total 13,563 fresh trade licenses have been issued this year thanks to the diligent efforts of the Revenue wing, taking the total number to 83,531, and increasing the revenue by ₹7.85 crore.
Published – March 08, 2025 04:39 pm IST
