Mumbai: Despite the centre’s move to demonetise, the Octroi collection of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Octroi collection has increased by 7.8 percent overall.
In fact, the BMC has managed to earn Rs 4,630 crore (from April to December 6) compared to last year’s collection which was Rs 4,293 crore (April – December 2015).
The Octroi department, which is the biggest revenue generator for the richest civic body in India, earns Rs 7000 crore every year and the BMC earns up to Rs 15 crore through its Octroi collection on a daily basis. This is excluding the crude oil component. There are 37 entry points in Mumbai through which toll is collected. Bapu G. Pawar, Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) of Octroi department, said, “The Octroi collection has been significantly increased by 7.8 per cent compared to the last year’s records of April to December 2016.”
Pawar added, “The civic body has estimated the revenue collection should be Rs 7,800 crore through octroi for the current financial year. Moreover, there is a 3 per cent decrease of revenue through tolls. But, revenue through crude oils has been increased by 5 percent.”
A senior civic official from the octroi department said, “We were not expecting an increase in the collections as collections were hit at all the checkpoints after demonetization. Inconvenience was caused especially while collecting penalties as no one was prepared for it. However, the average revenue was affected by 10-20 percent due to the demonetization. But it’s good that we have managed to collect more than our previous collections.”
Also, penalties that are imposed makes a bigger difference to the Octroi as each penalty is 10 times the Octroi value that is prescribed for the goods in addition to the levy rate which is supposed to be imposed on the Octroi evading party. The BMC spends the revenue generated from Octroi for several developmental projects and public utility services.
The Free Press Journal had reported on November 11 that the Octroi was hit by 20 percent after demonetisation.
