Mumbai: The BMC has collected Rs. 3,722 crore in property tax since April, achieving over 50% of its annual target of Rs. 7,341 crore in the first half of the 2025–26 financial year. However, with a majority of property tax department staff set to be deployed for the upcoming BMC elections, the civic body now faces the challenge of collecting the remaining Rs. 3,619 crore within the next four months.
In May this year, the property tax structure was revised to 15.89% for the financial year 2025–26, based on the updated Ready Reckoner (RR) rates, which are used to determine property valuations for stamp duty and taxation purposes. As part of its recovery drive, the civic body also targeted major defaulters with outstanding dues running into crores, successfully recovering a significant portion of the arrears.
Last month, the BMC recovered nearly Rs. 25 crore in pending dues after several defaulters immediately cleared their payments when their properties were listed for auction. Encouraged by this positive response, the civic body has now placed another seven properties up for auction. According to a public announcement issued by the BMC, these properties are collectively valued at Rs. 63 crore.
However, officials fear that the deployment of a maximum number of the staff for the upcoming elections will adversely affect property tax collection. “The half-year collection has been impressive, and many defaulters cleared their dues after their properties were listed for auction. But this momentum may be disrupted once our staff is assigned election duties,” an official said.
The municipal corporation’s property tax collection has faced persistent challenges in recent years. The decline was largely driven by exemptions granted to residential properties up to 500 sq ft, along with the absence of any tax revision since 2015–16. Additionally, legal complexities surrounding new methods of tax calculation further hampered revenue collection in the 2023–24 financial year.
However, since last year, the civic body has intensified its crackdown on major defaulters, enabling it to collect a record-breaking Rs. 6,388 crore in 2024–25—surpassing the previous target of Rs. 6,200 crore and marking the highest collection since 2010. Despite this improved performance, cumulative outstanding dues—pending since 2010—have now swollen to Rs. 22,000 crore, including penalties accrued over the past 15 years.
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