GHMC revenue falls due to lockdown

Hyderabad: The revenue of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns. The main source of income of GHMC is the property taxes but for the past few months, its collection drive is not upto the mark.

In spite of concessions being announced by the GHMC on the early payments of property taxes, the collection drive is not satisfactory due to lockdown measures. GHMC has extended the payment of the property tax till the end of May for the benefit of Real Estate Construction firms and others developers. A concession of 4-5 percent has been announced on full payment of taxes.

The state government had set a target of 400 crores collection for the financial year 2020-21 but GHMC could collect only 59 crores till now. As a result, with 341 crores still to be collected there are signs of development works getting affected.

It has been learned that apart from the property taxes, the GHMC revenues have also been affected by the lack of renewal of trade licenses. In GHMC limits, out of 166408 trade licences, only 38299 licences have been renewed. The last date to renew the trade licence was March 31. A penalty of 25 percent till May 31 and 50 percent after that will be levied for the renewal of the trade licences.