In a first, SDMC crosses ₹1,000 crore in property tax collections

New Delhi: Despite the impact of the second and third Covid-19 waves last year, the annual property tax collection of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has crossed the ₹1,000 crore mark for the first time in the financial year that ended on March 31.

The civic body collected over ₹1,075 crore from 460,000 taxpayers this year, said Radha Krishan, the joint assessor and collector who heads the property tax department.

In comparison, the civic body had managed to bag ₹943 crore in 2020-21 and ₹823.6 crore in the pre-pandemic 2019-20 financial year.

Krishan said that the department has also raised ₹917 crore as property transfer duty, which is also an all-time high. “In 2018-19, the South corporation earned ₹637.99 crore as transfer duty which increased to ₹751.57 crore in 2019-20 and later dipped to ₹563.65 crore in 2020-21 with onset of the pandemic,” the civic body said in an official statement released on Saturday.

Krishan pointed out that there was an increase in property tax collection from the government agencies and departments, such as PWD and CPWD, this year.

SDMC commissioner Gyanesh Bharti said that over 900 property tax camps have been organised in the wards this year. “In the new financial year, the department will focus on expanding the ambit of tax on the basis of the results of the survey. We will concentrate on digitisation of property tax related work to increase the tax net,” he added.

Bharti said that the civic body has set a property tax target of ₹1,200 crore for the next financial year.

Of the three municipal corporations in Delhi, SDMC, which has more affluent colonies under its jurisdiction, has the most resources.

According to SDMC officials, the civic body has total annual income, including grants from the Delhi government, to the tune of ₹4,100 crore, and an expenditure of ₹4,200 crore, leaving the corporation with an annual deficit of ₹100 crore. EDMC has annual deficit of ₹700 crore and North MCD has a ₹500 crore annual deficit.