Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai

Mumbai, Apr 2: Mumbai’s K-East ward, covering Andheri East, emerged as the largest contributor to property tax for 2025–26, as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) recorded its highest-ever revenue of Rs 7,610.9 crore.

According to civic data, K-East led collections with Rs 719.2 crore, followed by G-South (Lower Parel and adjoining areas) at Rs 670.6 crore, K-West (Andheri West) at Rs 622.2 crore, H-East (Kalina and Bandra East) at Rs 577.8 crore, and H-West (Bandra West) at Rs 536.6 crore. The western suburbs contributed the largest share overall at Rs 3,721.3 crore, followed by the island city at Rs 2,102.6 crore and eastern suburbs at Rs 1,457.4 crore.

The BMC exceeded its revised target of Rs 7,341 crore, achieving 103.7% of the goal. On March 31 alone, it collected Rs 399.7 crore, marking a record single-day recovery, alongside Rs 301.1 crore in penalties.

Officials credited the strong performance to targeted recovery drives, follow-ups on major defaulters, and improved payment systems. Civic facilitation centres remained operational on weekends and public holidays, while online payment channels were strengthened to encourage timely compliance.

Additional municipal commissioner (city) Ashwini Joshi said, “Civic facilitation centres remained open on weekends and public holidays, and online payment options were strengthened. Special focus was also placed on recovering dues from major defaulters through targeted follow-ups.”

Property tax continues to be the BMC’s largest revenue source, levied on over 10 lakh properties across the city. Since the scrapping of octroi in 2017, following GST implementation, reliance on property tax has grown.

Currently, about 3.6 lakh properties under 500 sq ft remain exempt, a policy in place since 2022 following a state government directive. The civic house recently proposed increasing this exemption limit to 700 sq ft for residential units, though no formal decision has yet been made.