NAGPUR: The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) suffered a setback in its property tax collection efforts for 2024-25 fiscal, as more than one-third of tax demand bills handed over to India Post for delivery were returned undelivered. Of the total 5,64,188 tax invoices issued across 10 zones, as many as 1,89,190 (or 33.53%) were sent back by the postal department citing reasons such as wrong addresses and locked homes.
To improve tax collection, the NMC had this time inked a pact with India Post to deliver tax invoices to the addresses of property owners. NMC also paid ₹32 per article to India Post for delivering the invoices through its speed post facility.
The delays and inefficiencies in delivering these invoices have had a direct financial impact on property owners and the NMC. Approximately 1.89 lakh property owners, who did not receive their invoices on time, were deprived of 10% (offline) to 15% (online) rebate on property tax payments announced by the civic body that was effective till June 30. The rebate, offered for early payments, would have eased the financial burden on residents and encouraged timely tax contributions.
“To mitigate the issue of undelivered bills, NMC’s teams from 10 zones are now set to distribute remaining invoices directly to property owners,” said a senior official privy to the development.
However, this manual approach may further delay tax collection, which is already struggling under the weight of massive arrears.
The current outstanding property tax arrears stand at nearly ₹850 crore, while the demand for the current financial year is ₹280 crore. Further delay or failure in distributing tax invoices could significantly hamper the NMC’s revenue generation.
The impact of non-distribution of tax invoices is particularly concerning for NMC, as property tax is one of the largest revenue sources for the civic body. These funds are crucial for strengthening Nagpur’s civic infrastructure, from road repairs to sanitation projects, admitted a senior official from NMC’s accounts and finance department.
The delivery failures varied across different zones, with the Nehru Nagar zone facing the highest number of returns. Of the 84,206 bills handed over to India Post for this zone, 41,419 were returned, accounting for 49.18% of the total.
Similarly, Hanuman Nagar zone saw 22,213 of the 73,721 bills returned, reflecting a 30.12% undelivered rate. These figures indicate that a large proportion of property owners in these areas were unreachable. Other zones also reported substantial returns.
In Ashi Nagar, 14,252 of the 85,388 bills (16.69%) were undelivered, while Dharampeth saw 25.30% returned, with 8,357 of 33,028 bills undelivered. Gandhibagh had 4,287 out of 25,829 bills returned (16.59%), Mangalwari zone saw 12,040 returns out of 60,705 (19.83%), and Satranjipura had a 14.96% return rate, with 5,532 out of 36,968 bills returned.
At the lower end of the spectrum, Dhantoli experienced the least amount of returns, with only 1,089 out of 20,893 bills returned, indicating just a 5.21% undelivered rate.
With nearly one in three bills being returned undelivered and rebate opportunities lost for many property owners, it is clear that NMC needs to take urgent steps. Improving address verification and updating property records will be essential to ensuring that more residents receive their bills on time, allowing them to fulfil their tax obligations and helping NMC avoid further setbacks in revenue collection.
