PUNE: The civic body’s property tax department has earned around Rs2,360 crore from its levy in the 2024-25 financial year.
Interestingly, although property tax is traditionally the biggest revenue source for Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), it is the building permissions department that has earned more revenue in this fiscal gone by — that too for the second year in a row.
In FY 2024-25, the building permissions department collected around Rs2,600 crore as of March 31, 2025, civic data reveals.
The PMC had set a target of Rs2,492.83 crore for this fiscal from building permissions, and Rs 2,549.79 crore from property tax. While the former surpassed the target, the latter fell slightly short.
In the previous FY 2023-24, PMC earned revenue of Rs2,268 crore from property tax. During the same period, in a rare occurrence, the building permissions department for the first time earned a larger amount of over Rs2,300 crore.
A senior PMC official told TOI, “The demand for construction in transit-oriented development (TOD) zones has helped increase demand for building permissions. Redevelopment projects are also receiving a good response across civic areas. It is helping to boost the building permissions department’s revenue.”
PMC city engineer Prashant Waghmare confirmed, “Revenue generation has been good for the building permissions department. The introduction of new technology and software has helped in smooth operations.”
Data shows that the civic administration granted 1,709 building permissions in 2023-24, compared to 956 in 2022-23 financial year, when it earned Rs1,636 from the same. In the bygone FY 2024-25, building permissions increased to 3,359.
Property tax department officials said PMC has detected properties and added them to the tax ambit, leading to a hike in property tax revenue. Recovery drives held in different parts of the city also helped generate additional revenue. However, the increase has not been substantial. A senior department official told TOI, “The income from the property tax could have been more if the civic body was allowed to recover tax from merged areas. Many property owners defaulted on tax as there was no stringent action against them.”
Civic officials informed that at least Rs1,245 crore in property taxes still needs to be recovered from the 34 merged areas. PMC had also organised a drive to seal properties of such defaulters, but it was halted after local leaders and residents complained about the heavy charges and political pressure was applied.
