The Hindu : Karnataka News : BMP may target high-value property

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

BMP may target high-value property

By K. Satyamurty

BANGALORE, OCT. 13. Soon, property tax defaulters may be identified even without a revenue inspector of Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) inspecting buildings and verifying records. High-value commercial properties will be brought under the correct tax slab.

Making all these possible is e-Governments Foundation, a Bangalore-based not-for-profit trust. Srikanth Nadhamuni, Managing Trustee, said: "Our technical expertise and the software is offered free to the BMP; they have to spend on the necessary hardware and operations". The foundation came out of the efforts of Mr. Nadhamuni, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is back home for good, and Nandan Nikekani, Chief Executive Officer of Infosys Technologies Ltd. S. Sadagopan, Director, IIIT-B, is part of the core software team.

What motivated them was that the BMP, like all municipal bodies, has to rely on property tax for most of its revenue. Tax compliance is low; property owners are motivated to pay because they feel there is no accountability about how funds are spent by the civic body for city development and services. Tax and property records have not been updated or even scientifically compiled and a revenue officer cannot easily locate all properties.

"Urban areas account for 55 per cent of the GDP but municipal revenue is just 0.6 per cent of the GDP," Mr. Nadhamuni said. Bangalore is an example. The total number of taxable properties is 7.27 lakhs and 5.4 lakhs have been assessed. Those actually paying tax are 50 per cent of those assessed; last year's revenue from property tax was Rs. 200 crore, the highest in many years. "By all accounts tax revenue should be Rs. 500 crore or more". One reason is poor property records available with the BMP.

What eGovernments has done is build an enterprise class system on Internet architecture platform. This means it does not need more elaborate client/server technology and the data can be easily accessed by a revenue inspector in any city ward. The next step may be for online payments of taxes through banks; ICICI, HDFC, and Corporation Bank are moving in that direction. Being a "browser-based system", a user can click on to it faster and access the information when needed.

The eGovernment software has been built on the premise that civic governance involves a number of income and expenditure components.

(To be concluded)

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