MCD adopts measures to increase tax net this financial year

New Delhi: Comprehensive physical and drone surveys along with GIS and 3D mapping to identify unassessed properties are among the measures planned this financial year by Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to expand its taxpayer base.

In a report submitted to the CM office last month, MCD outlined both short-term and long-term measures to strengthen the property tax collection system.

“Short-term measures include using building department data, health trade and licensing data from zonal offices and electricity connection data from discoms to identify occupied but unassessed properties,” the report stated.

Long-term measures include comprehensive physical, drone or aerial surveys, GIS mapping, and 3D mapping to identify unassessed properties. “Geo-tagging of properties to ensure accurate mapping and database cleansing is already in progress and will be implemented in a focused manner. Systematic issuance of notices based on survey findings and data analytics to ensure compliance is also planned,” the report added.

In 2025–26, MCD reported a 46% increase in property tax collection compared to the previous financial year. The civic body collected Rs3,116.6 crore, of which over Rs1,236 crore came through its SUNIYO (Sampattikar Niptaan Yojana) scheme.

Around 1.1 lakh new taxpayers availed of the scheme, paying property tax for the first time, bringing the total number of taxpayers to 13,52,562. In 2024–25, MCD collected Rs 2,132.8 crore from 11,33,161 taxpayers.

However, despite extending the amnesty scheme for the entire year, MCD fell short of its revised target of Rs3,500 crore. The civic body has now extended the SUNIYO scheme till April 30, with a reduced penalty of 5% on payment of arrears and dues, but defaulters identified through the survey won’t get the benefit of the scheme.