Rs 3 cr drop in BMC's octroi collections from crude imports

Volatility in crude prices arising out of the turmoil in Libya and Egypt has ended up denting civic coffers as the crude imports have gone down this month, in turn affecting the octroi collections of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) by nearly Rs three crore.

As per the data maintained by the BMC's assessment and collection department, crude oil collection for the month of February this year stood at Rs 140.92 crore, while collection in the corresponding period a year ago was Rs 143.90 crore, a drop of Rs 2.98 crore.

At the same time, in January this year, collection from crude oil was Rs 138.79 crore as against Rs 113.45 crore in the same period last year, an increase of 22.34%.

"We are affected with the crisis in Libya and Egypt. We had expected the collection of crude oil to rise between 15 to 17% compared to last month. In February, we had expected octroi collections from crude oil at Rs 161 crore," a civic official, on condition of anonymity, told PTI.

With the production of oil affected, price of the oil barrels have skyrocketed. The price last year was between USD 70-75 per barrel and today it is USD 116 per barrel.

The BMC had revised its overall octroi collection target for the financial year ending March 31, 2011 from Rs 4,775 crore to Rs 5,045 crore. The target had earlier been revised in December last to Rs 4,909 crore.

The civic body's overall octroi collection in February this year is Rs 428.15 crore, as against Rs 404.21 crore last year. In January, collection was Rs 441.46 crore compared to the Rs 379.92 crore collection in the same period last year.

"In February, there has been a marginal increase in the overall octroi collection, but collection from crude oil was low," the official said.