I-T Dept to expand Mumbai footprint, lease 6 lakh sq ft space

Asked by the government to give more thrust to revenue mop up, the Income Tax Department is looking for more office space in the financial capital as it expects its staff strength to increase, a senior official said.
The department is planning to lease a total of 6 lakh sq ft area in the current fiscal, out of which it has already hired 2 lakh sq ft of developed property at various places in the city.
According to an estimate, as against the sanctioned staff strength of 5,200 for the Mumbai zone, the department currently has over 4,000 employees, with an average 200-500 staffers being added on a yearly basis.

"The I-T department has expanded in terms of both collection of revenues and manpower and hence a lot of extra space is required.
"That is why, we are trying to acquire new office spaces in the city," Principal Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Mumbai, D S Saksena told PTI here.
"While the revenue collections are increasing here by 10-12 per cent on a yearly basis, we also have to provide accommodation to the constantly increasing workforce of the department," he said.

Mumbai zone of the I-T Department collected revenue worth Rs 2.48 trillion in the year gone by and is looking at a figure of Rs 2.78 trillion for this fiscal.

The department has already hired a number of premises in the city on lease basis in the recent past.
"We have hired 8 floors in the Air India building in Nariman Point, measuring 1.25 lakh square feet. Similarly, we have also hired 1.5 lakh sq ft in Ernest House building in Nariman Point and 3 floors of MTNL building, located at Cumbala Hill in South Mumbai," he said.
According to Saksena, the department has recently constructed 56 quarters at Bandra-Kurla Complex to accommodate officers of the rank of commissioner and additional commissioner.
"As against the department's target to hire 6 lakh sq ft of space in the city by the fiscal-end, we have already hired 2 lakh sq ft so far," he said.

Some of the premises in the city which are on the department's radar include MTNL-owned buildings at Walkeshwar and Vashi.
"While we are looking at 45,000 sq ft of an MTNL building in Walkeshwar, we are also eying another MTNL-owned building located at Vashi with an area of 30,000 sq ft," he said.