Municipal revenues jump in Nov; Hyderabad tops at 2500% growth

The Centre's allowing the use of scrapped 500 and 1,000 rupee notes for paying utility bills has seen the revenues for city municipal bodies pole-vaulting as much as 2,500 per cent in cities like Hyderabad in the last three weeks.

The overall revenue collection by cities has shot up to Rs 1,722 crore in November as compared to Rs 489 crore in the same month last year.

According to Finance Ministry estimates, there has been an unprecedented 252 per cent increase in revenue collection by cities for utilities ranging from water and electricity bills to property taxes.

The list of top five cities with maximum percentage increase in revenue collected this month, compared to November 2015, is led by Hyderabad, a 2,500 per cent jump. North Delhi is a close second with 2,434 per cent surge in revenue and South Delhi is at fourth position with 2,037 per cent vault.

Gujarat cities - Surat (2,314 per cent) and Rajkot (1,275 per cent) take the third and fifth spots respectively.

In terms of actual cash flow, Hyderabad tops the list with a record Rs 206 crore collection. Ahmedabad is second with a revenue windfall of Rs 187 crore, followed by Surat with Rs 173 crore and Kalyan (Rs 170 crore). Mumbai saw Rs 167 crore collection in November.

While scrapping high denomination currency on November 8, the government had allowed using the old 500 and 1000 rupee notes for a range of services - from buying fuel to paying for utilities.

Municipal bodies accepted the old currency for settling all past as well as present dues, leading to a flood of revenues.

Use of junked notes was first allowed for 72 hours but was extended till November 14, and then to November 24. Now, it is allowed till December 15.