BMC, India’s richest civic body, presents ₹74,427 crore budget

BMC commissioner Bushan Gagrani, who is also the state-appointed administrator of the civic body, presented the budget on Tuesday

MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday presented the civic body’s ₹74,427.41 crore budget for 2025-26, a 14% increase over the revised estimate of ₹65,180.79 crore in 2024-25.

BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani (centre) present annual budget at BMC head office in Mumbai. (HT Photo/Anshuman Poyrekar)

BMC commissioner Bushan Gagrani, who is also the state-appointed administrator of the civic body, presented the budget on Tuesday. This is the third consecutive time that the administrator was presenting the budget and not the deliberative wing, comprising sitting corporators. The civic body has been under an administrator after the term of the elected corporators ended on March 7, 2022.

Gagrani did not announce any new taxes on Tuesday. The corporation is, however, seeking legal opinion to introduce Solid Waste Management (SWM) user charges. A decision to amend SWM Sanitation and Cleanliness Byelaws, 2006 will be taken after the receipt of the legal opinion.

The budget document projected a revenue from water and sewerage charges for 2025-26 at ₹2,363.15 crore. The last budget had estimated receipts of ₹1,923.19 crore in its initial budget proposal for 2024-25, which were revised upwards to ₹2131.98crore.

The capital expenditure has increased from ₹22,787.16 crore in 2024-2025 to ₹26,355.74 crore. The cost of capital expenditure for various infrastructure projects such as Coastal Road, GMLR, sewage treatment plant has risen from ₹10,210 crore to ₹13,310.97 crore.

The revenue expenditure proposed at ₹28,763.94 crores in 2024-2025 is revised to ₹31,204.53 crores.

The budget document underlined the need for BMC to start the process of restructuring its financial resources and explore new avenues for income. “Ensuring financial stability without compromising on city’s development is our foremost priority, so that sufficient funds will be available in future for development works,” it said.

It also underscored that the BMC’s revenue income has peaked, necessitating steps to generate additional revenue from existing sources and to identify innovative sources of additional revenue.

As a long term strategy, BMC’s revenue will be enhanced by revising various fees and charges levied by various departments. The measures undertaken by BMC included a request to the state government to share the premium for additional FSI (Floor Space Index) between state government and BMC on a 25:75 ratio.

The October 14, 2024, notification of the state government sanctioned 50% share of premium recovered for additional FSI to BMC as against earlier permissible 25% share. As a result, the civic body received an additional revenue of ₹70 crore, and expects to receive ₹300 crore for FY2025-26.

The other means of generating revenue will be through vacant land tenancy policy where land parcels will be developed for public purpose, and converted into lease wherever possible. BMC expects to generate a revenue of ₹2,000 crores by collecting a one-time premium and ground rent per annum over the ensuing four years. The other measures adopted to earn revenue will be a proposed transportation and commercial hub at Dahisar check naka situated at Western Express Highway and collection of property taxes from commercial units in slums which is expected to generate a revenue of ₹350 crores.

BMC is also working on a centralised property information system being developed to consolidate all records of BMC owned assets and facilitate their development models. This includes utilising municipal plots under public, private partnership model for efficient revenue generation, to be complemented by modernisation and integration of property management through digitisation of records, and integration with GIS system, enabling real time access. Auctions of plots on lease will be held.

The civic body will pursue the state government to levy entertainment tax.