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Bengaluru civic body uses drones to uncover ₹318 crore property tax evasion across 13,600 properties
Bengaluru’s GBA flags 13,600 tax-evading properties using drones; West zone tops with 36,055 notices as ₹318 crore recovery drive intensifies
Bengaluru’s municipal body, Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), uncovered property tax evasion worth ₹318 crore across 13,600 properties in the second round of its technology-driven revision exercise. This brings the total recovery notices across two rounds to ₹688 crore, covering about 23,600 properties, Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner (Revenue), GBA, said in a statement.
The exercise, led by GBA’s IT wing in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC), combines house-to-house GPS mapping, drone imagery and backend quality checks to compare declared built-up areas and usage patterns with on-ground realities, the GBA statement said.
“This exercise led to the detection of property tax evasion amounting to nearly ₹318 crore across about 13,600 properties. Around 67,000 show-cause notices have been generated, effectively one for each assessment year, since most of these properties underpaid taxes for an average of five years,” Moudgil said.
“Notices have been served through multiple channels, including SMS and IVRS. Citizens who receive them can respond or file an appeal online within 15 days through the designated portal,” he said.
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West Bengaluru records the highest number of property evasions
The West Corporation recorded the highest number of notices issued by GBA. A total of 36,055 notices were issued here, with penalties amounting to about ₹50.05 crore across 7,242 properties. It also accounted for the highest number of properties identified under the drive, making it the largest contributor to the overall enforcement exercise, according to data shared by GBA.
In the North Corporation, authorities issued 15,592 notices, raising penalties of around ₹19.09 crore. This makes North the second-highest zone in terms of the number of notices, across 3,227 properties, the data showed.
The South Corporation issued 8,611 notices, totalling approximately ₹23.20 crore in penalties for 1,763 properties. Although South had fewer notices than North, the penalty amount was higher at about ₹66 crore, indicating relatively larger tax discrepancies per property, data shared by GBA showed.
At Central Corporation, 5,438 notices were issued, resulting in penalties of about ₹10.80 crore across 1,038 properties. The East Corporation recorded the lowest enforcement numbers, with 1,789 notices and penalties totalling roughly ₹8.24 crore across 372 properties, according to the data.
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How GBA is using drones and GPS audits to detect property tax evasion
The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has implemented a technology-led, multi-layered verification system that integrates house-to-house GPS surveys with drone imagery and backend data analytics to identify discrepancies in property tax declarations, GBA officials said.
As part of the process, GPS survey teams visit properties and use a mobile application to carry existing tax records. During the visit, officials capture the precise GPS coordinates of each property and record its actual usage, whether residential, commercial or mixed, along with the built-up area and number of floors, they pointed out.
This real-time field data is transmitted to a central backend system, where a quality control (QC) team conducts 100% verification. Any inconsistencies or incomplete entries are sent back to field teams for revalidation, they said.
"Once the data clears QC, it is cross-verified with high-resolution drone imagery and digitised built-up area maps. If the system detects that the constructed area exceeds the declared area, or if commercial use has not been disclosed, it automatically triggers the issuance of show-cause notices. These notices demand payment of the evaded tax along with applicable interest and penalties, creating a data-backed enforcement framework aimed at improving compliance,” the officials said.
