Coimbatore Corporation revenue likely to increase further

Shops and establishments on lease to pay higher rent

One of the few positive sides of the Corporation Budget for 2014-15 is the increase in income it had projected. The civic body had had an income to Rs. 37,426.53 lakh in 2013-14. It had projected an income of Rs. 44,837 lakh, an increase of 19.80 per cent.

This increase would largely be aided by the increase in the fee, rent and other taxes. And it was a continuation of the efforts it had taken in the past.

Nine-year period

Sources in the Coimbatore Corporation said that for shops and establishments on rent on lease, the Corporation had fixed a higher rent after the expiry of the mandatory nine-year period.

The sources explained that while the rent went up by 15 per cent every three years from the date of allotment, it got readjusted to the market value after the end of the nine year period. This had helped the Corporation increase the rent collected for almost 2,400 of the 2,900 shops and other establishments on rent.

This had helped the Corporation increase rent collection from Rs. 4 crore a year to nearly Rs. 12 crore.

The Corporation made a similar move to bring more commercial establishments under the Dangerous and Offensive Trade license net by collecting details from the ESI and Commercial Tax departments to see which establishments were out of the license net. It not only brought those establishments under the tax net but also included more traders to widen the tax net. To increase the other incomes, the Corporation had increased the garbage collection fee, the sources said and pointed out that the civic body which until recently was getting only Rs. 40 lakh from big commercial establishments and restaurants for collecting garbage had increased the fee and was now earning up to Rs. 7 crore a year.

Property tax

Likewise there had been in property tax as well. By the end of the current financial year the sources had estimated that the Corporation would collect Rs. 128 crore in property tax and by the end of the next, it would touch Rs. 140 crore.

Likewise, there would be increase in rent collection for 2014-15 as there had been good response to the 300 shops it had constructed across the city.