Bengaluru civic body uses drones, tech to uncover Rs 688 crore property tax evasion across 23,600 properties

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Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) on February 23 said it has detected property tax evasion amounting to Rs 688 crore across 23,600 properties in two rounds of its property GPS and special house-to-house verification drive.

In the second round alone, authorities identified tax evasion of about Rs 318 crore involving nearly 13,600 properties. In the first round, around 10,000 properties were found to have underpaid taxes amounting to Rs 370 crore.

According to officials, nearly 67,000 notices have been issued in the second round and about 49,000 in the first round - roughly one notice per financial year, as most properties were found to have underpaid taxes for an average of five years.

“Show-cause notices have been issued to property owners via physical communication, SMS and IVRS. Citizens who receive notices can respond or file an appeal within 15 days through online portal. They may also clear dues, along with applicable interest and penalty, through designated property tax payment website,” a GBA statement said.

Separately, GBA auctioned seven properties across East and North City Corporation limits to recover long-overdue tax arrears. The move comes as tax dues have swelled to Rs 437 crore across nearly 7,000 properties which forced civic authorities to initiate auctions after repeated notices failed to elicit compliance.

“The exercise was carried out by GBA’s IT wing in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC) and city corporation teams. The verification process combined GPS-based house-to-house surveys, drone imagery of individual properties, digitised built-up area data, on-ground assessment of property usage - residential, commercial or mixed - and floor-wise verification,” said a statement.

“Survey teams used a mobile application carrying property tax data and captured GPS coordinates, usage type, built-up area and number of floors for each property. The data was transmitted to a backend system, where a quality control team conducted 100 percent verification, with rejected entries sent back for revalidation”, it said.

“QC-cleared data was then compared with drone imagery and digitised records. Discrepancies, such as undeclared additional built-up area or unreported commercial usage, triggered automated generation of show-cause notices demanding payment of evaded tax along with interest and penalties”, it said.

Officials said GPS teams are now surveying nearly 10,000 properties per day.

Munish Moudgil, Special Commissioner (Revenue & IT), Greater Bengaluru Authority, said system is aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability. He added that property owners who have underreported details will be brought under the tax net through data-backed verification. The civic body has urged property owners to verify their tax declarations and respond promptly to notices issued under the drive.