BMC received Rs 1,600 crore interest this year on FDs worth Rs 80,000 crore

Fixed deposits of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation crossed the figure of Rs 80,000 crore this year, regardless the corporation spent over Rs 2,000 crore on the management of the covid-19 pandemic. BMC has the FDs in several State and private banks.

 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation received interest of about Rs 1,600 crore this year, confirmed the civic finance department. Every year, BMC receives around Rs 1,800 crore interest on FDs. In the previous year, the amount was reduced by Rs 700 crore because of the reduction in interest. 

 

Iqbal Chahal, the BMC commissioner has announced a budget of Rs 39,038 crore this year. The budget witnessed a rise of nearly 16.7%, despite the falling revenues and drop in income amid the covid-19 pandemic. Chahal accepted that the capital expenditure of BMC had increased and it was not sustainable unless new revenue sources get added or the revenue collection is improved.

 

To meet the increasing expenditure, the civic body, instead of earning money from the market through bonds, the management dipped into the FDs and got an internal interest-free loan worth Rs 10,564 crore. According to the BMC officials, Rs 5,876 crore of this was to be raised as an internal loan from funds under two departments. To create the long-term assets, Rs 3,500 crore was from the garden development fund and for the capital work, Rs 2,376 crore was from the depreciation fund.