Nagpur civic body struggles as property tax arrears hit Rs 938 crore in 2025, ET RealEstate
NAGPUR: The cash-strapped Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) continues to struggle with its finances with property tax arrears soaring to a staggering Rs938 crore at the end of the 2024-25 financial year. As per NMC data, over 67% of property owners have defaulted on paying their property tax, leaving the civic body high and dry.
While the NMC collected about Rs318 crore in property tax in the last fiscal year, the unpaid dues are almost three times of recovered amount, revealing a severe compliance and enforcement gap. Out of 6.87 lakh total properties registered within the municipal limits, 4.6 lakh failed to pay tax in the last financial year.
NMC’s property tax target was Rs325 crore but it ended up recovering only Rs284 crore, excluding tax from govt properties. Ashi Nagar zone reported the highest number of defaulters, with 1.08 lakh out of 1.19 lakh properties not paying their dues. This zone alone accounts for nearly Rs169 crore in arrears.
Mangalwari and Laxmi Nagar zones followed closely with 51,813 and 40,729 defaulting properties, respectively. Arrears in Mangalwari stand at a whopping Rs159.6 crore, while Laxmi Nagar owes Rs153 crore. These three zones together account for almost half of NMC’s total pending dues.
Dhantoli zone has lowest number of defaulting properties, but it still accounts for Rs50.9 crore pending dues. Of 22,521 properties in the zone, 10,034 defaulted in property tax payment. Gandhibag recorded 14,906 defaulters from 27,459 properties, with pending dues of Rs18.9 crore — the lowest arrear amount among all zones. Sataranjipura also showed relatively better compliance, with 26,273 properties defaulting out of 42,039, adding up to Rs32.9 crore in unpaid taxes.
Overall, the total number of defaulters across all 10 zones is 4,60,685 with cumulative arrears at Rs938.7 crore. Civic officials acknowledge that the growing tax default trend is undermining the municipal corporation’s ability to fund infrastructure and basic services. Despite several awareness drives and notices issued to property owners, enforcement measures have remained largely ineffective.
According to sources, officials are reportedly planning stricter recovery actions, including sealing of properties, publication of defaulter lists, and possible legal action. However, without systematic reforms and a stronger administrative push, the civic body’s financial health may continue to decline under the weight of unpaid dues.
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