The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has set an ambitious revenue target for the current financial year, building on a strong performance in 2024-25. The civic body collected approximately ₹510 crore in property and vacant land taxes during the last fiscal year. For 2025-26, officials are aiming even higher, with a goal of ₹600 crore in revenue from these sources.
Strategic Revisions and Inspections Drive Growth
To bridge the gap and meet the new target, GVMC has initiated a multi-pronged strategy. A key focus has been on adding new property assessments and revising existing tax structures through systematic inspections across the city. These efforts are projected to generate an additional ₹90 crore. Significant contributions are expected from major industrial reassessments, including one unit whose liability was revised upwards from ₹2 crore to ₹20 crore, and another that is set to pay ₹30 crore. Two more substantial revisions were recorded in the Madhurawada area.
The proactive measures have already shown impressive results. As of December 2025, the corporation had realized around ₹410 crore, which is nearly ₹100 crore more than the collections during the same period in the previous year. Deputy Commissioner of Revenue, S Srinivasa Rao, stated that focused efforts began in April. Initiatives like monthly review meetings and an early-bird rebate scheme proved highly successful, fetching ₹162 crore in April alone. This created a steady revenue stream that helped reach the ₹410 crore mark by December.
Administrative Push and Manpower Strengthening
To ensure compliance and improve collections, GVMC adopted a hands-on approach at the administrative level. Administrative secretaries were directed to personally serve arrear notices, covering both past dues and current arrears. According to Rao, this direct intervention yielded positive outcomes, with many assessees coming forward to clear their pending dues.
A critical bottleneck addressed was the severe manpower shortage in the revenue department. Previously, only 17 inspectors were handling the colossal task of nearly 6 lakh assessments, a far cry from the norm of one inspector per 12,000 assessments. This imbalance adversely affected mid-level supervision and efficiency.
To rectify this, GVMC significantly strengthened its team. The number of inspectors has now been increased to 45, with each inspector supervising around 15 administrative secretaries. Reinforcements were also made at the revenue officer level. These structural improvements have been instrumental in enabling the collection of the extra ₹100 crore by December 2025 compared to the previous year.
The Final Push Towards the Target
With the momentum gained, the municipal corporation is confident of not just meeting but surpassing its annual target. Deputy Commissioner Rao confirmed that the intensive collection drive will continue vigorously over the next three months. The combination of revised assessments, improved administrative efficiency, and a strengthened field force positions GVMC well to achieve its ₹600 crore revenue goal for the financial year, marking a significant leap in urban civic financing for Visakhapatnam.
