GPS, drone survey identifies tax evasion in 10,000 properties

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has detected large-scale property tax evasion amounting to around ₹370 crore after a special, technology-driven revision exercise covering about 10,000 properties across the city.

Special Commissioner (Revenue and IT) Munish Moudgil said that the exercise was carried out by the GBA IT wing in coordination with the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and city corporation teams through special house-to-house visits.

“Officials used GPS-based property mapping, mobile applications, and drone imagery to verify property details on the ground and compare them with tax declarations made by owners. The verification revealed that several property owners had been underpaying property tax for an average of five years,” he said.

Mr. Moudgil said that nearly 49,000 show-cause notices, roughly one for each year of underpayment, have been generated for these 10,000 properties, seeking recovery of the evaded tax along with applicable interest and penalties.

During the visit, the team members captured the GPS location of each property, recorded its usage, whether residential, commercial or mixed, measured the area used for each purpose, and noted the number of floors. This data is transmitted to a backend system, where it undergoes 100% quality control scrutiny. Cases that fail verification are sent back to the field teams for rechecking, he said.

Once cleared, the data is cross-verified with drone-based imagery and digitised built-up area records. If discrepancies are found such as undeclared additional built-up area or commercial usage not reflected in tax filings, the system automatically generates show-cause notices for tax evasion.

The property owners who have received notices have been given 15 days to respond or file appeals online.

Mr. Moudgil added that the GPS teams are currently visiting around 10,000 properties every day and that more cases of evasion are likely to be identified as the exercise continues.