Urbanisation

News: A reminder of the flaws in India’s urbanisation policies

 

What's in the news?

       A report by the World Bank, released in November last year, on financing India’s urban infrastructure needs, focuses on private investments ameliorating urban problems.

 

Key takeaways:

       After three decades of reforms, urban finance predominantly comes from the government. Of the finances needed to fund urban capital expenditures, 48%, 24% and 15% are derived from the central, state, and city governments, respectively. Public–private partnership projects contribute 3% and commercial debt 2%.

 

Needs of Urban India:

       In the last few years, various reports have estimated a huge demand for funding urban infrastructure such as

       Isher Judge Ahluwalia report - says that by 2030, nearly ₹39.2 lakh crore would be required. 

       The McKinsey report on urbanisation has a figure of $1.2 trillion, or ₹90 lakh crore.

       The World Bank estimates that nearly $840 billion (₹70 lakh crore) would be needed for investment in urban India.

 

Sources of Urban Finance:

  1. Own tax revenue - property taxes, advertisement tax, professional tax, etc.
  2. Own non-tax revenue - fees and fines, earning from municipal enterprises like land, tanks, markets, shops, etc.
  3. Devolution by state government - Finance Commission recommendation.
  4. Special grants from the central government.

 

Issues of Urban Finance:

1. Lack of sources:

       Most of the income generating taxes are levied by the union and state governments and the taxes collected by the urban bodies are not sufficient to cover the expenses of services provided.

       ULB’s hesitate in imposing taxes because of the fear of backlash from the electorate. Further, the position of the smaller municipal institutions is much worse and at times they find it difficult to even meet their establishment costs.

2. Ill-equipped staff:

       The staff at the disposal of these bodies is ill-trained and ill-equipped to effectively collect the taxes levied.

3. Problems with Property Tax:

       Property tax is the most important source of revenue for local governments.

       There have been substantial reforms in property tax administration in recent years. Earlier, ‘Annual Rental Value’ was the basis of levy of this tax.

       This mode of assessment had many drawbacks – the manner of assessment was opaque and gave a lot of discretion to assessing officials and it was inelastic and non-buoyant.

4. Smaller tax base:

       It is estimated that only about 60-70% of the properties in urban areas are actually assessed. 

       The boundaries of municipal bodies are not expanded to keep pace with the urban sprawl; as a result, a large number of properties fall outside the legal jurisdiction of the municipal bodies.

5. User charges:

       There has been a tendency to charge for various services at rates that are much lower than the actual cost of provisioning such services.

       These user charges include water charges, sanitation and sewerage charges, waste collection charges, charges for street lighting, fees for parking, fees for use of congested roads by motorists etc.

6. Corruption:

       Corruption, favouritism, and nepotism are rampant in the urban local bodies, they also have less power to fight all these issues

 

WAY FORWARD:

1. World Bank Report Suggestions:

The World Bank report suggested that “improving the fiscal base and creditworthiness of the Indian cities and it must institute a buoyant revenue base and be able to recover the cost of providing its services”.

       Finding alternative paths:

       The basic problem in urban finances includes a top to bottom approach, with too much of a focus on technocentric solutions using very high capital-intensive technologies.

       Hence, the plans must be made from below by engaging with the people and identifying their needs.

 

       Empowering Urban Local Bodies:

       Empowering the city governments and the people at large as suggested by the K.C. Sivarama krishnan committee provides that transferring subjects to the city governments, suggesting that 10% of the income-tax collected from cities be given back to them and ensuring that this corpus fund was utilised only for infrastructure building.

       This would ensure that city governments had an advantage in ensuring rapid transformation.

 

       Urban Governance:

       Regular elections should be held in cities and there must be empowerment through the transferring of the three Fs: finances, functions, and functionaries.

       An improved urban legal framework that includes a stable and certain fiscal transfer regime, accords financial powers to ULBs [urban local bodies] along with attendant rules/regulations will determine the medium to long-term scale of investment flows for urban infrastructure.

 

2. Taxation powers to ULBs:

       Creating a separate tax domain for local governments, by amending the Constitution.

       States should ensure that the law gives sufficient powers to the local bodies regarding taxes that are more appropriately collected at local levels.

       Introduction of the new simplified and transparent system of taxation would definitely improve the collection efficiency. A periodic physical verification of the properties and taxes levied on them should be carried out in each municipal area by a separate wing directly under the control of the Chief Executive.

       An impact study should be carried out for all major developments in the city. A congestion charge and/or betterment levy in relation to such projects may be levied wherever warranted.

       The power to impose fines for violation of civic laws should be given to municipal authorities. The relevant laws may be suitably modified.

       State grants-in-aid should be given on the basis of certain principles like size of population, slums concentration, location of town, etc.

 

3. Recent reforms:

       Performance linked grants: 14 finance commission stipulated that a detail procedural for the disbursal of the performance grant to ULBs, based on the various reforms in areas like auditing, reporting, etc

       Municipal bonds: NITI Aayog come up with utilizing the municipal bond market which would ensure a low cost of borrowing, required for municipality project.

 

Local self-governance in India should be strengthened as it captures the local needs and ensures a responsive government.