Cities can be creative in boosting their own source revenues in India, and the Greater Chennai Corporation is leading that pack with a strategy to mop up an additional revenue of around 3,000 crores (~$379 million) from own sources over the next three years.

The Athena Infonomics team has greatly enjoyed working with visionary leaders at the Greater Chennai Corporation to jointly map opportunities for unlocking revenue for the city. The study we conducted systematically analyzed historical trends in tax and non-tax revenues and mapped the assets owned by the city to identify opportunities to expand the city's own-source revenue base through policy reforms and measures to improve revenues from existing assets, with a focus on rentals, parking, and advertising.

The World Bank will provide support of up to 22 crores (~$2.7 million) once this report is approved. This will help the city to unlock around 3,000 crores (~$379 million) worth of additional revenue over the next three years through strategic interventions. The World Bank's support to the city also includes additional incentives linked to performance on revenue mobilization.

The following infographic from The Times of India illustrates these revenues and the stakeholders involved:

More highlights from the report can be found in this newly released Times of India article.

Banner image source: Syed Ariff