HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), has been lagging behind in collecting taxes from several organisations and individuals whose advertisements dot the Twin Cities. One of the major culprits is the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), which is not paying any advertising fee since 2014 to the GHMC. “GHMC is obliged to collect around Rs 50 crore for the ads displayed on TSRTC buses,” said a GHMC official.
“Also, the new advertising fee, with a 50 per cent hike - for ads on each bus, for a year - is raised from `3,000 to `6,000. This will increase the dues considerably,” he said. Also, there are over one lakh cabs and nearly 1.5 lakh autos in the city. “But less than 1,000 autos are paying the advertising fee,” said the GHMC official.
Auto drivers are often lured by advertising companies to promote their businesses. They are paid `10 or 20 to promote their business. As per the rule, cost of advertising tax to display an ad on each auto in Hyderabad is `2,250 for a year and `4,500 for a cab, informed the official.For wall paintings, flex boards, glass posters, pillar boards, paintings/stickers, and flags, the corporation, depending upon location, is supposed to charge, anywhere between `1,500 and `750 per square metre. But the corporation has failed to collect any fee amount from advertising companies in the above-mentioned categories.
The corporation has sent several notices to nearly 200 ad agencies - demanding advertisement tax. But the actual collection of tax and penalties has remained poor.In the past, the GHMC expected around `47.99 crore through advertising 2,618 hoardingsunipoles (registered), 30 ads on municipality sites (tendered), 1,202 bus shelter ads, and from ads around 876 structures, sites at L&T Metro Rail.
For the financial year (FY) 2016-17, the amount was `25.83 crore, for 2017-18 it was `38-29 crore, for 2018-19 it was `31.84 crore and for this year, from April till November, the GHMC managed to collect `9.67 crore while the expected amount after the revision of advertisement fee is nearly `60 crores.