Uniform factory licence to apply across Delhi

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has announced uniform rates for factory licence fee across the city, a move in the direction to have a common taxation regime for the entire city unlike the under the three corporations that levied different rates in areas under their jurisdictions, an MCD spokesperson said.

The new rates will be applicable from July 5, 2022, the spokesperson said, and added that the new licensing regime will also incorporate an automatic increase of up to 15% in license fee after every three years.

The spokesperson said the new rates will apply to new factory licences, renewal of factory licence as well as household unit’s licence.

The uniformity in rates is likely to impact the units operating in the erstwhile north MCD areas where the license fee rates were significantly lower compared to areas under south and east MCDs.

A senior official from the factory licensing department said that after the trifurcation of MCDs in 2012, the individual corporations were empowered to draft their own licensing policy. “While the corporations were unified as per the act passed in April 2022, there were some discrepancies and variations in the fee structure. The revised license fee proposal was placed before the special officer on June 30 2022 for approval,” official said.

The factory operators and associations have argued that the MCD should also provide basic facilities commensurate to the fee that it charges.

Shreesh Sharma, member of Mundka Industrial area welfare society, said that factory operators are willing to pay the increased fee but MCD should at least provide basic amenities in the area. “We have to intervene to even get the garbage collected from our area. Several requests have been moved but to no effect,” he added.

Raghuvansh Arora, who heads the Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI), said factory operators pay steep property taxes and commercial rates for power, so the provision for automatic 15% hike does not make any sense. “How will small and medium scale industries survive under such business environment,” he added.