Overview
- The Praja Foundation released its 2026 assessment in Mumbai, drawing on 398 municipal budgets from 43 cities covering 2017–18 to 2025–26.
- Across the cities, grants supply about 60% of income, while own-source revenue averages 34.95% and property tax contributes 14.46%, which is lower than non-tax revenue at 17.16%.
- Mumbai illustrates the strain after the 2017 end of octroi under GST, with real property tax growth at -0.22% and non-tax charges now the largest share of its income.
- Although state laws allow borrowing, only 20 of the 43 cities used debt between 2016–17 and 2023–24, and the average share was about 3% of income excluding Mumbai.
- Transparency and autonomy remain weak, with few cities posting full budget documents, many not following the national accounting manual, and several lacking power to set taxes or pass budgets on their own.