For the first time, the Municpial Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has collected Rs 1500 crore as property tax. The civic agency has recorded an increased of 29.5% in property tax from last year.

According to MCD officials, the sharp rise in the transfer duty has made all the difference in the tax collection.

The MCD collected Rs 772 crore from property tax and and Rs 728 crore from transfer duty, an amount collected by Delhi government on sale and purchase of property, during 2010-11.

"This year, we have seen a sharp increase in transfer duty. Last year, we got just Rs 460 crore. We have also registered an increase in property tax," said Yogender Chandolia, chairman of MCD's standing committee.

MCD officials feared poor tax collection this year, as the ruling-BJP had announced that property tax will not be collected from unauthorized colonies and villages.

It had got a lot of negative publicity. Those who were earlier paying taxes, we feel, were discouraged from paying taxes this year. One reason for the increase in tax collection could be the special settlement schemes introduced by us.

We had waived-off penalty and interest on the outstanding property tax and people have made use of the settlement scheme," said a senior MCD official.

MCD has also reported 5.5% increase in the number of taxpayers. This year, close to 10.4 lakh people paid property tax as against 9.8 lakh people last year. MCD official attribute this increase to the various settlement schemes.