Economic Policy
Public Finance
Helping Cities Augment Own-source Revenues: Chennai, India
The Greater Chennai Corporation

Cities can be creative in boosting their own source revenues in India. With this in mind, Athena Infonomics worked with the Greater Chennai Corporation to develop a strategy that will procure additional revenue of around 3,000 crores (~$379 million) from own sources over three years.

This strategy was informed by a study Athena conducted, in which we 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.

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

Highlights from the report can be found in this Times of India article, and the Athena team has shared insights from their work on our blog.

To learn more about this work, please contact Dr. Rajesh Khanna at rajesh.k@athenainfonomics.com.

Image source: Syed Ariff