Finally,BMC to renew licences of octroi agents

“There were disputes between the BMC and agents so their licenses were not renewed. But now we have decided to increase the deposit made by the agents from the current Rs 20,000,” said R G Sankhe,Deputy Assessor & Collector. This will ensure more control over agents,he added.

The agents worked on behalf of the importers of particular goods coming into Mumbai and pay the octroi duty to the corporation. These agents have to be approved and licensed by BMC. Their licenses come up for renewal after every five years.

In 2006,after their licenses expired the administration decided to implement reforms including the green channel which meant online payment to ensure more transparency. Usually if these payments are made on paper,there are higher chances of agents forging papers and evading octroi,said another official.

The preconditions for renewal of licenses for agents in 2006 was put forth and decided that all agents should conduct their business online through the green channel. Neither the agents nor the importers agreed for the same,said the official.

BMC has made repeated attempts to eliminate octroi agents from the system. In 2008,BMC had planned to introduce smart cards to enable payment of octroi sans middlemen and also appoint SBI as the sole banking agent. It had planned to introduce smart cards which would be given to importers based on their income generation. The smart cards were to be of four types — platinum,gold,silver and prepaid octroi cards.

These cards were aimed at removing agents from the whole process and enabling the driver of trucks to electronically pay octroi. Later only the lower level,silver cards,took off as they are for businessmen who usually import cheaper goods such as sand and brick.