🟢 At a Glance:
The Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) posted a revenue surplus of ₹384 crore in FY25. That’s right — the city made money. Yet somehow, the drainage near your nani’s gali still smells like ancient sins. While taxpayers bled ₹592 crore, grants and GST goodies rained down like it was Budget Diwas.
Let’s decode how Rajkot runs a profitable city while still blaming citizens for open manholes.
💰 FY25 Financial Highlights (RMC)
| Category | Amount (in ₹ Crore) |
|---|---|
| Revenue Receipts | ₹1,354.29 Cr |
| Revenue Expenditure | ₹969.91 Cr |
| Revenue Surplus | ₹384.38 Cr |
| Capital Receipts | ₹76.47 Cr |
| Capital Expenditure | ₹484.35 Cr |
| Overall Deficit | ₹(23.50) Cr (after adjustments) |
Yes, they ran a revenue surplus, but capital works hit harder than a pothole in monsoon.
📊 Where Did the Money Come From?
| Source | ₹ Crore | % of Total Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Tax Revenue | ₹592.11 Cr | 43.7% |
| Non-Tax Revenue (Water bills, etc.) | ₹162.32 Cr | 12% |
| Assigned Revenue (GST, Motor Vehicle Tax, etc.) | ₹218.98 Cr | 16.2% |
| Grants (Smart City, SBM, AMRUT, etc.) | ₹381.26 Cr | 28.1% |
Moral of the story: RMC is less a tax body, more a grant collection agency with a receipt book.
🛠️ Where Did It Go?
| Category | ₹ Cr Spent | % of Total Expense |
|---|---|---|
| Solid Waste Management | ₹203.96 Cr | 20.3% |
| Roads & Bridges | ₹143.76 Cr | 14.8% |
| Water Supply | ₹118.58 Cr | 12.2% |
| Health & Sanitation | ₹97.45 Cr | 10.1% |
| Drainage & Sewage | ₹84.36 Cr | 8.7% |
| Streetlights | ₹54.92 Cr | 5.6% |
| Misc. (like Cultural Grants) | ₹267.33 Cr | 27.6% |
₹267 Cr for miscellaneous. Somewhere in there is that ₹4.5 lakh garba stage you never saw.
🧾 Audit Red Flags & “Chhupa Rustams”
- ₹4.52 crore in pending recovery from contractors — sabko advance mil gaya, kaam? Pending.
- ₹9.41 crore due from tax defaulters — but no aggressive recovery action taken
- ₹3.38 crore marked under “Excess Payment to Vendors” — refund? Kya hota hai woh.
- ₹0 revenue from 14 new parking lots that were “under collection process” — now in year 3.
🧠 EduInvesting Take:
Rajkot is profitable on paper, grant-rich on budget, and still somehow feet-deep in water by August.
Running a ₹384 crore surplus but still:
- Using plastic drums as barricades
- Delaying property tax rebates
- Cancelling tenders because “no suitable contractor found”
- And budgeting ₹7 crore for public “awareness jingles”
It’s a masterclass in “fiscally fit, functionally floppy” governance.
📌 TL;DR
- ✅ ₹384 Cr revenue surplus
- ✅ 44% from taxes, 28% from grants
- ❌ ₹484 Cr spent on capital, creating a fiscal drain
- ❌ Multiple audit flags — pending dues, zero collections from new infra
- ✅ Rajkot runs rich, but walks like it has leg cramps
Author: Prashant Marathe
Date: June 1, 2025
Tags: Rajkot Municipal Corporation Audit, RMC FY25 Budget, Municipal Surplus India, Grant Dependency Urban India, EduInvesting Satire, Taxpayer ROI, Smart City Misuse, Audit Flag Urban India, Civic Finance Roast
