Thane Smart City successfully completes pilot blockchain project for Property Tax Assessment Certificate

Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has completed its pilot blockchain-enabled property tax assessment report. TMC is the first municipal corporation in the country to initiate blockchain based platform under the flagship programs of MoHUA –‘Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovation’ (AGNIi), Startup India and Invest India. The implementation of blockchain technology alleviates multiple pain points by tracking late payments, dispute resolution, monitoring collection targets, recording non-delivery of bills, and facilitating inter-department coordination.

Integrating blockchain technology in property-tax payments will ensure faster approvals and provide a single point for data availability. This one-scan solution will also ease out the process and relieve other stakeholders like bank officials, property buyers, lessees and more by enabling them to verify all the original document with any recent updates.

The new blockchain-based process was facilitated by a Hyderabad based Startup VeriDoc Global India. The one-scan-away information provider will be ubiquitously sharing initially onboarded data with most current updates for the benefit of various stakeholders.

Explaining the blockchain platform, Venkat Reddy, CTO of VeriDoc India said, “Every time an authorised external agency scans a QR code on the certificate, the system will pull the original certificate for instant verification. For example, an individual applying for a loan can get their documents verified from anywhere with a QR scan without having to visit an office or wait days for verification, therefore, making the process seamless.”

“With the successful conclusion of the pilot, we expect that the final implementation of the blockchain solution will take approximately two months. We are also working with other smart cities to identify the most suitable use cases of blockchain for their smart city missions; use cases that deliver the highest value for both governance and citizens. Our mission, therefore, is to support the administration as well as assure the citizens of inclusive urbanisation of our progressive nation and so to help we tap into our learnings drawn and adapted from other sectors such as education, healthcare, supply chain, pharmaceutical, agritech and more,” said Rea Achalkar, CEO of VeriDoc Global India.

Sameer Unhale, CEO of Thane Smartcity and Additional Municipal Commissioner, TMC, proclaimed this is the first time in India property tax assessment and reporting has been blockchain-enabled. He said, “This technology intervention can go a long way toward thwarting fake documents. We have seen it can significantly alleviate tedious paperwork, and it enhances the already-digitised system validation and recordkeeping by providing instant access to authentic data via any smartphone. Even the PDF certificate generated will have a QR code, so citizens can share documents without having to make in-person requests. Hopefully, we will become the archetype for other local bodies, thereby setting a standard for service offering and service delivery.”

VeriDoc Global technology solution is an anti-fraud, instant document verification system that ensures that the user is looking at an authentic and accurate document as created at the source and stored in an encrypted format on the blockchain network.