Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has successfully finished it’s pilot blockchain-enabled property tax assessment report. TMC is the first municipal corporation in India to launch a 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 mitigates various pain points by tracing late payments, monitoring collection targets, dispute resolution, facilitating inter-department coordination, and recording non-delivery of bills.

Combining blockchain technology with property-tax payments will assure more expeditious approvals and present a single point for data availability. This one-scan solution will also facilitate the process and assist other stakeholders like bank officials, lessees, property buyers, and more by allowing them to verify all the original documents with any recent updates.

The new blockchain-based process was aided by a Hyderabad based Startup ‘VeriDoc Global India.’ The one-scan-away information provider will be ubiquitously giving initially onboard data with the most popular updates for the benefit of various stakeholders.

Demystifying the blockchain platform, Venkat Reddy, CTO of VeriDoc India, said, “Every time an authorized 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 urbanization 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, announced this is the first time in India property tax assessment and reporting has been enabled by blockchain technology.

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-digitized 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, prompt document verification system that guarantees that the user is gazing at an authoritative and accurate document as generated at the source and stored in an encrypted format on the blockchain network.