Paying octroi for your car in Mumbai

When you move to Mumbai with a car that has been registered outside Mumbai, as per the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (levy) of Octroi Rules, 1965, the car is treated as “imported” and octroi needs to be paid. Most often, the car is driven into the city and not transported in a carrier, so the payment of octroi at that time is bypassed, either wilfully or inadvertently.

The Mumbai Municipality (BMC), in a bid to recover precious octroi revenue, regularly conducts drives at apartment complexes to look out for non-Mumbai registered cars. Owners of the car parking slots where such cars are found are sent notices by BMC, asking them to pay up the octroi due for the cars parked there.

A few months after we moved to Mumbai we realised that octroi, that was payable on our car, had not been paid. This through a BMC notice.

To handle the payment of octroi, there are several agents whose services can be used. Handling it oneself is also a good option if one has a few hours to spare. Here is my account of resolving the issue.

I visited the BMC office at Chatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST), at the address on the notice they issued, located near the fish market. I carried with me the RC book of the car (note: the car is not registered in my name) and the latest paid insurance policy.

Generally octroi @ 4.5% is payable on the insured value of the vehicle. I was told by the officer that vehicles that are old (like my car which was about 10 yrs old) could also be valued on the resale value, in case the insured value was higher than the expected resale value.

It took about 10 minutes to get the job done. I paid the octroi amount in cash. I was given a receipt for the amount and the NOC which allows the vehicle to ply freely on Mumbai roads. I was told that I could now also sell the vehicle in Mumbai. Happy to say that I got the job done without paying any “coffee money” (which the officer was suggesting at one point and which was quickly forgotten by him after I made it clear that was not accustomed to bribing). By going without an agent I realised that apart from saving some money, I bypassed possible bribing too.

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