Mumbai: CM Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday that the BMC, which has Rs 78,000 crore saved in banks, should use part of the deposits to finance projects in the city where it will earn a much higher return.He said BMC’s deposits earned an interest of just 3% in banks, while the same money could earn a return of up to 15% if invested in projects. “The BMC should keep part of its deposits but there is a limit. The rest of the fund should be invested in infrastructure projects where they will get returns of up to 15%,” Fadnavis said in the assembly. “The bank interest rate on its deposits is only 3% while the rate of inflation is 7%. This means it is losing 4% of its value annually,” he added.The Mahayuti govt’s debt has shot up to an estimated Rs 11 lakh crore, mainly owing to its pre-poll sops. Its debt burden will increase with the recently-announced farm loan waiver. This poses major challenges in the financing of mega projects and new schemes.Fadnavis said unlike the BMC, MMRDA had used its deposits to finance projects and earned a return 13-14% on the funds. “When I took over as CM, I told MMRDA you are not a bank or retired employee, so you should invest in projects and get higher returns. So they leveraged their deposits and generated funds worth Rs 2 lakh crore for projects like the Metro in Nagpur and Pune,” he said.He said the BMC had refused to use its deposits on Metro projects. “MMRDA helped finance 300 km of Metro works and also projects like Atal Setu, while servicing its debt and creating assets for the city,” he added.Fadnavis said that when BMC financed the Coastal Road, it was allowed to charge a higher premium to generate additional deposits. “There was talk that the deposit has been broken. What are we supposed to do with it – keep it and eat it?” he asked.He said BMC’s deposits amounted to Rs 62,000 crore in 2017, Rs 72,000 crore in 2018, Rs 76,000 crore in 2019 and Rs 79,000 crore in 2020. By 2021, it was Rs 78,000 crore. The amount was the same in June 2026.In 2022 and 2023, BMC deposits had shot up to Rs 89,000 crore because of reduction in premiums in the wake of Covid. “As a result, developers paid premiums in advance and this raised deposits for that period,” Fadnavis said.
