Vibha SharmaNew Delhi: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has said the integration of property tax with the general trade licence (GTL) will become fully operational digitally by Monday, after facing criticism over failing to do this for nearly six months.A senior official said some software modifications were pending. “It will take one to two days to complete these changes and ensure smooth functioning of the system. We expect it to be fully operational by Monday,” the official said.Earlier, the GTL fee was a fixed annual charge determined by the shop’s square footage and the locality’s category (A to H). It is now being changed to link it to the property tax. The new regime calculates the GTL fee as 15% of the property tax. Officials say that the GTL fee will reduce in amount for the property tax owner, but traders and building owners say that the new process is more complicated.Each property has its unique property identification code (UPIC). One of the changes is that against each UPIC, there can now be multiple general trade licences (GTL). This GTL fee will be 15% of the property tax. However, there is little clarity on how the property tax will be calculated in certain scenarios. Say, a person rents out a floor of his multi-storey property for commercial use to three traders. In that case, will the GTL fee be 15% of property tax for the whole building or only for that floor. As there are multiple traders, will the 15% be divided among the businesses?The change in the GTL fee calculation was announced in Dec. The changes are yet to show up fully on the portal where these charges have to be paid.Traders have raised concerns about difficulties faced by building owners in obtaining GTLs where multiple shops operate from the same property because the older system allowed only one licence against one UPIC.An official said, “We are aware of the issue, which is why provisions are being incorporated in the updated system to enable the issuance of multiple licences from the same address or UPIC.”The issue of integrating GTL with property tax has also gained significance as June 30 is the deadline for getting rebates on advance payment of property tax.“April 30 was the last date for licence renewal. Since there was no clarity on MCD’s decision, most traders renewed their licences at much higher rates under the old system to avoid penalties. Even now, no changes are visible on the website and there is no clarity for new applicants. Ideally, the civic body should have implemented the portal changes before issuing the order,” said Nitin Gupta, president of Kamla Nagar Market.While property tax is paid by the owner or occupier, the trade licence fee may be paid either by the business owner or the property owner, creating complications in assigning a single login for the sake of compliance. “These issues are being resolved and the integration process is under way,” another MCD senior official said.KK Gupta of the Iron and Steel Merchants Welfare Association in Naraina questioned the fee calculation mechanism. “Why is the GTL fee being charged as 15% of the total property tax if commercial activity is being carried out in only 25% of the area? Ideally, the fee should be calculated on the commercial-use portion. The existing arrangement will either discourage compliance or force people to look for alternative arrangements,” he said.“Only 15% of traders are paying trade licence fee. If these issues continue then MCD won’t see any rise in licence fee payers,” a trader said.According to official data, 43,178 licences were issued between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026, generating revenue of Rs 118.03 crore for the corporation.Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav said that despite writing to the chief minister, no relief has been provided to business establishments.