Mizoram village councils to collect taxes online under SBI pact

Residents of Mizoram's villages will soon be able to pay local taxes and fees to their village councils online, after the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India (SBI) in Aizawl on Tuesday.

The agreement lets village councils collect their own source revenue (OSR) through digital payments using the SAMARTH portal and an SBI payment gateway, PTI reported.

First in the Northeast

The MoU was signed in the presence of Rural Development and Administration Minister Prof Lalnilawma. He said Mizoram is the first state in the Northeast, and the third in the country, to sign such an agreement with SBI on SAMARTH.

The minister said digital collection would strengthen grassroots governance, make payments easier for residents and bring more transparency to how village councils raise money.

How it will work

Under the Mizoram Village Council Act, 2025, village councils are allowed to levy and collect a range of taxes and other charges from residents. Until now, most of this has been collected in cash.

With the new gateway, residents can pay online. Each transaction will be recorded and can be monitored through the SAMARTH portal, officials said, giving the state a clearer picture of how much each council is collecting.

Link to Finance Commission grants

Lalnilawma said village councils that perform better on own source revenue would also be eligible for performance grants under the 16th Finance Commission. He said the system should encourage healthy competition among councils to raise more revenue, and tied the effort to the national goal of Viksit Bharat 2047.

Finance Commissions have increasingly linked grants for rural local bodies to their ability to raise their own revenue and keep audited accounts, so digital records of collections can help councils show their performance.

What is not yet known

The state has not yet announced when the payment gateway will go live across all village councils, which taxes will be covered first, or whether any charges will apply to residents for online payments. Village councils in areas with weak mobile connectivity may also need support to make the switch.

Village councils are the elected bodies that run local administration and development work in Mizoram's villages, and the new system is meant to give them a steadier, better-documented income of their own.