Smart governance: Big data and analytics to Telangana government's rescue

Vehicle tax collection is just one of the many ways in which Telangana is using big data and analytics to improve efficiency in government processes

In late 2017, Telangana’s transport department approached the e-governance cell with a unique problem.

The state had not been able to enforce a law which was passed over eight years ago by the then Andhra Pradesh government to levy two per cent additional life tax on the purchase of second vehicles. They found that registrations were not linked to any IDs such as Aadhaar or PAN and details buyers often provided were misleading, proving it impossible to check if a buyer of a new vehicle was already the owner of another vehicle.

Hence, the twin objectives of the legislation —