GHMC Recovers Rs 6.83 Crore After Duplicate Payment Discrepancies to Contractors

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has detected duplicate and excess payment discrepancies amounting to Rs 6.92 crore across 78 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) invoices issued to contractors for civil works and infrastructure projects in Hyderabad.

GHMC Commissioner R.V. Karnan stated that the civic body has already recovered Rs 6.83 crore of the total amount. A preliminary vigilance enquiry report into the irregularities was formally submitted on August 28, 2026.

According to the civic body, the financial discrepancies involved a total amount of Rs 6,92,11,434. Karnan clarified that Rs 6,83,75,773 relating to 74 invoices had already been recovered, while the remaining Rs 8,35,661 across four invoices was received through demand drafts and remained pending credit to the GHMC General Fund.

The payments were issued to contractors through the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), an online digital platform used by the GHMC to settle arrears alongside direct government releases for infrastructure projects such as flyovers, road repairs, and waste management works. Under the system, contractors were permitted to draw funds for emergency needs, including medical requirements and marriages, with the sums to be debited from their final payouts.

However, following the trifurcation of the erstwhile GHMC, the operating agency for the platform updated its software but failed to properly reconcile the emergency amounts drawn by vendors. The issue came to light during the mapping of contractors' works and payment records.

Karnan stated that the duplicate and excess payments were uncovered through GHMC's internal checks, which included online validation during an ERP software upgrade, account segregation, and a review led by the Additional Commissioner (Finance). The vendors involved were immediately blocked in the GHMC-ERP system, and formal recovery procedures were initiated.

The matter had been formally referred to the GHMC Vigilance Wing for an enquiry on July 27, 2026. Providers of the TReDS platform admitted that their blockchain-based duplicate-detection mechanisms failed to prevent identical invoices from being uploaded across single and multiple platforms.

Karnan dismissed media reports alleging that the irregularity exceeded Rs 100 crore or involved over 200 contractors, describing those claims as exaggerated and unsupported by municipal records. He added that if ongoing departmental inquiries or a special audit uncover criminal intent or mala fides, the GHMC will initiate formal criminal proceedings.