The financial position of the once premier Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trust continues to be gloomy. Their balance sheet for the financial year April 2022 to March 2023 shows a loss of Rs 4.8 crores (USD 574,607). This is the fourth consecutive year the economically bereft trust has shown a deficit. Balance sheets prior to four years are not displayed on their website, bombayparsipunchayet.org.
The loss for 2022-2023, however, is thankfully less than the previous year’s figure of Rs 6.8 crores (USD 814,027). One reason for the improvement is an increase in income by over four crore rupees (USD 479,933) from the auction of charitable flats in various colonies (this amount is shown under individual donors) as well as a drop in expenditure by drastically reducing contributions to
"Other charitable objects,” from Rs 3.59 crores (USD 429,847) in 2021-2022 to Rs 1.38 crores (USD 165,233).
The total income for 2022-2023 was Rs 43.34 crores (USD 5,188,230) of which Rs 10.04 crores (USD 1,204,545) accrued from rent and Rs 2.13 crores (USD 255,545) from parking charges. Interest from fixed deposits with banks and corporates was Rs 20.26 crores (USD 2,430,685). The expenditure was Rs 48.15 crores (USD 5,764,448). Expenses increased by almost four crore rupees (USD 478,938): ground rent doubled from Rs 1.33 crores (USD159,247) to Rs 2.73 crores (USD 326,875) while repairs and maintenance costs rose by around Rs 2.5 crores (USD 299,578) to Rs 4.94 crores (USD 591,367).
The top items of expenditure were salaries and wages, Rs 10.83 crores (USD 1,296,459); plus Rs 3.13 crores (USD 374,692); gratuity, Rs 1.57 crores (USD 187,944); professional charges Rs 2.62 crores (USD 313,640); security charges Rs 1.98 crores (USD 237,025); and water charges Rs 1.80 crores (USD 215,477). Under the item Religious aid, Rs 3.38 crores (USD 404,619) out of a total of Rs 3.7 crores (USD 442,926) was spent for "maintenance of Doongerwadi.” The number of corpses consigned to the Towers of Silence in the calendar year 2022 was 631, which works out to roughly over Rs 53,000 (USD 634) per corpse. In contrast the charges for cremating a corpse is Rs 250 (USD 3), as the crematoria costs are subsidized by the municipality.
In the financial year 2023-2024 the BPP has been unable to pay salaries and wages as per their agreement with the Mumbai Mazdoor Sabha that represents the workers. The Union has filed an unfair labor practices suit with the Labour Court.
The balance sheets for the financial years 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 are uploaded on the BPP website. For 2019-2020 the loss was Rs 1.18 crores (USD 141,257) and for 2020-2021, Rs 26 lakhs (USD 31,124). The cumulative loss for the past four years is over 13 crore rupees (USD 1,556,552). [The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital (PGH) operating loss was Rs 16.66 crores (USD 1,994,732) alone for the financial year 2022-2023 (see "PGH: Losses increase,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, February 7-20, 2024) but unlike the BPP, donations and interest from investments leave them with a surplus.]
On the assets side of the 2022-2023 balance sheet under "Buildings under construction,” the total value is shown as Rs 32.2 crores (USD 3,854,661). But for the financial year 2023-2024 the BPP will have to write off the Godrej Baug ownership housing project valued at Rs 14.57 crores (USD 1,744,174). The project fell afoul of municipal regulatory compliances. The demolition of the reinforced cement concrete skeleton and the carting of debris is estimated by one source to be around two crore rupees (USD 239,419). The other high-ticket structures listed under construction are at the Nirlon complex, Rs 6.13 crores (USD 733,822) and buildings A, B and C of the Bamji Sanatorium project in Navsari, Rs 8.48 crores (USD 1,015,141).
Adding to the beleaguered trust’s monetary woes, the Independent Auditor’s Report prepared by Farhad Bhesania, a partner of the auditing firm Kalyaniwalla & Mistry LLP, notes, "The trust has not invested the amounts allocated to Sinking and Depreciation Fund in earmarked deposits.” This shortfall is over Rs 23 crores (USD 2,754,359). The default has been showing in earlier balance sheets as well.
The most obvious source to increase revenue is to raise the monthly outgoings for occupants in the colonies. But the majority four trustees on the seven-member board who owe their allegiance to former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta are averse to doing so. The tenants/licencees constitute a substantial voter bank. Hence even the four percent annual increase in rents which is legally permissible is not being levied. That alone would net an additional income of Rs 40 lakhs (USD 47, 901) and more annually. The trust can also legally recover from occupants all government taxes levied on the flats. That too is not being collected.
When Viraf Mehta took over the chairmanship of the BPP early this January, Parsiana had inquired from him how he planned to manage the financial deficit of the trust. He replied the BPP was "working on six redevelopment projects each of which will help the BPP generate ample funds for the medium and long term.” Viraf’s final term as trustee ends in May 2027. Allowing for the slow pace of property redevelopment in Bombay in general, and in the community in particular, completing any project within three years may be wishful thinking.