Where do number crunchers go for authentic data when analysing the financial health of local governments?
K Subalakshmi, a senior finance and credit professional, decided to answer this herself by setting up a database of the budgets and accounts of municipal corporations across India.
Set up in June 2010, Munify Datatech Private Ltd is also geared to handle queries.
Since funding was elusive, as few understood the importance of monitoring local government finances, the company remained bootstrapped for more than a decade.
“We raised seed capital only in August 2021 to complete the database,” says Subalakshmi, who is the CEO.
Lens on cities
Munify’s financial module, built with publicly available budgets and financial statements of municipalities, was launched in September 2020.
What is unique about the national database is that it helps compare city finances on a single platform, Subalakshmi says.
“The contextual operational data such as service levels, project details, property tax, economic strength of the cities along with their credit rankings were released in April 2023,” she says.
“Munify has an elaborate dashboard, too, which depicts the municipal financial performance visually.”
Given that municipal budgets in a diverse country like India are presented in various languages and formats, it is a challenge for citizens and analysts alike to decipher trends in financial performances and services such as infrastructure creation.
Visual story
“The Munify infographic dashboard addresses this lack of insight in municipal data. The visual presentation of municipal financial data includes over 2,300 graphs, covering nearly 200 municipal corporations in India,” Subalakshmi says.
The infographs capture the revenue performance of the municipalities, their capital expenditure performance, and their borrowings in the form of bonds over the last five years. The overall analysis is cystallised in the form of credit scores and rankings.
Language no bar
“We hire interns with knowledge of the local language. Many students of chartered accountancy all over India have contributed to the Munify database. Besides their accounting knowledge, they also pull in their knowledge of the local language,” Subalakshmi says.
For its dashboard, Munify has a collaboration with the National Institute of Urban Affairs in Delhi to introduce its database to municipal commissioners, to help local governments evaluate their financial performance, benchmark it against peers, and improve efficiencies.
For credit markets, Munify brings in much-needed transparency in evaluating municipal financial performance, the company founder says.
Munify next plans to set up an online marketplace to help municipalities raise funds for green infrastructure projects. This is also expected to be useful to municipalities and civic tech start-ups working on green projects.