Kochi: Kerala has doubled down on welfare promises at same time stressing on sticking to fiscal discipline in the 2026–27 state Budget presented in the Assembly by Finance Minister K N Balagopal a few months
ahead of assembly elections.
The budget envisaged to hike security and welfare board pensions from Rs 1,600 to Rs 2,000 per month for which Rs 14,500 crore has been earmarked in the coming year.
Honorariums for anganwadi and ASHA workers will go up by Rs 1,000 a month, addressing long‑standing demands from them.
A total of Rs 400 crore will be set aside for the Chief Minister’s Connect Work Scholarship scheme for supporting youth and students. It would also increase pension coverage to nuns and other women living in convents and faith homes.
The state government has decided to settle loans taken by survivors of the Wayanad landslides, which devastated parts of the district in 2024.
Balagopal blamed the centre for neglect and hindering borrowing.
He highlighted the Economic Review’s estimate that Kerala’s real GSDP grew 6.19 per cent in 2024–25, only slightly below 6.73 per cent in 2023–24.
The Budget follows earlier decisions to raise social security pensions to Rs 2,000 in October 2025, against the Left Front’s manifesto promise of Rs 2,500.
The cabinet has given in‑principle approval for a Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project in Kerala to link key urban centres with faster mass transit.
Kerala budget presented
