Fadnavis presents ₹7.69 lakh crore Maharashtra Budget, loan waiver for farmers
The Hindu
Maharashtra's ₹7.69 lakh crore budget includes a farmer loan waiver and ambitious plans to boost the agricultural economy significantly.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday (March 6, 2026) presented the State budget for 2026-27, unveiling a ₹7.69 lakh crore roadmap that includes a crop loan waiver of up to ₹2 lakh for farmers with arrears till September 30, 2025. “Approximately 28-30 lakh farmers will benefit from the loan waiver. Additionally, 20 lakh farmers who have been repaying their instalments regularly will receive ₹50,000 under the ‘Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjmafi Yojana’,” said Mr. Fadnavis.
The Budget also proposes a ninefold growth of the agricultural economy, aiming to raise the sector’s GDP from $55 billion to $500 billion by 2047. The State’s revenue receipts are estimated at around ₹6.56 lakh crore, resulting in a revenue deficit of about ₹40,500 crore.
The total Budget outlay works out to roughly 14.21% of the estimated Gross State Domestic Product of ₹54.13 lakh crore for 2026-27.
The State government allocated ₹24,231.28 crore to women and child development, down from about ₹31,000 crore last year. While the allocation for the ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme has fallen, Mr. Fadnavis assured that the scheme will continue.Criticising the allocations, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray alleged that the State government has made the Budget “contractor-friendly”. “They were supposed to increase the ‘Ladki Bahin’ instalments. What happened to that?” he asked. In response, Deputy CM Eknath Shinde said, “Earlier, we had assured that the loan waiver would be announced at the right time, and now it has been included in the Budget. We have also kept our promise of not shutting down the Ladki Bahin Yojana.”
Mr. Fadnavis unveiled the Maharashtra Global Competence Centre Policy, which aims to establish 400 new competency centres and generate 4 lakh job opportunities. He announced the development of a mining highway network and plans to make Gadchiroli the new steel hub, with an investment of ₹262,000 crore expected to create over 70,000 jobs in large and super-large steel industries.
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