Fadnavis presents ₹7.69 lakh crore Maharashtra Budget, loan waiver for farmers

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday, March 6, 2026, presented the State budget for 2026-27 and announced the Rs 7.69 lakh crore roadmap, which includes crop loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers in arrears by September 30, 2025. “Around 28-30 lakh farmers will benefit from the loan” Additionally, 20 lakh farmers who pay their installments regularly will get ₹50,000 under the ‘Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjmafi Yojana’,” Mr. Fadnavis said.

The budget also proposes a ninefold growth of the agricultural economy, aiming to increase 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 around ₹40,500 crore.

The total Budget outlay accounts for roughly 14.21% of the estimated Gross State Domestic Product (₹ 54.13 lakh crore) for 2026-27.

The state government allocated ₹24,231.28 crore for women and child development; this figure was around ₹31,000 crore last year. While the allocation for the ‘Ladki Bahin’ scheme has fallen, Mr. Fadnavis assured that the scheme will continue. Criticizing the allocations, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray alleged that the State government had made the Budget “contractor-friendly”. “They were supposed to increase the installments of ‘Ladki Bahin’. What happened to that?” he asked. In response, Acting 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 not to shut down the Ladki Bahin Yojana.”

create more jobs

Mr. Fadnavis announced the Maharashtra Global Competence Center Policy, which aims to establish 400 new competence centers and create 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, which is expected to create more than 70,000 jobs in major and super-major steel industries.