MUMBAI: Amid mounting pressure on the state exchequer, the Maharashtra government has tightened the rules governing supplementary budgetary demands ahead of the winter session of the state legislature, restricting additional spending to urgent and essential requirements.
The fiscal pressures come only months after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis presented a ₹ 7.69-lakh crore budget for 2026-27 in March. It also declared the state’s accumulated debt to be ₹ 11.03 lakh crore, with the debt-to-GSDP ratio touching 20.38%, its highest in recent years. In June, the state government tabled supplementary demands amounting to ₹ 97,706 crore, equivalent to 12.70% of the total budget outlay.
“These conditions place the onus on departments to demonstrate that additional funding is essential and cannot be managed within existing allocations,” a senior finance official said.
The move assumes significance as the state government’s preliminary estimates suggest that its drought relief package alone could cost more than ₹ 45,000 crore. The substantial outlay threatens to put further pressure on the state’s finances, coming on top of the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Shetkari Karjmukti Yojana 2026, the farm loan waiver scheme estimated to cost ₹ 36,585 crore. The relief burden currently amounts to more than ₹ 81,500 crore.
