New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented a ₹1,03,700 crore budget for the 2026-27 financial year in the State Assembly on Tuesday. Described as a “Green Budget,” the fiscal plan marks a 3.7% increase from the previous year’s ₹1 lakh crore outlay. A significant 21% of the total budget, amounting to approximately ₹22,236 crore, has been dedicated specifically to environmental initiatives, pollution control, and the expansion of green spaces across the national capital. Gupta emphasized that the budget seeks to balance rapid urban development with ecological sustainability, projecting a revenue surplus of ₹9,092 crore for the current year.
Education remained the top priority for the government, receiving the highest sectoral allocation of ₹19,326 crore. Key announcements in this sector include the provision of free bicycles for nearly 130,000 girl students in Class 9 and laptops for meritorious students passing Class 10. The healthcare sector followed with an allocation of ₹12,645 crore, which includes ₹1,500 crore for the establishment of 750 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs and ₹202 crore to extend health benefits to transgender individuals. The government also plans to set up more than 750 new health centres to bolster the city’s primary healthcare infrastructure.
Infrastructure and transport received a combined push of over ₹20,000 crore, with a heavy emphasis on electric mobility. The Chief Minister introduced EV Policy 2.0, which prioritizes vehicle scrappage over simple purchase subsidies, supported by an outlay of ₹200 crore. To improve the city’s air quality, ₹1,352 crore has been earmarked for making roads “dust-free” through end-to-end recarpeting of 750 km of stretches. Additionally, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was granted ₹11,266 crore, including a dedicated ₹1,000 crore for local road improvements. In a significant welfare move, the budget also allocated ₹260 crore to provide a free LPG cylinder to eligible families during the festivals of Holi and Diwali.
