See also Where money goes, the structure of state spending and income.
The four budgets at a glance
Last verified , how we sourced this
In plain terms: the budget spends more on most services, and borrows more to do it.
2026-27 fiscal deficit: what the new government plans to borrow this year
steady: 3% of GSDP, the state's yearly economic output (each budget's own projection, so ratios are not strictly comparable across years): steady as a share, ₹13,129 cr more in rupees than 2024-251
vs 2024-25
Revenue receipts: the money coming in
increase: taxes, duties and central transfers; up from ₹2.99 lakh cr in 2024-25
vs the 2025-26 budget
Rural Development, the biggest increase
from ₹29,465 cr to ₹39,609 cr, vs the 2025-26 budget†
vs the 2025-26 budget
Energy, the biggest cut
from ₹21,178 cr to ₹15,828 cr, vs the 2025-26 budget†
vs the Feb interim
Revenue deficit: day-to-day spending beyond day-to-day income
wider: wider by ₹7,079 cr since the February interim budget
Per person, this year
the whole ~₹4.72 lakh cr budget divided across every resident (about 7.8 crore people, projected); a derived figure
Just want the schemes? Breakfast, laptops, village works and women's schemes are all listed: jump to the scheme list ↓
¹ Each budget's deficit-to-GSDP ratio uses that budget's own GSDP projection, so the ratios are not strictly comparable across years.
† 2025-26 figures recovered via an archived mirror of the TN budget portal, pending cross-verification; see Sources.
Four budgets, two governments, one election year.
The new government's first full budget puts more into Rural Development, Police and Home and Social Welfare, and less into Energy, than the 2025-26 budget. Overall spending rose, and the deficit ended higher in rupees, though steady as a share of GSDP.
What this means for you
- Less: Schools and colleges (Education), the largest sector: down ₹2,341 cr (4%) even as overall spending rose.
- More: More for villages and rural jobs (Rural Development): up ₹10,144 cr.
- More: More for police and public safety (Police and Home): up ₹3,948 cr.
- More: More for welfare and pensions (Social Welfare): up ₹1,221 cr.
- Less: Less on the electricity subsidy (Energy): down ₹5,350 cr.
Good news: the budget puts more into most services. The trade-off: it also borrows more, so the deficit is wider. The government plans to spend about ₹1.22 lakh cr more than it earns this year, and borrows that gap. That gap is the fiscal deficit , the figure to watch. This page tracks spending and borrowing; tax rates are outside its scope.
Tamil Nadu passed four Budget Estimates across two governments in three years: the DMK's 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 interim budgets, and the new TVK-led coalition's full 2026-27 budget. Everything here compares Budget Estimate to Budget Estimate, with every figure cited.
Year over year
What changed most, one budget to the next.
Each sector's change in both steps, 2024-25 to 2025-26 and 2025-26 to 2026-27 (full), side by side. Blue is the earlier DMK step, red is the change into the new government's budget; bars run right for an increase, left for a cut. Sort by rupee change or by percent. In this chart, colour marks the time period, not the sector.
Two bars per sector, coloured by period; increases run right, cuts run left.
Notes
Sectors are sorted by the size of their net 2024-25 to 2026-27 (full) move; sort by rupee change so a big department's move leads, or by percent so a small sector's fast growth shows. The 13 sectors are the published major allocations and do not sum to total expenditure (see the composition below for the full split); here direction is shown by which side of zero a bar sits on, and colour marks the period. The interim vote-on-account is left out of this consecutive chain; its interim-to-full move is the separate Feb-to-Aug comparison further down.
Where every rupee goes
Compare by sector.
Each budget is one bar, split by sector, with every bar adding up to 100% so shares compare across years. The new government spends the most on Education, Rural Development and Urban Development.
Reading the colours
How big is each sector, one budget at a time.
Every block is a sector's share of that year's total, so the blocks fill the whole budget. Switch the year to see a single budget's split.
BE = Budget Estimate, the spending plan set before the year starts. The interim budget is a vote-on-account, a stopgap passed before the election.
The big grey block is money already committed before any new choice was made: interest on past loans (₹78,683 cr) and pensions (₹41,846 cr) make up most of it.
For scale: the whole ₹4.72 lakh cr budget works out to roughly ₹61,000 for every person in Tamil Nadu (derived: components sum divided by the projected 2026 population of about 7.8 crore, National Commission on Population projections, 2019).
Every block is a sector, sized by its share of the 2026-27 (full) total (₹4.72 lakh cr); the blocks fill the whole budget.
Other (not itemised)
41.7% · ₹1.97 lakh cr
Education
11.2% · ₹52,920 cr
Rural Development
8.4% · ₹39,609 cr
Urban Development
8.2% · ₹38,715 cr
Health
4.9% · ₹23,357 cr
Food and Co-operation
4.8% · ₹22,858 cr
Highways
4.6% · ₹21,524 cr
Police and Home
3.7% · ₹17,290 cr
Energy
3.4% · ₹15,828 cr
Transport
2.9% · ₹13,561 cr
Social Welfare
2.1%
Water
2.0%
Industries & MSME
1.4% · ₹6,556 cr
Adi-Dravidar & Tribal
0.8%
- Other (not itemised): ₹1.97 lakh cr, 41.7% of total.
- Education: ₹52,920 cr, 11.2% of total.
- Rural Development: ₹39,609 cr, 8.4% of total.
- Urban Development: ₹38,715 cr, 8.2% of total.
- Health: ₹23,357 cr, 4.9% of total.
- Food and Co-operation: ₹22,858 cr, 4.8% of total.
- Highways: ₹21,524 cr, 4.6% of total.
- Police and Home: ₹17,290 cr, 3.7% of total.
- Energy: ₹15,828 cr, 3.4% of total.
- Transport: ₹13,561 cr, 2.9% of total.
- Social Welfare: ₹9,818 cr, 2.1% of total.
- Water Resources: ₹9,264 cr, 2.0% of total.
- Industries and MSME: ₹6,556 cr, 1.4% of total.
- Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare: ₹3,937 cr, 0.8% of total.
The hatched grey block, "Other (not itemised)" (₹1.97 lakh cr, 42% of the total), is committed and other spending outside the 13 named sectors: pensions, interest, debt servicing, subsidies and the rest. It is real spending, not a gap.
What is in "Other (not itemised)"? (2026-27 (full))
Interest on past borrowing and pensions are the two biggest pieces. Salaries are not here; they sit inside each department's own sector.
- Interest on past borrowing₹78,683 cr (40%)
- Pensions₹41,846 cr (21%)
- Other departments₹64,175 cr (33%)
- Remainder (general administration and other)₹11,921 cr (6%)
Percentages are shares of the ₹1.97 lakh cr "Other (not itemised)" block.
How the mix shifts across the four budgets.
One bar per budget, each adding up to 100%, so you can read the trend. A sector keeps its colour across all four; the hatched grey slice on the right is the “Other (not itemised)” residual. The line under each bar is the check that the numbers add up: the 13 sectors plus Other equal that budget's total.
- Education₹52,254 cr · 13%
- Rural Development₹27,922 cr · 7%
- Urban Development₹41,733 cr · 10%
- Health₹20,198 cr · 5%
- Highways₹20,043 cr · 5%
- Police and Home₹12,543 cr · 3%
- Energy₹22,310 cr · 5%
- Transport₹9,787 cr · 2%
- Social Welfare₹7,830 cr · 2%
- Water Resources₹8,398 cr · 2%
- Industries and MSME₹4,481 cr · 1%
- Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare₹3,706 cr · 1%
- Other (not itemised)₹1.81 lakh cr · 44%
13 sectors ₹2.31 lakh cr (56%) + Other ₹1.81 lakh cr (44%) = ₹4.13 lakh cr
- Education₹55,261 cr · 13%
- Rural Development₹29,465 cr · 7%
- Urban Development₹34,396 cr · 8%
- Health₹21,906 cr · 5%
- Highways₹20,722 cr · 5%
- Police and Home₹13,342 cr · 3%
- Energy₹21,178 cr · 5%
- Transport₹12,965 cr · 3%
- Social Welfare₹8,597 cr · 2%
- Water Resources₹9,460 cr · 2%
- Industries and MSME₹5,833 cr · 1%
- Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare₹3,924 cr · 1%
- Other (not itemised)₹2.02 lakh cr · 46%
13 sectors ₹2.37 lakh cr (54%) + Other ₹2.02 lakh cr (46%) = ₹4.39 lakh cr
- Education₹57,039 cr · 12%
- Rural Development₹28,687 cr · 6%
- Urban Development₹35,773 cr · 8%
- Health₹22,090 cr · 5%
- Food and Co-operation₹17,068 cr · 4%
- Highways₹21,132 cr · 5%
- Police and Home₹13,583 cr · 3%
- Energy₹18,091 cr · 4%
- Transport₹13,061 cr · 3%
- Social Welfare₹8,633 cr · 2%
- Water Resources₹10,076 cr · 2%
- Industries and MSME₹6,224 cr · 1%
- Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare₹3,934 cr · 1%
- Other (not itemised)₹2.12 lakh cr · 45%
13 sectors ₹2.55 lakh cr (55%) + Other ₹2.12 lakh cr (45%) = ₹4.67 lakh cr
- Education₹52,920 cr · 11%
- Rural Development₹39,609 cr · 8%
- Urban Development₹38,715 cr · 8%
- Health₹23,357 cr · 5%
- Food and Co-operation₹22,858 cr · 5%
- Highways₹21,524 cr · 5%
- Police and Home₹17,290 cr · 4%
- Energy₹15,828 cr · 3%
- Transport₹13,561 cr · 3%
- Social Welfare₹9,818 cr · 2%
- Water Resources₹9,264 cr · 2%
- Industries and MSME₹6,556 cr · 1%
- Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare₹3,937 cr · 1%
- Other (not itemised)₹1.97 lakh cr · 42%
13 sectors ₹2.75 lakh cr (58%) + Other ₹1.97 lakh cr (42%) = ₹4.72 lakh cr (components sum; no single total published)
The 13 sectors are only about half of spending; the rest is committed and other expenditure (pensions, interest, debt servicing, subsidies). That residual is real spending, not a gap.
Notes on the sectors and two mappings
To line the four budgets up, the full budget's 34 departments are rolled into the same 12-13 sectors the DMK budgets use (so Education is School plus Higher Education added together). Police and Home is broader in the full budget than the DMK budgets' narrower "Police" line, and Adi-Dravidar and Tribal Welfare is mapped from the full budget's Social Justice Department.
Every sector, the four budgets side by side.
One group per sector, biggest first, with a bar for each budget. Toggle between rupees and each sector's share of the whole budget.
In rupees, all sectors share one scale, so bar lengths compare directly across sectors (axis in thousand crore: ₹52k = ₹52,000 crore); in share-of-budget mode each bar is that sector's percent of its own year's total. † 2025-26 BE figures are from an archived mirror, pending cross-verification.
Explore a sector
Tap a sector to see the departments and the biggest schemes inside it.
Full per-edition department lists (each budget's own labels) · not force-matched across years
These are each budget's own department and sector labels, ranked by allocation, before consolidation. They are not directly comparable across years: the four budgets group spending differently and the official demand-wise annexures were never public. Read each on its own terms. The full 2026-27 budget is first; the earlier three follow.
2026-27 Full Budget (Revised BE) · 34 departments
Each budget's own department labels, not a demand-wise breakdown comparable across years.
- School Education Department ₹44,527 cr
- Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department ₹39,609 cr
- Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department ₹29,863 cr
- Health and Family Welfare Department ₹23,357 cr
- Highways and Minor Ports Department ₹21,524 cr
- Home, Prohibition and Excise Department ₹17,290 cr
- Special Programme Implementation Department ₹17,150 cr
- Energy Department ₹15,828 cr
- Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare Department ₹14,984 cr
- Food and Consumer Protection Department ₹14,830 cr
- Transport Department ₹13,561 cr
- Revenue and Disaster Management Department ₹11,532 cr
- Social Welfare and Women's Empowerment Department ₹9,818 cr
- Water Resources Department ₹9,264 cr
- Housing and Urban Development Department ₹8,852 cr
- Higher Education Department ₹8,393 cr
- Co-operation Department ₹8,028 cr
- Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare Department ₹4,880 cr
- Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce Department ₹4,414 cr
- Social Justice Department ₹3,937 cr
- Administration of Justice Department ₹2,486 cr
- Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Department ₹2,142 cr
- Labour Welfare and Skill Development Department ₹2,022 cr
- Environment, Climate Change, and Forests Department ₹1,762 cr
- Welfare of Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes, and Minorities Department ₹1,700 cr
- Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi Department ₹1,678 cr
- Department for the Welfare of Differently Abled Persons ₹1,485 cr
- Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department ₹1,051 cr
- Tourism, Art and Culture Department ₹775 cr
- Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department ₹708 cr
- Commercial Taxes Department ₹651 cr
- Stamps and Registration Department ₹475 cr
- Natural Resources Department ₹438 cr
- Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology and Digital Services Department ₹398 cr
2026-27 Interim Budget (vote-on-account, BE) departments · 13 on this budget's labels
2026-27 Interim Budget (vote-on-account, BE) · 13 departments
- EDUCATION ₹57,039 cr
- URBAN DEVELOPMENT ₹35,773 cr
- RURAL DEVELOPMENT ₹28,687 cr
- HEALTH ₹22,090 cr
- HIGHWAYS ₹21,132 cr
- ENERGY ₹18,091 cr
- FOOD AND CO-OPERATION ₹17,068 cr
- POLICE ₹13,583 cr
- TRANSPORT ₹13,061 cr
- WATER RESOURCES ₹10,076 cr
- SOCIAL WELFARE ₹8,633 cr
- INDUSTRIES AND MSME ₹6,224 cr
- ADI-DRAVIDAR & TRIBAL WELFARE ₹3,934 cr
2025-26 Budget (BE) departments · 12 on this budget's labels
2025-26 Budget (BE) · 12 departments
- Education ₹55,261 cr
- Urban Development ₹34,396 cr
- Rural Development ₹29,465 cr
- Health ₹21,906 cr
- Energy ₹21,178 cr
- Highways ₹20,722 cr
- Police ₹13,342 cr
- Transport ₹12,965 cr
- Water Resources ₹9,460 cr
- Social Welfare ₹8,597 cr
- Industries and MSME ₹5,833 cr
- Adi-Dravidar & Tribal Welfare ₹3,924 cr
2024-25 Budget (BE) departments · 12 on this budget's labels
2024-25 Budget (BE) · 12 departments
- EDUCATION ₹52,254 cr
- URBAN DEVELOPMENT ₹41,733 cr
- RURAL DEVELOPMENT ₹27,922 cr
- ENERGY ₹22,310 cr
- HEALTH ₹20,198 cr
- HIGHWAYS ₹20,043 cr
- POLICE ₹12,543 cr
- TRANSPORT ₹9,787 cr
- WATER RESOURCES ₹8,398 cr
- SOCIAL WELFARE ₹7,830 cr
- INDUSTRIES AND MSME ₹4,481 cr
- ADI-DRAVIDAR & TRIBAL WELFARE ₹3,706 cr
February to August 2026
What the new government changed.
Between February and August the revenue deficit moved most: up ₹7,079 cr from ₹48,696 cr to ₹55,775 cr. The fiscal deficit was essentially flat. These are the two 2026-27 budgets months apart, so it is the cleanest before-and-after.
In short: the government now plans to spend ₹7,079 cr more beyond its day-to-day income than it planned in February.
The revenue deficit moved most between the two 2026-27 budgets.
Navy dot = the February interim; the second dot is the August full budget, blue where the figure rose and orange where it fell. A ring around a dot means almost no change; a hollow dot means the other budget states no figure. Each row is on its own scale: compare the labelled change, not the distance between rows.
Notes
Each row is scaled to its own magnitude, so read the labelled crore change, not the bar length across rows. Total expenditure has no full-budget point: the new government never stated a single total.
The four budgets, in detail
How the headline figures moved across the four budgets.
Across the four budgets, revenue receipts kept rising and the fiscal deficit widened. Receipts went from ₹2.99 lakh cr in the 2024-25 BE to ₹3.50 lakh cr in the 2026-27 (full), and the fiscal deficit from ₹1.09 lakh cr to ₹1.22 lakh cr over the same span. These five aggregates are defined the same way across all four budgets, so they carry where the department detail does not. All figures nominal, Budget Estimates.
Revenue receipts kept rising; the fiscal deficit dipped in 2025-26, then ended higher in rupees.
Each panel is scaled to its own range: compare the labelled values and percent change, not the visual steepness across panels.
Notes
Each panel is on its own absolute crore scale, so compare a line's shape within its panel, not one panel's height against another; the real crore value is labelled at the first and last points. Total expenditure ends at the interim budget with a dashed "no data" stub because the full 2026-27 (full) budget never stated a single total-expenditure figure (its components sum to about ₹4.72 lakh cr).
See the same four figures as grouped bars (rupees crore)
The 2026-27 (full) budget has no total-expenditure bar because that government never stated a single total-expenditure figure; its stated components sum to about ₹4.72 lakh cr. The bar is left out rather than filled with a number the budget did not publish.
Fiscal deficit, % of GSDP (budgeted)
All four sit near 3.0% of GSDP , close to the statutory band. Each ratio is on that budget's own projected GSDP (different vintages, not strictly comparable).
Headline figures across the four budgets, nominal rupees crore, Budget Estimates
- 2024-25 Budget (BE): revenue receipts ₹2.99 lakh cr, revenue deficit ₹49,279 cr, fiscal deficit ₹1.09 lakh cr (3.44% of GSDP), total expenditure ₹4.13 lakh cr.
- 2025-26 Budget (BE): revenue receipts ₹3.32 lakh cr, revenue deficit ₹41,635 cr, fiscal deficit ₹1.07 lakh cr (3% of GSDP), total expenditure ₹4.39 lakh cr.
- 2026-27 Interim Budget (vote-on-account, BE): revenue receipts ₹3.45 lakh cr, revenue deficit ₹48,696 cr, fiscal deficit ₹1.22 lakh cr (3% of GSDP), total expenditure ₹4.67 lakh cr.
- 2026-27 Full Budget (Revised BE): revenue receipts ₹3.50 lakh cr, revenue deficit ₹55,775 cr, fiscal deficit ₹1.22 lakh cr (3% of GSDP), total expenditure not stated as a single figure.
Schemes above 100 crore
The named schemes, budget by budget.
Each budget lists its schemes funded above Rs 100 crore: 101 in the 2024-25 BE, 114 in the 2025-26 BE, 45 in the 2026-27 (interim), 51 in the 2026-27 (full). Switch budgets with the tabs, filter by name or sector, and sort by allocation.
Counts reflect each budget's itemisation style, not how generous it is: the interim and full budgets itemise differently, and a scheme list is not a clean partition of spending (a note flags where a component and its parent aggregate both appear).
The biggest welfare, school and village schemes in the new budget
- For college students ₹2,000 cr
Vetri Laptop Scheme (Education)
Laptops for college students as an essential learning resource.
- For MSME (small business) owners ₹352 cr
Capital Subsidy Scheme (MSME) (Industries and MSME)
Capital subsidies to new entrepreneurs under MSME schemes, this financial year.
- For rural job seekers ₹12,642 cr
Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) / rural employment guarantee (Rural Development)
Total financial allocation for the MGNREGS-successor scheme, including an unprecedented State contribution of Rs.5,057 crore under the new 60:40 pattern.
- For village infrastructure ₹6,000 cr
TN-VETRI (Tamil Nadu Village Empowerment, Transformation, Rejuvenation Initiative) (Rural Development)
Annual allocation integrating all Rural Development infrastructure schemes; includes a Rs.1,000 crore peri-urban panchayat sub-scheme and a Rs.100 crore annual hill-area sub-scheme within the total.
- For women getting married ₹812 cr
Annan's Seer (Social Welfare)
8-gram gold coin and silk saree presented to women of Tamil Nadu on their wedding day.
- For school children ₹710 cr
Perunthalaivar Kamarajar Breakfast Scheme (expansion to Classes VI-VIII) (Education)
Renamed CM's Breakfast Scheme extended to Classes VI-VIII from 17 September, benefiting an additional 15.14 lakh students in 15,414 schools.
From the 2026-27 full budget's schemes above ₹100 crore; the full searchable list for all four budgets is below.
Sources & method
Every figure is cited.
Comparison is Budget Estimate versus Budget Estimate throughout, including the 2026-27 interim: a vote-on-account is a stopgap authorisation, but the document still projects the full year, so it belongs on the same BE basis as the others. Cross-year comparison is done only on the five comparable headline aggregates. Department allocations are shown on each budget's own classification and are not force-matched across years, because the four budgets group spending differently and the official demand-wise annexures were never public.
How we compared these budgets (methodology and caveats)
2026 was an election year. The DMK government under finance minister Thangam Thennarasu presented the 2024-25 Budget on 19 February 2024, the 2025-26 Budget on 14 March 2025, and, with the election due, a 2026-27 interim budget on 17 February 2026. A vote-on-account is a stopgap authorisation to keep spending until a full budget passes, but this one still carried full-year estimates, so it belongs on the same Budget Estimate basis as the others. After the election the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam-led coalition took office and finance minister Dr. N. Marie Wilson presented the full, revised 2026-27 budget on 5 August 2026.
Cross-year comparison here is done on the comparable headline aggregates. What is not comparable is the department detail: the four budgets publish different, non-comparable department classifications and the official demand-wise annexures were never public, so department allocations are shown per budget, on each budget's own labels, and schemes are listed per budget. There is no revenue-versus-capital split because no source publishes one.
Sources
the 2024-25 BE
the 2026-27 interim (vote-on-account)
the 2026-27 full budget
the 2025-26 BE
secondary cross-check
A STATE tag means a state-government document recovered via an archived mirror of the TN budget portal (unreachable after 5 August 2026): the same publisher as the OFFICIAL-tier sources, pending cross-verification against a second official document.
The 2026-27 interim and full budget documents were recovered from verbatim mirrors because the official Tamil Nadu budget portal was unreachable after 5 August 2026. For independent cross-checking, RBI's annual “State Finances: A Study of Budgets” publishes state-wise figures on a lag; the 2026-27 Budget Estimates are not yet covered there. More on how sources are tiered and reconciled: Methodology, and the full Sources list.
Last verified .
The bottom line
Across two governments and four Budget Estimates, Tamil Nadu's revenue kept climbing and its deficits stayed near the statutory band; the new government's full budget nudged the revenue deficit up without restating a single total.
Compare on the headline aggregates, not the department lists: the four budgets classify spending differently, every figure is nominal, and a vote-on-account is still a plan, not an outcome.