Assam Finance Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah on Friday presented a Rs 2.85 lakh crore Budget for the 2026-27 financial year. He estimated the fiscal deficit at 3% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) and outlined a roadmap focused on infrastructure, energy, welfare and healthcare.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma described the Budget as “revenue neutral”. “It is a revenue-neutral budget. It means salary, interest, pension, and committed liabilities, which form revenue expenditure, and revenue earnings are balanced,” he said.
Speaking after the presentation, Mallabaruah laid out the thinking behind the state’s revenue strategy, employment push, education and healthcare expansion. He also touched upon an unusually large cultural outlay in the Budget.
Sources of rising tax revenue
Asked how the government planned to take own-source revenue from its current 36% to a targeted 50% of total revenue by 2031, Mallabaruah pointed to the state’s rising share of SGST collections as the biggest driver. Assam’s tax revenue has grown from Rs 12,848 crore to Rs 39,294 crore over the past decade.
He told FinancialExpress.com that apart from SGST, the revenue from forest tax, royalties and excise have also helped the state’s tax revenue collection. “Our GST share is increasing every year,” he said, adding that the government has deliberately avoided introducing new taxes and is instead focused on widening the existing tax network.
He added that the state’s IT teams have begun using artificial intelligence to identify and plug tax revenue leakages, which he credited with pushing up collections over time.
Employment plans of Assam
On whether the private sector and MSMEs were expanding fast enough to absorb Assam’s youth or whether the state remained the employer of first resort, Mallabaruah turned to the government’s employment record and its next phase of hiring. He said the government had promised one lakh jobs and exceeded that commitment with over 1.64 lakh appointments over the last five years. “Building on this achievement, we are now entering the next phase of employment generation,” he said.
The minister added that the government will target two lakh employment opportunities across the state’s broader public sector ecosystem over the next five years. He went on, “These roles will span government departments, universities, medical colleges, statutory bodies, societies, Sixth Schedule Councils and state-owned companies.”
Assam’s ambitious plans for higher education
Questioned on the sequencing of the government’s ambitious “One District, One University, One Medical College, One Engineering College” template and which districts would see it first, Mallabaruah said, “Four new medical colleges will come up in Goalpara, Hailakandi, Hojai and Bajali, taking the state’s total tally to 28.” He added that the new institutions are expected to expand medical education opportunities while strengthening the state’s healthcare capacity through a larger pool of trained professionals and facilities.
The government said the initiative is meant to ensure equitable access to quality higher education and healthcare infrastructure across all districts, supporting Assam’s long-term human resource and public health goals.
Cultural and soft-power push in Budget
The Assam budget’s cultural and soft-power push also drew attention, with initiatives ranging from an Assamese cuisine campaign to a “Tea and Golf Trail” and a proposed OTT platform for Assam’s culture. Asked about the thinking behind such a large cultural component in a state Budget, Mallabaruah said the goal was straightforward, “We want to popularise our cuisine across India. I think there should be at least one Assamese cuisine restaurant in every state.”
Under the initiative, entrepreneurs will be encouraged to set up authentic Assamese food outlets in every state and Union Territory. “The government will facilitate a common menu, common logo and shared brand identity for these outlets to ensure quality and consistency across all outlets. This initiative will help promote our local products and create new opportunities for entrepreneurs,” he explained.
The Budget also includes financial support for feature films on Ahom general Lachit Barphukan and freedom fighter Swahid Kushal Konwar. Mallabaruah said the government would support a world-class commercial feature film on Lachit Barphukan’s life.
Green cess announced
On the tax front, the CM said, “Barring the green cess, it is a tax-neutral budget. It is in sync with the state’s financial health.” Green cess has been proposed to discourage industries from continuing pollution-causing actions and encourage sustainable practices, Sarma added.
Taken together, the Budget seems to be built around incremental revenue efficiency rather than fresh taxation, an expanded but public-sector-anchored jobs push, district-level healthcare and education expansion and a soft-power campaign.