BMC Budget 2026-27: Rs 80,952 Crore Proposed For Mumbai Infrastructure

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation proposed a budget outlay of Rs 80,952.56 crore for the financial year 2026-27 on Wednesday, an 8.77 per cent increase over the 2025-26 budget estimate and with focus on infrastructure expansion and urban mobility.

PTI reported that BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani tabled the budget in the country's richest civic body, with the capital expenditure pegged at Rs 48,164.28 crore, reflecting a rise of about 11.59 per cent over the revised estimate of Rs 39,159.51 crore for 2025-26. The capital outlay in 2025-26 was originally estimated at Rs 43,162.23 crore, but was subsequently revised downward.

A portion of the capital outlay for the next fiscal has been earmarked for core infrastructure. Capital expenditure under the A, B, E, G and T.A. heads, including improvement schemes, education fund, water supply, sewerage and tree authority, is pegged at Rs 30,069.89 crore. Of this, Rs 13,990 crore has been allocated for the Coastal Road, Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR), sewage treatment plants (STPs) and other infrastructure projects. Capital expenditure for special projects has been proposed at Rs 4,104.39 crore.

According to PTI, the civic body has announced that Rs 36,623.09 crore from its fixed deposits will be deployed to fund critical infrastructure projects across the city under the 2026-27 Budget. The civic body's total fixed deposits stand at Rs 81,449.32 crore. Of this, Rs 44,826.23 crore is committed towards long-term liabilities such as pension funds and contractor security deposits, while Rs 36,623.09 crore has been identified as available for key infrastructure works under an urban transformation plan.

Under "Mega Mumbai Makeover", the BMC has pegged capital expenditure at Rs 48,164.28 crore, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the total outlay. Major allocations include Rs 4,000 crore for the Versova-Dahisar stretch of the Mumbai Coastal Road (North), Rs 5,690 crore for the modernisation of sewage treatment plants, and Rs 5,520.48 crore for the ongoing road concretisation project.

The Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project has been allocated Rs 2,650 crore. For water security, Rs 6,475 crore has been proposed, including Rs 500 crore for the Manori desalination plant and Rs 437.51 crore for the Gargai project. The civic body has also earmarked Rs 7,456.80 crore for the healthcare sector, focusing on completion of several multi-speciality and peripheral hospitals by 2026-27.

The civic body announced a QR code-based certification system for authorised street vendors as part of the Budget 2026-27 tabled on Wednesday. The BMC stated that the process of issuing QR-based certificates to authorised hawkers was underway. The move is aimed at creating a verifiable digital database of legitimate vendors and curbing unauthorised hawking through on-ground verification using scannable codes.

The QR initiative forms part of a broader technological push, which includes the deployment of AI-enabled assistance for citizens and civic staff and advanced video analytics software linked to more than 1,150 CCTV cameras for enhanced urban surveillance.

The Budget also made allocations for infrastructure and transport projects. A sum of Rs 9,650 crore has been earmarked for the Bridges Department, covering projects such as the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR) and the northern stretch of the Mumbai Coastal Road from Versova to Dahisar. The Roads and Traffic Department has been granted Rs 6,875 crore, primarily for concreting of major roads and junction improvements.

In addition, the BMC stated that digital payment facilities for property tax and water charges through UPI and QR codes would be facilitated in the coming year, signalling a wider shift towards cashless civic transactions. The BMC is also exploring the raising of funds through municipal bonds for the first time, particularly for water supply projects such as the Gargai dam.

PTI reported that on the revenue side, the BMC expects total revenue income of Rs 51,510.94 crore in 2026-27, up 19.35 per cent over the 2025-26 budget estimate of Rs 43,159.40 crore and higher than the revised estimate of Rs 46,778.12 crore. The budget projects a surplus of Rs 89.84 crore for 2026-27, compared to Rs 60.65 crore in the 2025-26 estimate and Rs 97.98 crore in the revised estimate for the current fiscal. Property tax revenue, one of the BMC's key income sources, is projected at Rs 7,000 crore for 2026-27, compared to the revised estimate of Rs 6,200 crore for 2025-26. Revenue expenditure for 2026-27 is proposed at Rs 32,698.44 crore, about 15.71 per cent higher than the revised estimate of Rs 28,257.91 crore for 2025-26.

The Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) criticised the Budget, alleging it was designed to benefit contractors and terming it the BJP's roadmap to loot citizens, and targeting the administration over its announcement to use FDs for critical infra. Mumbai Congress president and MP Varsha Gaikwad claimed the civic body was burdened with liabilities of Rs 2.45 lakh crore, and Mumbaikars will be forced to bear the costs.

She also alleged that Rs 36,600 crore in civic reserves would be depleted and pointed to "massive cost escalations in ongoing projects, terming them a bonanza" for contractors linked to the ruling Mahayuti. "The city is being sold. This isn't a budget for Mumbaikars, it is the BJP's roadmap to loot Mumbai and her citizens," Gaikwad wrote on X post. Sena (UBT) claimed that it had transformed the BMC from a Rs 650 crore deficit Budget and increased fixed deposits to Rs 92,000 crore, which enabled several social welfare initiatives. It alleged that under the BJP-led administration, the civic body's fixed deposits depleted to Rs 44,824 crore and accused it of financially weakening the corporation.

(With inputs from PTI)