Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Wednesday presented a whopping Rs 80,952-crore budget for 2026-27, focussing on big-ticket projects like the second phase of the coastal road and the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road, while also promising air quality monitoring and improved civic services delivery using AI.
To fund these projects, India’s richest civic body has proposed drawing significantly from its fixed deposit reserves. It has also proposed an entertainment tax to increase its revenue.
This is the first BMC budget in 44 years to be presented under a BJP mayor. Also, this is the first in four years to be presented before a full house of corporators as the elected general body of the BMC had been dissolved in 2022 after its five-year term ended, and civic elections were delayed.
This year’s outlay of Rs 80,952-crore marks an 8.77 percent jump from previous year’s Rs 74,427 crore.
The municipal body earmarked approximately Rs 48,000 crore (around 60 percent of the total outlay) for capital infrastructure, including major projects such as the Mumbai Coastal Road (Versova–Dahisar stretch), sewage treatment plants, and the Goregaon–Mulund Link Road.
🔹बृहन्मुंबई महानगरपालिकेचे वित्तीय वर्ष २०२६ – २७ चे 'अ', 'ब' आणि 'ग' हे अर्थसंकल्पीय अंदाज महानगरपालिका आयुक्त श्री. भूषण गगराणी यांनी स्थायी समिती सभेमध्ये, स्थायी समिती अध्यक्ष श्री. प्रभाकर शिंदे यांना सादर केले.
🔹याप्रसंगी स्थायी समिती सदस्य यांसमवेत अतिरिक्त… pic.twitter.com/g2CHy1rDaI
— माझी Mumbai, आपली BMC (@mybmc) February 25, 2026
“This budget reflects our collective commitment to strengthen Mumbai’s civic infrastructure, improving essential services and ensuring balanced, sustainable growth. It represents our vision of a modern, inclusive and contemporary metropolis, guided by fiscal prudence and citizen centric governance,” BMC commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said while presenting the budget.
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Drawing from FDs
However, the BMC proposed to use more than Rs 36,000 crore from its total fixed deposits of over Rs 80,000 crore to fund the various infrastructure projects outlined in the budget.
According to the budget documents, Rs 44,826.23 crore remains locked in reserves towards committed liabilities held in trust, while Rs 36,623.09 crore has now been tied up for major capital works.
‘Where is source to fund these projects? They will be using the fixed deposits of Rs 36,000 crore,’ says Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Kishori Pednekar.
The move has triggered sharp criticism from the Opposition.
“Where is the source to fund these projects? Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator and Leader of Opposition Kishori Pednekar asked while speaking to the media.
“They will be using the fixed deposits of Rs 36,000 crore. We demand white paper on all the expenses done by the administrator when corporators were not in the house in the last four years. We need to know where you will be spending the money, the quality of work as well. Are you implementing a ‘Ladka Contractor Scheme’ now?” he said.
Infra projects
For the proposed Mumbai Coastal Road (North) project, the BMC earmarked Rs 4,700 crore, a jump from Rs 2,100 crore last year. The BMC plans to use Rs 2,650 crore for the ambitious Goregaon-Mulund Link Road project.
The Mumbai civic body has a network of 2,118 km of roads across Mumbai. Nearly three years ago, the BMC undertook concretisation work of 700 km in two phases.
Out of this, concreting of 342 km of roads has been completed and work is ongoing on the remaining part. Till date, about 1,566 km of roads/roadside strips have been improved with cement concreting.
The BMC has allocated Rs 9,650 crore to its Bridges Department, focusing on crucial infrastructure projects, including the final phase of the Coastal Road, six mega-projects, and the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road (GMLR).
AI push
The civic body has also laid emphasis on embedding Artificial intelligence in its work to simplify service delivery, enhance employee efficiency and strengthen urban planning.
The BMC Citizen AI coach is one such initiative where an AI tool will guide employees through digital walk-throughs to improve operational efficiency, while also helping citizens apply for various online services. The aim is to reduce confusion, minimise errors and streamline service delivery.
Besides, an auto DCR Application Integration will be used to enhance automated scrutiny, improve compliance checks, detect rule deviations and increase processing accuracy and efficiency.
In addition to this, AI will be used for trend analysis as well by BMC. To further push its AI ambitions, the BMC has formalised a strategic partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.
Health and education
A total of Rs 7,456 crore has been allocated to the Health Department.
BMC Commissioner said the civic body delivers three-tier healthcare services to over 60 lakh OPD patients, admits more than 2.50 lakh patients and performs about 1.50 lakh surgeries. He also added that peripheral hospitals extend care to over 53 lakh OPD patients, admit over 1.90 lakh IPD patients and perform more than 42,000 surgeries annually.
Additionally, the BMC plans to promote awareness amongst adolescents and children in municipal schools against domestic violence.
The BMC also increased its education budget by over 7 percent, allocating to Rs 4,248 crore this year, compared to Rs 3,955 crore last year.
The BMC’s plan includes variety of projects from introducing National Cadet Corps (NCC) units in schools for Standard 8 and 9; to converting 7953 classrooms into digital classrooms with LED interactive panels; proposing 479 English language labs for Standard 8 to 10 ; and constructing a new CBSE school in K east ward.
The enhanced outlay will fund a range of initiatives, including the introduction of National Cadet Corps (NCC) units for students in standards 8 and 9, the conversion of 7,953 classrooms into digital smart classrooms equipped with LED interactive panels, the setting up of 479 English language labs for standards 8 to 10, and the construction of a new CBSE school in the K East ward.
The civic body also plans to distribute 20,000 tablets to standard 9 students, while a science park will be launched on a pilot basis in two schools at a total cost of Rs 5 crore.
After setting up astronomical labs across 55 schools last year, 40 more have been added this year at an overall cost of Rs 3 crore. CCTV cameras will be installed in all suburban division school buildings at Rs 42 crore, after city division schools were covered last year.
Climate mitigation
The BMC allocated Rs 159.82 crore for measures to control air pollution in the city.
It proposed to set up a network of 75 low-cost air quality sensors—to be installed, operated and maintained by IIT Kanpur— to identify air pollution hotspots through hyperlocal monitoring across Mumbai under project ‘MANAS’ (Mumbai Air Network for Advanced Sciences).
The BMC also said it has deployed advanced electric sweepers and mechanical power sweepers designed to capture particulate matter, specifically PM2.5 and PM10. These are supported by litter-picker machines, while major roads are washed using non-potable water to maintain cleanliness in high-footfall areas.
The ‘Environmental Festival Project’ will be rolled out in FY 2026–27, with expert guidance to scientifically classify, process and recycle immersion waste.
Other projects
Since becoming the Mayor, Ritu Tawde spoke about illegal Bangladeshi migrants encroaching upon the hawkers’ space in Mumbai. She even initiated a drive to remove such hawkers.
Taking this project ahead, the process of issuing QR Code-based certificates to authorised hawkers in Mumbai is underway.
On the entertainment tax front, the Revenue and Forest Department has extended the exemption from entertainment duty from 16 September 2017 to 30 September 2026. A proposal has now been submitted to the Urban Development Department to issue a notification formalising the collection of Entertainment Tax by the BMC after the exemption period.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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