Budget 2026–27: The Northeast gets big words, little fund

The Union Budget for 2026–27 returned to the familiar language of promise for the Northeast—connectivity, culture, agriculture and strategic integration—though the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) saw no significant rise. In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reaffirmed the government’s focus on what she called “the Purvodaya States and the North-Eastern Region to accelerate development and employment opportunities,” situating the region within a larger eastern growth arc.

At the centre of this intent lies the allocation for the Ministry for Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER). In Budget 2025–26, the ministry received Rs 5,915 crore, about 0.12 per cent of the Union government’s total expenditure of Rs 49,64,842 crore. In Budget 2026–27, the allocation has risen to Rs 6,812.30 crore. But against the expanded overall budget of Rs 53,47,315 crore, the ministry’s share edges up only marginally to around 0.13 per cent. The increase is real in absolute terms, yet the Northeast’s place in the Union Budget remains broadly unchanged, still accounting for little more than a tenth of one per cent of total central spending.

Beyond headline allocations, the Budget’s substantive interventions for the region are spread across thematic silos rather than consolidated packages. Agriculture features prominently, especially crops unique to the Northeast’s ecology. “Agar trees in North East… will also be supported,” Sitharaman announced, placing the region’s agarwood economy alongside high-value crops such as cocoa, cashew and nuts grown elsewhere in the country.

The move signals an effort to monetise local biodiversity while aligning it with national export and value-addition strategies.

Tourism and culture form another visible strand. Emphasising the Northeast’s civilisational significance, the finance minister said, “The North-Eastern Region is a civilizational confluence of Theravada and Mahayana/Vajrayana traditions,” as she unveiled a new scheme for the development of Buddhist circuits across Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura. The plan includes preservation of monasteries and temples, improved connectivity and pilgrim amenities—an attempt to fold the region more firmly into India’s spiritual tourism map. 

Infrastructure commitments arrive largely through national programmes rather than Northeast-specific announcements. The broader push for enhanced connectivity, through waterways, logistics corridors and regional tourism infrastructure, will inevitably touch the region, but without dedicated budget lines exclusively earmarked for it. Instead, the Northeast is positioned as a beneficiary of wider eastern and border-region development strategies rather than as a standalone fiscal priority.

The Budget also gestures towards institutional strengthening in the region. Sitharaman announced the upgrading of the National Mental Health Institute in Tezpur as a regional apex institution, an intervention that places Assam on the national mental healthcare map while addressing long-standing gaps in specialised services in the region.

Budget 2026–27 offers the Northeast continuity with incremental increases, thematic inclusion, and symbolic recognition of its cultural and ecological distinctiveness. While allocations rise year after year, the Northeast’s share of the Union Budget remains virtually static, underscoring a persistent paradox of rhetorical centrality and fiscal marginality continues to define New Delhi’s engagement with India’s farthest frontier.