Thiruvananthapuram, Jan. 30 -- Kerala finance minister KN Balagopal presented the budget for 2026-27 FY on Thursday, making big announcements including a Rs.14,500 crore outlay for social security pensions, free undergraduate education in state-run arts colleges, a hike in allowances for ASHA and anganwadi workers and the 12th Pay Revision Commission.

Balagopal, presenting the last budget of the current LDF dispensation and making the fourth-longest speech in the history of the Assembly, claimed that the State had "recovered from the fiscal crisis" it had been facing for a long time and that it's debt is "not unmanageable" compared to the Union government and several other states.

"We have been able to generate an additional revenue of ...