Keralam Assembly passes Bills hiking salaries and allowances of Ministers, MLAs

The salaries and allowances of Ministers will go up from a monthly ₹1.08 lakh to approximately ₹1.3 lakh and the allowances of MLAs from ₹70,000 to ₹98,000.

On the final day of its second session, the 16th Kerala Assembly passed the Payment of Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Kerala Payment of Pension to Members of Legislature (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The revisions will take effect from November 1. The allowances and other benefits were last revised in 2018. Both Bills were cleared by the Cabinet on Wednesday.

The basic salary of Ministers goes up from ₹2,000 to ₹3,000, constituency allowance from ₹40,000 to ₹45,000, and conveyance allowance from ₹17,000 to ₹25,000.

For MLAs, the fixed allowance will go up from ₹2,000 to ₹4,000, constituency allowance from ₹25,000 to ₹35,000, telephone allowance remains the same at ₹11,000, information allowance from ₹4,000 to ₹5,000, sumptuary allowance from ₹8,000 to ₹13,000 and travelling allowance from ₹20,000 to ₹30,000.

In the case of pensions, individuals who have been MLAs for less than two years and a total of two years will be entitled to a pension of ₹10,000. It has been hiked from ₹8,000. In the case of former MLAs with a total of three years in service, the pension will go up from ₹12,000 to ₹15,000. For former MLAs with four years in total service, the pension will rise from ₹16,000 to ₹20,000 and for five years in service from ₹20,000 to ₹25,000.

The enhancement of monthly allowances entails an additional recurring expenditure of approximately ₹6.91 crore. “For the last eight years, the price of all commodities including petrol, diesel, electricity etc. has increased considerably,” notes the Payment of Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

The expenditure on the enhanced pension also will be considerable, but it will be difficult to estimate the actual spending on pensions as “they will vary according to the qualifying years of service, age and applicable pension entitlements,” the Kerala Payment of Pension to Members of Legislature (Amendment) Bill, 2026, noted.

The second session of the 16th Assembly concluded on Thursday. The Assembly adjourned sine die (indefinitely) after passing the Kerala Appropriation Bills and the Payment of Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Kerala Payment of Pension to Members of Legislature (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The session lasted nine days from October 12 to October 29, with a break in-between.