Preface
The Kolhapur Municipal Corporation Budget Analysis 2025-26 marks an important milestone for PRO (Policy Research Organization), as we extend our flagship initiative beyond Kolhapur for the first time. Over the past five years, PRO has been consistently conducting the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation Budget Analysis — a one-of-its-kind citizen-centric exercise that aims to simplify complex municipal finances and foster greater public understanding of urban governance.
Recognizing the urgent need for financial literacy among citizens, especially in the context of local self-governance, PRO has made Budget Analysis a cornerstone of its work. We believe that informed citizens are key to accountable governance, and this analysis is a step towards bridging the gap between municipal data and public engagement.
This year, Kolhapur joins the journey. We hope this analysis will serve as a valuable resource for citizens, policymakers, researchers, and civil society, and will encourage greater participation in local governance processes.
Acknowledgments
This Research work is a collaborative work by PRO and GIPE along with subject experts, students and citizens at large.
On behalf of PRO, Neha Mahajan led the project. Manoj Joshi led the project as Chief Data Analyst. He has put guided efforts to bring the project to its conclusion. Dr Saylee Jog, an assistant professor of economics at GIPE, with prior experience of analyzing Municipal Corporation Budget took the charge as Mentor. She guided us and our team of interns at every stage of the research. Students of GIPE: Aarya Kalyankar, Gargee Deshmukh, Arpita Borvankar & Urvi Prabhudesai joined our team as Interns to provide assistance in data collection, Trend Analysis and presenting it in tabular form. Ex Student of Ruchita Zingade who is been part of our team since 2021 lead the project effortlessly. Gaurav Deshpande took charge of designing and creating the webpage of the report.
We want to extend our gratitude to all the Trustees Sharda Bapat, Tanmay Kanitkar and Ankita Abhyankar for their unconditional support throughout the project. All of us worked hard for two months. We are very excited to present the simplified Budget Analysis of KMC Budget 2025-26.
Team
