Karnataka government schemes, grants and money rules

Schemes and grants

Gruha Lakshmi

Women heads of families

₹2,000 a month, paid by direct transfer to the woman head of the family

• The woman named as head of the family on the ration card applies.
• Women who pay income tax or are registered for GST are excluded.
• Apply once on Seva Sindhu or at a Nada Kacheri counter. Money goes to an Aadhaar-linked bank account.
• ₹2,000 a month is ₹24,000 a year. The 2026-27 state budget allocated ₹28,608 crore to the scheme.

Apply or check: Seva Sindhu guarantee schemes portal

Sources: The News Minute: Gruha Lakshmi to exclude income tax and GST payees; South First: Karnataka Budget 2026-27, ₹28,608 crore for Gruha Lakshmi. Checked 30 October 2026.

Gruha Jyothi

Households with a domestic electricity connection

Free electricity up to 200 units a month

• Domestic connections only, not commercial.
• Your free units are your average monthly use plus 10%. Use above that is billed.
• Households that use 200 units or more in a month pay the full bill for that month.
• Register on Seva Sindhu and link your electricity account ID to Aadhaar. Pending dues must be cleared first.

Apply or check: Seva Sindhu guarantee schemes portal

Sources: South First: who can and cannot use free bus rides and free electricity; South First: Karnataka Budget 2026-27 guarantee allocations. Checked 30 October 2026.

Shakti

Women and transgender women living in Karnataka

Free travel on state-run buses within Karnataka

• Covers KSRTC, BMTC, NWKRTC and KKRTC buses inside the state.
• Luxury services are excluded: Airavat and Ambari variants, Rajahamsa, Vajra, non-AC sleepers and EV Power Plus. Inter-state routes are not covered.
• Carry an identity card issued by the central or state government that shows you live in Karnataka.
• The 2026-27 state budget allocated ₹5,300 crore to the scheme.

Apply or check: Seva Sindhu guarantee schemes portal

Sources: South First: who can and cannot use free bus rides and free electricity; South First: Karnataka Budget 2026-27 guarantee allocations. Checked 30 October 2026.

Anna Bhagya

Families with a BPL ration card

Free rice plus a monthly Indira Food Kit

• Each member on the card still gets 5 kg of free rice a month.
• The extra 5 kg of rice the state used to add has been replaced by an Indira Food Kit with tur dal, cooking oil, sugar and salt.
• Collect it at your fair price shop. There is no separate application: your ration card is the entitlement.
• The benefit has changed three times since 2023 (cash, then rice, then the kit), so check with your shop for the current month's issue.

Apply or check: Food and Civil Supplies Department e-services (ration cards)

Sources: Deccan Herald: QR codes at fair price shops for Indira kits; South First: Karnataka Budget 2026-27, Indira Food Kit in place of extra rice. Checked 30 October 2026.

Money rules: professional tax and property

Professional tax

Salaried employees earning ₹25,000 or more a month

₹2,500 a year, deducted by your employer

Monthly salary	Professional tax
Below ₹25,000	Nil
₹25,000 and above	₹200 a month, ₹300 in February

• Nil if your monthly salary is below ₹25,000.
• ₹200 a month from April to January, and ₹300 in February, since the 2025 amendment.
• 11 months at ₹200 plus ₹300 in February is ₹2,500 a year.
• Your employer deducts it and pays it to the state. You can claim it against salary income only in the old tax regime.

Apply or check: Karnataka Professional Tax portal

Sources: Karnataka Professional Tax department: schedule of rates (PDF); Lexplosion: Karnataka notifies revised professional tax rate; greytHR: Karnataka Profession Tax Amendment Act 2025. Checked 30 October 2026.

Stamp duty and registration on property

Anyone buying a home or land in Karnataka

7.6% of the property value on a sale deed

Charge	Rate	On an ₹80 lakh home
Stamp duty	5%	₹4,00,000
Cess	0.5%	₹40,000
Surcharge	0.1%	₹8,000
Registration fee	2%	₹1,60,000
Total	7.6%	₹6,08,000

• Stamp duty is 5%, plus a 0.5% cess and a 0.1% surcharge.
• The registration fee doubled from 1% to 2% from 31 August 2025.
• On an ₹80 lakh home that is ₹4,00,000 stamp duty, ₹40,000 cess, ₹8,000 surcharge and ₹1,60,000 registration: ₹6,08,000 in all.
• The same purchase cost ₹5,28,000 before the registration fee went up, so the change added ₹80,000.
• Pay the duty and book a registration slot on Kaveri Online Services. Its calculator shows the exact charges for your property.

Apply or check: Kaveri Online Services, Department of Stamps and Registration

Sources: Deccan Herald: registration fee hiked to 2%; Studycafe: property registration fee to double in Karnataka from 31 August. Checked 30 October 2026.

Startup and business support

ELEVATE (Idea2PoC)

Early-stage startups based in Karnataka

A one-time grant of up to ₹50 lakh, plus mentoring and subsidised incubation

• Run by the Karnataka Startup Cell. It is a grant, not a loan or equity.
• Separate tracks: ELEVATE Unnati for SC and ST founders and ELEVATE Minorities for minority founders, alongside the main call.
• Calls open a few times a year. The January 2026 round funded 146 startups with ₹38.85 crore; 1,230 startups have been funded since 2017.
• Apply only when a call is open, on the Startup Karnataka portal.

Apply or check: Startup Karnataka: ELEVATE

Sources: Outlook Business: 146 startups get ₹38 crore under ELEVATE; Entrepreneur India: Karnataka invites startups for ELEVATE, grants up to ₹50 lakh. Checked 30 October 2026.

Jobs and skills

Yuva Nidhi

Unemployed graduates and diploma holders

₹3,000 a month for graduates and ₹1,500 for diploma holders, for up to two years

• You must still be unemployed 180 days after passing, and have studied in Karnataka for at least six years up to your degree or diploma.
• People in a job, self-employed or still studying are excluded. Payments stop once you find work.
• Over two years that is up to ₹72,000 for a graduate and ₹36,000 for a diploma holder.
• Register on Seva Sindhu with your DigiLocker certificate, then confirm you are still unemployed on the portal by the 25th of every month. The first batch was students who passed in 2022-23; check that your passing year is open before applying.

Apply or check: Seva Sindhu guarantee schemes portal

Sources: Careers360: Karnataka launches Yuva Nidhi; Deccan Herald: Yuva Nidhi demand and amounts; Bengaluru City University: Yuva Nidhi guidelines (PDF). Checked 30 October 2026.

Official portals for Karnataka

• Seva SindhuCitizen services: certificates and most state schemes
• Seva Sindhu guarantee schemesGruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi, Shakti and Yuva Nidhi
• myScheme: KarnatakaThe central government's search for every scheme you may qualify for, filtered to Karnataka

Central schemes open to everyone in Karnataka

• Public Provident Fund pays 7.1% for October-December 2026, tax-free.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana pays 8.2% for a girl child under 10.
• Senior Citizens' Savings Scheme pays 8.2% for those 60 and over.
• PM-Vidyalaxmi gives collateral-free education loans with an interest subsidy.

Karnataka's department websites block automated readers, so each figure on this page was confirmed against two independent news reports or an official PDF, and every apply link goes to the official portal. Schemes change often. If a figure here differs from the official portal, the portal is right; tell us at the contact address below.

Never pay an agent to apply. Apply only on the official portal linked above.