Maharashtra State Guide: History, Government, Elections, Exams

Overview

Maharashtra is a state in western India on the Deccan plateau, with the Arabian Sea along its western edge. It was formed on 1 May 1960, when the bilingual Bombay State was split into Maharashtra (Marathi-speaking) and Gujarat (Gujarati-speaking). With an area of 307,713 sq km it is the third largest state, after Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and about 9.4 per cent of India's land. Census 2011 counted 112,374,333 people, making it the second most populous state. As on October 2026 it has 36 districts in 6 divisions, and its official language is Marathi.

Mumbai is the capital and the country's financial centre; Nagpur is the winter capital, where the legislature meets for its winter session. The state borders Gujarat and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu to the north-west, Madhya Pradesh to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Telangana to the south-east, and Karnataka and Goa to the south.

The land has four natural belts: the narrow Konkan coast, the Sahyadri (Western Ghats) wall, the dry Deccan plateau, and the forested and cotton-growing east, called Vidarbha. These match the five cultural regions people use in everyday speech: Konkan, Desh (Western Maharashtra), Khandesh (north), Marathwada and Vidarbha.

UNESCO World Heritage listings include Ajanta and Ellora (1983), Elephanta (1987), Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (2004), the Western Ghats (2012, shared) and the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco ensembles of Mumbai (2018). Its history runs from the Satavahanas through Shivaji and the Peshwas to the Bombay Presidency and the Samyukta Maharashtra movement.

Maharashtra at a glance

Item	Value
Formed	1 May 1960 (Maharashtra Day)
Capital	Mumbai; Nagpur is the winter capital
Area	307,713 sq km (third largest state)
Population	112,374,333 (Census 2011, second most populous)
Districts / divisions	36 / 6 (as on October 2026)
Official language	Marathi
Highest peak	Kalsubai, 1,646 m
Principal rivers	Godavari, Krishna, Bhima, Tapi (Tapti)

For exam preparation

• Maharashtra was formed on 1 May 1960 under the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.
• Mumbai is the capital and Nagpur the winter capital.
• It is the third largest state by area and second by population (Census 2011).
• The state has 36 districts and 6 divisions as on October 2026.
• Kalsubai (1,646 m) is the highest peak.

History

Maharashtra's story begins with farming villages of the Chalcolithic age and passes through Buddhist-era trade empires, the Deccan kingdoms, the sultanates, the Maratha state and the British Raj. It ends with a language-based movement that gave Marathi speakers a state of their own in 1960.

Prehistory and early kingdoms

The Jorwe culture (about 1300 to 700 BCE) left Chalcolithic farming settlements across the state; Inamgaon is among its best-known sites. In the Mauryan period, Emperor Ashoka's edicts were inscribed at Sopara near Mumbai, a sign that the coast was already part of long-distance trade.

The Satavahana dynasty (late 2nd century BCE to about 224 CE; exact dates are debated) is the first great power of the region. Its founder was Simuka and its capitals included Pratishthana (modern Paithan), Junnar and, later, Amaravati in Andhra. Gautamiputra Satakarni (about 60 to 85 CE) was its most powerful ruler and defeated the Western Kshatrapas. The Satavahanas used Prakrit, issued early portrait coins, carried on sea trade and patronised both Vedic religion and Buddhism. The anthology Gaha Sattasai is attributed to King Hala.

The Vakataka dynasty (about 250 to 470 CE) ruled much of the east, and the Chalukyas of Badami (6th to 8th centuries) followed; their king Pulakeshin II is remembered for defeating Emperor Harsha. The Rashtrakutas (8th to 10th centuries) carved the Kailasa temple at Ellora. Ellora and Ajanta, the Buddhist, Hindu and Jain rock-cut caves of this long period, are World Heritage Sites.

The Yadavas of Devagiri

The Seuna or Yadava dynasty (about 1187 to 1317) made Devagiri (now Daulatabad) its capital. It was the last major Hindu kingdom of the Deccan before the sultanates. Hemadri, the minister-scholar, gave his name to the Hemadpanti temple style. Dnyaneshwar composed the Dnyaneshwari, a Marathi commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, around 1290, and the Mahanubhava sect grew in this period, which marks the start of Marathi as a literary language. Alauddin Khalji of Delhi raided Devagiri in 1296, took it after a later campaign led by Malik Kafur (1307), and annexed the kingdom in 1317.

Sultanates and the Mughals

The Bahmani Sultanate (1347 to 1527, with real power ending about 1518) was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan. It broke into five successor states: Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Berar, Golconda and Bidar. The Deccan sultanates divided the Maharashtra region between them until the Mughals, who controlled most of it by the 1630s. In the late 17th century, Aurangzeb's long campaign in the Deccan (1681 to 1707) kept the region at war for about 27 years.

Shivaji and the Maratha state

Shivaji was born on 19 February 1630 at Shivneri Fort near Junnar. His father Shahaji served the Sultanate of Bijapur. In 1647, aged about 16 by the usual account, he captured Torna Fort and began building a territory in the Sahyadri forts. Key events of his career:

Year	Event
1659	Defeats the Bijapur general Afzal Khan at Pratapgarh
1663	Surprise attack on the Mughal governor Shaista Khan at Pune
1665	Treaty of Purandar after defeat by the Mughal general Jai Singh I
1666	Escapes house arrest at Agra
6 June 1674	Crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad Fort
3 April 1680	Death at age 50

His government included the Ashta Pradhan, a council of eight ministers, and favoured Marathi over Persian for administration. Muslims as well as Hindus served in it. By 1680 the state held about 300 forts.

His son Sambhaji was captured on 1 February 1689 and executed on 21 March 1689. Rajaram then led the state, and after his death in 1700 his widow Tarabai ruled on behalf of her son. Aurangzeb died in 1707 and the new Mughal emperor released Shahu, Sambhaji's son, who claimed the throne.

The Peshwas

In 1713 Balaji Vishwanath was appointed Peshwa (prime minister), and the office became hereditary in the Bhat family. His successor Baji Rao I (Peshwa 1720 to 1740) is considered the most influential Peshwa; he defeated the Nizam at Palkhed in 1728 and secured Malwa through the Treaty of Bhopal in 1738. Under the Peshwas the Maratha confederacy, whose chiefs also included the Scindias, Holkars, Gaekwads and the Bhonsles of Nagpur, reached its largest extent in about 1760. On 14 January 1761 it lost the Third Battle of Panipat to an Afghan-led alliance, and its northward expansion stopped. Narayan Rao's assassination in 1773 deepened the rivalry among the chiefs. Pune, with its Shaniwar Wada palace, was the Peshwa capital.

The British fought three wars with the Marathas: 1775 to 1782 (ended by the Treaty of Salbai), 1803 to 1805 (after the Treaty of Bassein, 1802) and 1817 to 1818. The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, surrendered on 3 June 1818 and his territory was incorporated into the Bombay Presidency.

Bombay Presidency and colonial rule

Bombay came to England in 1661 as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza and was passed to the East India Company in 1668 for an annual rent of £10. It became the Company's headquarters in India in 1687. After 1818 the Presidency grew to include Gujarat, much of Maharashtra, parts of Karnataka and, from 1843, Sindh; Sindh was separated on 1 April 1936. After 1857 the Crown ruled directly. Bombay Province held elections in 1937 and became Bombay State when India became a republic in 1950. Not all Marathi-speaking land was inside it: Marathwada was part of the Nizam's Hyderabad State and Vidarbha was part of the Central Provinces and Berar.

Freedom movement

Bombay was the birthplace of Indian organised politics. The Indian National Congress was founded there on 28 December 1885 at Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College, with 72 delegates. At the Surat split of 1907, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, a Maharashtrian, led the "extremist" wing, while Gopal Krishna Gokhale was a leading moderate. Jyotirao Phule's social reform and his revival of Shivaji's memory shaped the region's politics. The Quit India resolution was passed at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee on 8 August 1942, and the "Do or Die" speech was delivered at Gowalia Tank Maidan (now August Kranti Maidan).

Integration of Marathwada and Vidarbha

Hyderabad's Marathi-speaking districts joined India after Operation Polo (13 to 18 September 1948); 17 September is marked in Marathwada as Liberation Day. Vidarbha, previously in the Central Provinces and Berar, was merged into Bombay State when states were reorganised on linguistic lines in 1956.

Samyukta Maharashtra and statehood

The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 kept Marathi and Gujarati areas together in a larger bilingual Bombay State, now including Marathwada, Vidarbha, Saurashtra and Kutch, while Kannada-speaking districts went to Mysore. The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, formed in Pune on 6 February 1956, demanded a united Marathi state with Bombay as its capital. Police fired on protesters at Flora Fountain on 21 November 1955; the toll is given as 105 or 106 in different accounts, and the spot is now Hutatma Chowk, "Martyrs' Square". A parallel Mahagujarat movement sought a Gujarati state.

Parliament passed the Bombay Reorganisation Act in April 1960, and on 1 May 1960 Maharashtra and Gujarat became separate states. Yashwantrao Chavan, the last Chief Minister of Bombay State, became the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Some Marathi-speaking areas in northern Karnataka stayed outside the state, and a 1967 opinion poll in Goa rejected merger with Maharashtra.

For exam preparation

• The Satavahanas used Prakrit; their capital Pratishthana is modern Paithan.
• Shivaji was crowned at Raigad on 6 June 1674; he was born at Shivneri on 19 February 1630.
• The Third Battle of Panipat was fought on 14 January 1761.
• The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, surrendered on 3 June 1818.
• The Indian National Congress was founded in Bombay on 28 December 1885.
• The Quit India resolution was passed in Bombay on 8 August 1942.
• Marathwada joined India on 17 September 1948 (Operation Polo, 13 to 18 September).
• Maharashtra and Gujarat were created on 1 May 1960.

Geography

Maharashtra occupies the western part of the Deccan plateau. A narrow coastal strip lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, and the plateau, tilted to the east, stretches inland to the borders of Chhattisgarh and Telangana. The rock is almost entirely basalt from ancient volcanic eruptions, and the main rivers rise in the Ghats and flow east to the Bay of Bengal, apart from the Tapi, which flows west.

Location and boundaries

The state lies between the Arabian Sea in the west and Chhattisgarh and Telangana in the east. Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh are to the north, and Karnataka and Goa are to the south. The Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu touches the north-west. The coastline is about 720 km by the figure most often given; some sources say 840 km. Its coastal districts are Palghar, Thane, Mumbai (two districts), Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

Physiography

Konkan coast. The coastal lowland is only about 50 to 80 km wide, cut by short steep rivers and creeks and dotted with laterite plateaus. Mumbai sits on islands that were joined by reclamation and lies at the centre of this belt.

Sahyadri (Western Ghats). The Sahyadri forms the backbone of the state and the water divide between the coastal and inland rivers. Sources give an average elevation of roughly 1,000 to 1,200 m. Kalsubai in Akole taluka of Ahilyanagar district, at 1,646 m, is the highest peak in the state; it lies within the Kalsubai Harishchandragad Sanctuary. The whole Western Ghats range was listed by UNESCO in 2012. Maharashtra's section is the northern one.

Deccan plateau. The plateau is rocky and flat-topped, made from the Deccan Traps, a lava sheet erupted about 66 million years ago that covers about 500,000 sq km of west-central India and is more than 2 km thick in places. The Satpura hills lie along the northern border, and hill ranges run along the eastern border near Chhattisgarh. The meteor crater of Lonar in Buldhana district is about 1.83 km across and 150 m deep. It is described as the only impact crater of its size formed entirely in basalt, and is a Ramsar site (2020).

Rivers

The Godavari and Krishna systems drain most of the state; the Tapi drains the north-west.

River	Source	Notes
Godavari	Near Nashik	1,465 km in all; about 48.6 per cent of its basin lies in Maharashtra; Jayakwadi dam near Paithan; Kumbh Mela held at Nashik; tributaries include the Pravara, Purna, Manjira, Pranhita, Wardha and Wainganga (Wardha-Wainganga is the Pranhita system)
Krishna	Mahabaleshwar, Satara district	About 1,400 km in all, 305 km in Maharashtra; Koyna project (1,920 MW) is on a tributary; Panchganga and Warna join near Kolhapur and Sangli
Bhima	Sahyadri	861 km, longest tributary of the Krishna; flows through the Pune area
Tapi (Tapti)	Multai, Madhya Pradesh	724 km, flows west to the Gulf of Khambhat through Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar; tributaries Purna, Girna, Panzara
Wardha-Wainganga	Eastern Maharashtra	Drains Vidarbha, joins as the Pranhita to the Godavari

Rivers on the coast are short and swift. The tributaries of the Godavari and Krishna, not the main streams, supply much of the water for Marathwada and Western Maharashtra, which is why dams and canals play such a large role in local politics.

Climate

The climate is tropical monsoon. There are three seasons: summer from March to early June, with 40 to 45 degrees Celsius in the central plains, the rains from the last week of June to mid-September, and a mild winter in which January is the coldest month. Rainfall depends on the Ghats. The Konkan receives over 3,000 mm a year, and Sahyadri crests receive more than 400 cm in places. About 150 km to the east, in the rain shadow, rainfall drops to 500 to 700 mm. Parts of the western plateau get as little as 75 cm. This pattern explains the contrast between lush coast and drought-prone Marathwada and central districts. The state average is reported at about 1,181 mm, with about 75 per cent falling from June to September.

Regions

Five cultural regions are used in daily speech. Konkan is the coastal strip (28.6 million people in 2011). Desh, or Western Maharashtra, is the Pune division, the leeward plateau between the upper Krishna and Godavari basins (about 23.4 million; 58,268 sq km) and the heartland of the sugar cooperatives. Khandesh and north Maharashtra, in the Tapi valley, form the Nashik division. Marathwada is the Aurangabad division, 64,590 sq km with about 18.7 million people, and has recurring drought. Vidarbha has 11 districts in two divisions with about 23.0 million people, and is known for oranges and cotton. A demand for a separate Vidarbha state is supported by some parties and opposed by others.

Soils and forests

The common soil is the black cotton soil (regur), formed from basalt and good at holding moisture, so it is the base of the cotton and sugarcane belts. The Konkan has laterite, which is red and acidic and suited to mango and cashew. There are five forest types, from the evergreen forest of the Ghats and teak-bearing deciduous forest of Vidarbha to mangroves on the coast. By the India State of Forest Report 2023, as summarised in secondary sources, forest cover is about 50,859 sq km, about 16.5 per cent of the state's area, and its tree cover of about 14,525 sq km is reported as the largest of any state. The recorded forest area is reported as 61,939 sq km.

Minerals

Eastern Vidarbha holds the state's coal (Chandrapur and Nagpur region) and manganese. Ilmenite occurs along the Ratnagiri coast. We could not confirm district-wise reserves, so exam readers should check them in a standard reference.

Wildlife and protected areas

Maharashtra has 6 national parks and 41 wildlife sanctuaries by the figure in a standard compilation, and 6 tiger reserves. Tigers, leopards, gaur, sloth bear and sambar are the main large mammals. Tiger numbers are reported as 444 in the 2022 estimate, the fifth-highest count among states.

Protected area	Type and year	Note
Melghat	Tiger reserve, 1974 (about 2,768 sq km)	Among the first nine reserves of Project Tiger; Gugamal National Park is its core
Tadoba-Andhari	Tiger reserve, 1993 (about 1,728 sq km)	Tadoba National Park joined with Andhari Sanctuary; Chandrapur district
Pench	Tiger reserve, 1999 (about 741 sq km)	Maharashtra part of the park shared with Madhya Pradesh
Sahyadri	Tiger reserve (about 1,166 sq km)	Western Ghats; year given as 2007 or 2010 in different sources
Nawegaon-Nagzira	Tiger reserve, 2013 (about 1,895 sq km)	Fifth in the state
Bor	Tiger reserve, 2014 (about 816 sq km)	Smallest of the six by this list
Sanjay Gandhi National Park	National park	Inside Mumbai
Chandoli National Park	National park, 2004	Sahyadri, Kolhapur-Sangli-Satara region
Nandur Madhameshwar	Ramsar site, 2019	Wetland in Nashik district
Lonar Lake	Ramsar site, 2020	Crater lake
Thane Creek	Ramsar site	Flamingo sanctuary; year of listing not confirmed

For exam preparation

• The Konkan coast is about 50 to 80 km wide, and the Sahyadri forms the state's water divide.
• Kalsubai (1,646 m, Ahilyanagar district) is the highest peak.
• The Godavari rises near Nashik and the Krishna at Mahabaleshwar; the Bhima is the Krishna's longest tributary (861 km).
• The Tapi flows west, the others east.
• Regur (black cotton) soil comes from Deccan basalt; the Konkan has laterite.
• Maharashtra has six tiger reserves: Melghat, Tadoba-Andhari, Pench, Sahyadri, Nawegaon-Nagzira and Bor.
• Lonar Lake is a basalt impact crater and a Ramsar site (2020).

Administration and districts

Maharashtra is run through divisions, districts, sub-divisions and talukas. The six divisions are each headed by a divisional commissioner and the 36 districts by a District Collector. As on October 2026 the state has 36 districts, and no new district has been notified since Palghar was carved out of Thane on 1 August 2014. Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban are separate districts, so "Mumbai" is two districts in this count.

Divisions

A recent compilation gives about 109 sub-divisions, 358 talukas and 44,778 revenue villages; check these against the latest official figure. Division populations below are our own sums of Census 2011 district totals.

Division	HQ	Districts	Pop. 2011 (million)	Region
Konkan	Mumbai	7	28.6	Konkan
Pune	Pune	5	23.4	Western Maharashtra (Desh)
Nashik	Nashik	5	18.6	North Maharashtra (Khandesh and Nashik)
Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar)	Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar	8	18.7	Marathwada
Amravati	Amravati	5	11.3	Vidarbha
Nagpur	Nagpur	6	11.8	Vidarbha

The Konkan division has Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Thane, Palghar, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. Pune has Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur. Nashik has Nashik, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon and Ahilyanagar. Marathwada has Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Dharashiv and Parbhani. Amravati has Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Washim and Yavatmal. Nagpur has Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Nagpur and Wardha.

The 36 districts

Populations are Census 2011 totals in lakh (1 lakh is 100,000). Names are those in use as on October 2026.

District	HQ	Division	Pop. (lakh)	Note
Ahilyanagar (Ahmednagar)	Ahilyanagar	Nashik	45.4	Largest district by area, 17,048 sq km
Akola	Akola	Amravati	18.1
Amravati	Amravati	Amravati	28.9	Division HQ
Beed	Beed	Aurangabad	25.9
Bhandara	Bhandara	Nagpur	12.0
Buldhana	Buldhana	Amravati	25.9	Lonar crater
Chandrapur	Chandrapur	Nagpur	22.0	Tadoba-Andhari; coal
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad)	Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar	Aurangabad	37.0	Division HQ; near Ajanta and Ellora
Dharashiv (Osmanabad)	Dharashiv	Aurangabad	16.6
Dhule	Dhule	Nashik	20.5
Gadchiroli	Gadchiroli	Nagpur	10.7	Formed 26 August 1982
Gondia	Gondia	Nagpur	13.2	Formed 1 May 1999
Hingoli	Hingoli	Aurangabad	11.8	Formed 1 May 1999
Jalgaon	Jalgaon	Nashik	42.3	Tapi valley
Jalna	Jalna	Aurangabad	19.6	Formed 1 May 1981
Kolhapur	Kolhapur	Pune	38.8
Latur	Latur	Aurangabad	24.5	Formed 16 August 1982
Mumbai City	Mumbai	Konkan	30.9	Smallest district, 157 sq km
Mumbai Suburban	Bandra	Konkan	93.6	Formed 1 October 1990
Nagpur	Nagpur	Nagpur	46.5	Winter capital; division HQ
Nanded	Nanded	Aurangabad	33.6	On the Godavari
Nandurbar	Nandurbar	Nashik	16.5	Formed 1 July 1998
Nashik	Nashik	Nashik	61.1	Division HQ; Godavari source
Palghar	Palghar	Konkan	29.9	Newest district, 1 August 2014
Parbhani	Parbhani	Aurangabad	18.4
Pune	Pune	Pune	94.3	Most populous district; division HQ
Raigad	Alibag	Konkan	26.3	Raigad Fort, Shivaji's capital
Ratnagiri	Ratnagiri	Konkan	16.2
Sangli	Sangli	Pune	28.2
Satara	Satara	Pune	30.0	Mahabaleshwar, Krishna source
Sindhudurg	Oros	Konkan	8.5	Least populous; formed 1 May 1981
Solapur	Solapur	Pune	43.2
Thane	Thane	Konkan	80.7	After the Palghar split
Wardha	Wardha	Nagpur	13.0
Washim	Washim	Amravati	12.0	Formed 1 July 1998
Yavatmal	Yavatmal	Amravati	27.7

Thane's 80.7 lakh excludes Palghar; the undivided district had 110.6 lakh.

Formation of new districts and renames

The state began in 1960 with 26 districts, and ten were added: Jalna and Sindhudurg (1981), Latur and Gadchiroli (1982), Mumbai Suburban (1990), Nandurbar and Washim (1998), Gondia and Hingoli (1999), and Palghar (2014). They were carved mostly from Aurangabad, Ratnagiri, Osmanabad, Chandrapur, Mumbai, Dhule, Akola, Bhandara, Parbhani and Thane respectively.

The 2018 state committee proposal for 22 further districts has not been acted on, and a social-media claim in January 2025 that 21 new districts would be announced on 26 January was fact-checked as false by Zee 24 Taas. A split of Ahilyanagar, with a separate Sangamner or Shirdi district, is a long-running proposal; none is notified. As on October 2026 we found no notification of a 37th district.

Three districts were renamed:

Old name	New name	Status
Aurangabad	Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar	State cabinet June 2022; Union Home Ministry approval reported February 2023; High Court upheld rename in May 2024; railway station renamed reportedly October 2025
Osmanabad	Dharashiv	Renamed together with Aurangabad; adopted 2023
Ahmednagar	Ahilyanagar	State cabinet 13 March 2024; Union Home Ministry nod reported October 2024; railway station notified September 2025

Census 2011 and older books use the old names. Ahilyanagar honours Ahilyabai Holkar of Indore, who came from the district, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar honours Shivaji's son.

Urban and rural local bodies

Urban areas are governed under the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965, and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888. The state has 29 municipal corporations (Jalna is the 29th) and about 226 municipal councils in a recent compilation. Corporations serve cities above about three lakh people, councils (Classes A, B and C) serve smaller towns and nagar panchayats serve transitional areas of about 10,000 to 25,000 people.

Panchayati Raj

Maharashtra adopted the three-tier system early, through the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961. There are 34 zilla parishads (the two Mumbai districts have none), about 351 panchayat samitis and about 28,813 gram panchayats, by a recent compilation. All local bodies have five-year terms and elections are conducted by the Maharashtra State Election Commission. Seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward classes and at least one-third for women.

Scheduled Areas

Tribal tracts of the state are Scheduled Areas under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution (Article 244(1)), notified by the Scheduled Area (Maharashtra) Order, 1985, with the Governor responsible for their administration and a Tribes Advisory Council. Maharashtra has no Sixth Schedule area. Parliament records show that the state sent a proposal in October 2024 to restructure its Scheduled Areas; we have not confirmed the outcome. We did not confirm the list of districts and talukas covered by the 1985 order.

For exam preparation

• Maharashtra has 36 districts and 6 divisions as on October 2026.
• The six divisions are Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur.
• Palghar (1 August 2014) is the newest district, carved out of Thane.
• Pune is the most populous district and Ahilyanagar the largest by area.
• Mumbai City is the smallest district by area; Sindhudurg has the lowest population.
• Aurangabad, Osmanabad and Ahmednagar are now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Dharashiv and Ahilyanagar.
• The state has 34 zilla parishads, set up under the 1961 Act.

Demography

Census 2011 is still the latest published census, and all figures below are from it unless labelled otherwise. Maharashtra had 112,374,333 people, a density of 365 per sq km and a sex ratio of 929 females per 1,000 males. Literacy was 82.34 per cent and about 45 per cent of the people lived in towns, so it is one of the more urbanised large states.

Indicator (Census 2011)	Value
Population	112,374,333 (males 58,243,056; females 54,131,277)
Decadal growth 2001 to 2011	15.99 per cent
Density	365 per sq km
Sex ratio	929 females per 1,000 males
Child sex ratio (0 to 6)	894
Literacy	82.34 per cent (male 88.38, female 75.87)
Rural / urban	61,556,074 rural (54.78 per cent); 50,818,259 urban (45.22 per cent)
Scheduled Castes	about 13.28 million (11.81 per cent)
Scheduled Tribes	about 10.51 million (9.35 per cent)

The state's population grew from about 78.9 million in 1991 to 96.9 million in 2001. Since the census, secondary sources give an estimate of about 128.7 million for 2025, but this is a projection and not a count.

Cities and urbanisation

At 45.22 per cent urban, Maharashtra is among the more urban large states. Greater Mumbai had 12,442,373 people in 2011, Pune 3,124,458, Nagpur 2,405,665 and Nashik 1,486,053 (city counts). Mumbai Suburban (93.6 lakh) and Pune (94.3 lakh) are the two districts with the largest populations.

Languages

Marathi is the official language, and Hindi and English are also used in administration. The Census 2011 mother-tongue figures reported for the state are about 77.5 million for Marathi (about 69 per cent), about 14.5 million for Hindi (about 13 per cent) and about 7.5 million for Urdu (about 7 per cent); the percentages are our calculation from counts in a secondary source. Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Konkani and tribal languages such as Bhili and Gondi are spoken by smaller communities. Marathwada alone has about 78 per cent Marathi, 9.6 per cent Urdu and 6.5 per cent Hindi speakers, reflecting its Hyderabad past.

Religion

Hindus were 79.83 per cent, Muslims 11.54 per cent, Buddhists 5.81 per cent, Jains 1.25 per cent, Christians 0.96 per cent and Sikhs 0.20 per cent; other religions and those not stating a religion made up about 0.4 per cent.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

The state has 45 communities listed as Scheduled Tribes, about 9.35 per cent of the population. The largest are the Bhil (about 2.59 million, 24.6 per cent of ST), Gond (1.62 million), Mahadeo Koli (1.46 million), Warli (0.80 million), Kokna (0.69 million), Thakar (0.57 million), Andh (0.47 million) and Katkari (0.29 million). They live mainly in the Sahyadri-Satpura belt of the north-west and in the forest districts of Vidarbha, such as Gadchiroli. Scheduled Castes were 11.81 per cent. Details of tribes are in the culture section.

Human development

Global Data Lab's subnational human development index places Maharashtra in the "high" band, but sources disagree on the exact value and rank (0.738 at 13th and 0.792 at 14th were both found), so we do not quote one. For health indicators, consult NFHS-5 (2019 to 21) directly, as we could not open the state fact sheet.

For exam preparation

• The population was 112,374,333 (Census 2011), second after Uttar Pradesh.
• The sex ratio was 929 and the child sex ratio 894.
• Literacy was 82.34 per cent (male 88.38, female 75.87).
• About 45.22 per cent of the people lived in towns.
• Scheduled Tribes were 9.35 per cent and Scheduled Castes 11.81 per cent.
• Hindus 79.83 per cent, Muslims 11.54 per cent, Buddhists 5.81 per cent.
• The Bhil are the largest Scheduled Tribe.

How the state is governed

Maharashtra has a parliamentary system under the Constitution of India. A Governor is the constitutional head, a Chief Minister leads an elected government, and a two-chamber legislature makes the laws. This section describes the structure, which stays the same from one government to the next. Names of sitting office-holders change often, so this guide does not list them; for the incumbent in any office, see current affairs.

The executive

Office	Role	How filled
Governor	Constitutional head; summons, prorogues and dissolves the Assembly, gives assent to bills, appoints the Chief Minister; also Chancellor of the state's public universities	Appointed by the President for five years, serving at the President's pleasure; the incumbent is the 35th person listed for the post since 1960, counting acting and additional-charge holders
Chief Minister	Head of the government; leads the council of ministers	Leader of the party or alliance with a majority in the Assembly, appointed by the Governor
Council of ministers	Runs the departments; collectively answerable to the Assembly	Capped at 15 per cent of the Assembly under Article 164(1A), which works out to 43 for a 288-seat House
Chief Secretary	Head of the civil service and the secretariat	Senior IAS officer chosen by the government
Director General of Police	Head of the state police	IPS officer, selected under the Supreme Court's Prakash Singh guidelines
Advocate General	Chief legal adviser to the government	Appointed by the Governor under Article 165

Mumbai is the capital. The secretariat (Mantralaya), the Governor's residence at Malabar Hill (Raj Bhavan), the Vidhan Bhavan at Nariman Point and the principal seat of the High Court are all there. Nagpur is the second capital in practice: the winter session of the legislature is held there, a custom that goes back to the Nagpur Agreement of 1953, under which the Vidarbha region joined the Marathi-speaking state with assurances about its share of development and the seat of government. Nagpur also hosts a bench of the High Court.

Departments and bodies

The government works through departments headed by ministers and run by secretaries. Constitutional and statutory bodies include the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC, Article 315, headquartered at Navi Mumbai), the State Election Commission (set up on 26 April 1994 under Article 243K, for panchayat and municipal polls), the State Finance Commission, the Lokayukta, the State Information Commission and the State Human Rights Commission. Money for each department is voted by the Assembly through the annual budget; the Comptroller and Auditor General audits the accounts.

Local government is run under separate laws. Rural bodies come under the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961, which created a three-tier system of zilla parishad (district), panchayat samiti (block) and gram panchayat (village), years before the 73rd Amendment made such a system national. Urban areas have municipal corporations (29 as on 2026), municipal councils and nagar panchayats. Wikipedia's state profile counts 36 districts, six divisions (Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur), 358 talukas, 34 zilla parishads and 395 municipal councils (it is not clear whether this figure includes nagar panchayats). Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban districts have no zilla parishad, which is why the zilla parishad count is two fewer than the district count.

For exam preparation

• The Governor is appointed by the President; the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor.
• The council of ministers is capped at 15 per cent of the House (Article 164(1A), 91st Amendment), so at most 43 in Maharashtra.
• Mumbai is the capital and Nagpur hosts the winter session of the legislature.
• The MPSC is a constitutional body under Article 315; the State Election Commission was set up on 26 April 1994.
• The Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act came in 1961; Maharashtra had a three-tier panchayat system before the 73rd Amendment.
• The Governor is ex-officio Chancellor of the state's public universities.

Legislature, Parliament and judiciary

Maharashtra has a two-chamber legislature: the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) of 288 members and the Vidhan Parishad (Legislative Council) of 78. The state sends 19 members to the Rajya Sabha and 48 to the Lok Sabha, the second-largest Lok Sabha delegation after Uttar Pradesh.

Vidhan Sabha

The Assembly meets in Mumbai (and in Nagpur for the winter session) and sits for five years unless dissolved sooner. The first Assembly of the new state sat in 1960; it grew out of the Bombay Legislative Assembly, whose 1957 members from the Marathi-speaking areas carried over. Strength has changed with delimitation: 264 seats in 1962, 270 in 1967 and 1972, and 288 since 1978. Of the 288 seats, 234 are General, 29 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 25 for Scheduled Tribes (Wikipedia's constituency list gives the SC and ST counts; the General figure is 288 minus those two, because the same page misstates the total as 264). The 15th Assembly was elected in November 2024; its party position is in the Elections section below. The majority mark is 145. By long convention a party needs about 10 per cent of the seats (29) to claim the Leader of the Opposition post; in 2024 no opposition party reached that.

Vidhan Parishad

The Council is a permanent body that is never dissolved; one-third of its members retire every second year, and each serves six years. It has 78 members: 30 elected by MLAs, 22 by local authorities, 7 by graduates, 7 by teachers and 12 nominated by the Governor, which together make 66 elected and 12 nominated. Its offices are at Vidhan Bhavan, Mumbai, and it also meets in Nagpur for the winter session. It chooses a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman from among its members.

Rajya Sabha

The state sends 19 members, elected by MLAs by the single transferable vote for six years, with terms staggered so that seats fall due every two years. Which parties win a given round depends on the Assembly position at that time.

Lok Sabha

The state has 48 constituencies: 39 General, 5 Scheduled Caste (Amravati, Ramtek, Shirdi, Latur and Solapur) and 4 Scheduled Tribe (Nandurbar, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Dindori and Palghar). Each is made up of about six Assembly segments. The map is the one drawn by the delimitation that took effect for the 2009 elections.

High Court and judiciary

The Bombay High Court was established on 14 August 1862, one of the three original High Courts with Calcutta and Madras. Its first Chief Justice was Matthew Richard Sausse. The Gothic Revival building at Mumbai was designed by Col. James A. Fuller; construction began in 1871 and its first sitting was on 10 January 1879. It is part of the "Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai", a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018. The court's jurisdiction covers Maharashtra, Goa and the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Wikipedia gives its sanctioned strength as 94 judges (71 permanent, 23 additional) as on 2026; strength changes with appointments, so treat this as approximate.

Beyond the principal seat in Mumbai, the court sits at benches in several places:

Seat	Notes
Nagpur	A separate High Court for the Central Provinces and Berar was set up in 1936; after the 1956 reorganisation it became a bench of the Bombay High Court
Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar)	Bench set up in 1982 for Marathwada
Panaji, Goa	Bench set up in 1982 (30 October, as reported)
Kolhapur	Circuit bench inaugurated in August 2025 (reports give 17 or 18 August) for Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg

Reports on the Kolhapur bench call it the fourth or fifth bench depending on whether the principal seat is counted. The state has sanctioned 75 acres at Shenda Park in Kolhapur and 495 permanent posts for it (reported by Bar and Bench).

Below the High Court sit district and sessions courts in each district, with family courts, labour and industrial courts and special courts. Maharashtra was the first state to enact a Lokayukta law (the Maharashtra Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act, 1971; reported, not re-checked in this pass). A new Maharashtra Lokayukta Bill was passed by the Assembly on 28 December 2022 and by the Council in December 2023; it brings the Chief Minister and ministers within the ombudsman's reach, with a two-thirds vote of the Assembly needed before an inquiry against the Chief Minister can begin. We could not confirm the date of the Governor's or President's assent or of commencement, so check the state's gazette before quoting it.

For exam preparation

• The Assembly has 288 seats: 234 General, 29 SC, 25 ST; the majority mark is 145.
• The Legislative Council has 78 members: 66 elected and 12 nominated; the 66 are 30 (MLAs), 22 (local authorities), 7 (graduates), 7 (teachers).
• Maharashtra has 19 Rajya Sabha and 48 Lok Sabha seats (5 SC, 4 ST).
• The Bombay High Court dates from 14 August 1862; it has benches at Nagpur, Aurangabad, Panaji and Kolhapur (circuit, 2025).
• Assembly strength was 264 in 1962, 270 in 1967 and 1972, and 288 from 1978.

Elections

Maharashtra has held 14 Assembly elections since the state was formed on 1 May 1960 (1962 to 2024); the 1960 House was made up of the Maharashtra members of the Bombay Assembly, so the 2024 House is counted as the 15th. The Congress dominated for three and a half decades; the Shiv Sena and the BJP formed the first non-Congress government in 1995; Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) then governed together from 1999 to 2014; and since 2014 the BJP has been the largest party in every election. The state's politics since 2019 has been marked by a post-poll breakdown of an alliance, President's rule, and the splitting of both the Shiv Sena (2022) and the NCP (2023).

Vidhan Sabha elections, 1962 to 1985

Seat figures follow the Wikipedia assembly-by-assembly list; vote shares and turnout for these early years are given only where we found a source.

Year	Seats	INC	Other notable	Turnout	Government
1962	264	215	PWP 15, Independents 15, PSP 9, CPI 6	not found	INC; Marotrao Kannamwar after Y. B. Chavan moved to Delhi
1967	270	203	PWP 19, Independents 16, CPI 10, PSP 8	not found	INC
1972	270	222	Independents 23, PWP 7, BJS 5	not found	INC
1978	288	69 (INC 69, INC(I) 62)	Janata Party 99, PWP 13, CPM 9	67.59%	Two Congress factions together
1980	288	186 (INC(I))	INC(U) 47, JP 17, BJP 14, PWP 9	about 53% (derived)	INC(I)
1985	288	161	IC(S) 54, JP 20, Independents 20, BJP 16, PWP 13	59.17%	INC

In 1978 the Janata Party was the single largest party, but the two Congress factions (INC and INC(I)) formed a government. It did not last: Sharad Pawar left in July 1978 and led a Progressive Democratic Front government with Janata Party support, which the Centre dismissed in February 1980, leading to President's rule until June 1980. In 1985 the Congress (Socialist), a Pawar-led party, made its debut with 54 seats and was the main opposition.

Vidhan Sabha elections, 1990 to 2024

Year	Polling	Turnout	INC	BJP	Shiv Sena	NCP	Others	Government
1990	27 Feb	62.26%	141 (38.17%)	42 (10.71%)	52 (15.94%)	not formed	JD 24 (12.72%), others 29	INC
1995	12 Feb and 9 Mar	71.69%	80 (31.00%)	65 (12.80%)	73 (16.39%)	not formed	Independents 45, JD 11	Shiv Sena–BJP
1999	5 and 11 Sep	60.95%	75 (27.20%)	56 (14.54%)	69 (17.33%)	58 (22.60%)	others and independents 30	INC–NCP
2004	13 Oct	63.44%	69 (21.06%)	54 (13.67%)	62 (19.97%)	71 (18.75%)	Independents 19, others 13	INC–NCP
2009	13 Oct	59.68%	82 (21.01%)	46 (14.02%)	44 (16.26%)	62 (16.37%)	MNS 13 (5.71%), Independents 24	INC–NCP
2014	15 Oct	63.38%	42 (17.95%)	122 (27.81%)	63 (19.35%)	41 (17.24%)	others 20	BJP, later with Shiv Sena
2019	21 Oct	61.44%	44 (15.87%)	105 (25.75%)	56 (16.41%)	54 (16.71%)	others 29	see below
2024	20 Nov	about 66%	16 (12.42%)	132 (26.77%)	SHS 57 (12.38%); UBT 20 (9.96%)	41 (9.01%); NCP(SP) 10 (11.28%)	others 12	BJP-led Mahayuti

Notes on the table. Vote shares come from Wikipedia's election pages; the 2004 percentages are approximate because that page words them loosely. For 2019 the BJP's 105 and NCP's 54 are the results on counting day; later Wikipedia tables show 106 and 53 after independents and by-elections shifted the count. Turnout for 2024 appears as both 66.05 per cent and 66.57 per cent within Wikipedia's own page; the ECI's final report should settle it. The 2009 turnout is given as 59.68 per cent with a stated fall of 3.94 points, which does not match the 63.44 per cent of 2004 exactly; use the figure with care. The seat count in 2024 for Shiv Sena rows refers to the party headed by the 2022 breakaway group (SHS) and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT).

1990 and 1995

The 1990 poll was the first in which the BJP and Shiv Sena emerged together as the main opposition, with 94 seats between them, ahead of the left parties that had led the opposition until then. The Congress still won 141 seats and returned to office. In 1995 the Shiv Sena–BJP alliance won with the help of independents and formed the state's first non-Congress government, with a Shiv Sena Chief Minister. Turnout of 71.69 per cent was the highest of any election in the table.

1999 and 2004

The NCP, formed in May 1999 by leaders who left the Congress, contested separately in 1999 and won 58 seats. The two parties then came together after the poll and governed jointly for 15 years. In 2004 the NCP won more seats (71) than the Congress (69), but the post of Chief Minister stayed with the Congress under the alliance's understanding. In 2009 the Congress rose to 82 and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), contesting for the first time, won 13 seats on a vote share of about 5.7 per cent, which split the opposition vote in parts of Mumbai and Nashik (a widely made observation we have not sourced).

2014

All the main parties contested separately for the first time. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, which had lasted 25 years, broke on 25 September 2014 over seat sharing, and the Congress-NCP alliance of 15 years also broke. The BJP won 122 seats on 27.81 per cent of the vote, 23 short of a majority. The Chief Minister was a BJP leader who took office on 31 October 2014 after the state had been under President's rule from 28 September; the Shiv Sena joined the government later. The first meeting of the new House was held on 10 November 2014.

2019: the post-poll crisis

The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance contested together and won 161 of 288 seats (BJP 105, Shiv Sena 56), enough for a majority, but the two parties could not agree on who would hold the Chief Minister's post. No government was formed, and President's rule was imposed on 12 November 2019. In the early morning of 23 November, after President's rule was withdrawn, the BJP's leader and an NCP leader were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister; that government lasted five days. The matter went to the Supreme Court, which ordered a floor test; both resigned on 26 November, before it was held. The Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress then formed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), and Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as Chief Minister on 28 November 2019. The dates follow Wikipedia's article on the election.

2022: the Shiv Sena split

On 21 June 2022 a Shiv Sena minister led about 40 of the party's MLAs to Surat, Gujarat, and then to Guwahati, Assam, saying they wanted to leave the MVA. On 23 June the group claimed to have 37 MLAs' written support. The Governor ordered a floor test on 29 June, and Uddhav Thackeray resigned as Chief Minister that day. The rebel leader was sworn in as Chief Minister on 30 June 2022, with the BJP leader as Deputy Chief Minister. On 17 February 2023 the Election Commission gave the party name "Shiv Sena" and the bow-and-arrow symbol to the rebel faction; the Thackeray group continued as "Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)". On 11 May 2023 the Supreme Court held that it could not restore the Thackeray government because he had resigned without facing the floor test, though it found fault with the Governor's decision to call one. In January 2024 the Speaker ruled that the rebel group was the real party (reported; the order date is not confirmed here).

2023: the NCP split

On 2 July 2023 a faction of the NCP led by Ajit Pawar joined the state government; Wikipedia counts about 40 of 55 NCP MLAs on that side. On 6 February 2024 the ECI recognised that faction as the NCP. The group led by Sharad Pawar was named NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), or NCP(SP).

2024

Polling was held on 20 November 2024 and counting on 23 November. The BJP won 132 seats, its highest ever in the state; its allies, the Shiv Sena (57) and the NCP (41), won 98 between them, giving the Mahayuti alliance 235 seats (as reported on Wikipedia; PRS says 230). The Maha Vikas Aghadi won 46: the Shiv Sena (UBT) 20, the Congress 16 and NCP(SP) 10. The Congress had won 44 seats in 2019; its 16 in 2024 was the lowest in the table. Wikipedia reports that no party in the opposition won the 10 per cent of seats needed for the post of Leader of the Opposition. The new Chief Minister was sworn in on 5 December 2024. Over 9.7 crore electors were registered (reported by ETV Bharat). Women voters turned out at about 65 per cent against about 59 per cent in 2019 (reported). The number of women MLAs is reported as 21 or 22 depending on the source.

President's rule

President's rule under Article 356 has been imposed in Maharashtra three times:

Period	Reason
17 Feb to 8 Jun 1980	Dismissal of the Pawar-led government after the 1980 Lok Sabha election
28 Sep to 30 Oct 2014	Break-up of the ruling alliance before the Assembly poll, which was held under President's rule
12 to 23 Nov 2019	No government could be formed after the October 2019 poll

Lok Sabha elections, 2004 to 2024

Year	INC	BJP	Shiv Sena	NCP	Others	Notes
2004	13	13	12	9	RPI(A) 1	UPA 23, NDA 25
2009	17 (19.61%)	9 (18.17%)	11 (17.00%)	8 (19.28%)	Swabhimani 1, BVA 1, Independent 1	turnout 50.73%
2014	2 (18.13%)	23 (27.32%)	18 (20.63%)	4 (15.97%)	Swabhimani 1	turnout 60.32%
2019	1 (16.41%)	23 (27.84%)	18 (23.5%)	4 (15.66%)	AIMIM 1, Independent 1	turnout 61.02%
2024	13 (16.92%)	9 (26.18%)	SHS 7 (12.95%); UBT 9 (16.72%)	NCP 1 (3.60%); NCP(SP) 8 (10.27%)	Independent 1	turnout 61.29%; INDIA bloc 30, NDA 17

The 2009 independent is inferred from the total of 48 and was not checked separately. The 2014 and 2019 results show an NDA sweep of 41 seats each time. In 2024 the opposition alliance won 30 of 48, a reversal that came five months before the Assembly landslide for the BJP-led alliance. The 2024 polls were held in five phases from 19 April to 20 May, with counting on 4 June.

By-elections

Casual vacancies, caused by death, resignation or disqualification, have to be filled within six months under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. A by-election does not change the term of the House. We could not open a source with a complete list of Maharashtra by-elections, so this guide does not give a seat-by-seat summary; consult the ECI's results pages for any particular poll.

Local body elections

Local polls in Maharashtra were held up for years, mainly by disputes over how much reservation could go to Other Backward Classes without breaching the Supreme Court's 50 per cent ceiling on total reservation. The Supreme Court set a deadline of 31 January 2026 for completion and later extended it by two weeks.

Body	Status (as on October 2026)
Municipal councils and nagar panchayats (246 councils and 42 nagar panchayats)	Polled on 2 December 2025, with counting on 3 December (some results were later, reported); the Mahayuti alliance won 207 posts of president (reported by Election Commission data cited in news)
29 municipal corporations	Polled on 15 January 2026 for 2,869 seats across 893 wards, counted on 16 January. The BJP won about 1,425 seats (one report gives 1,372 with 2,784 declared), the Shiv Sena (Shinde) about 399, the Congress about 324 and the Shiv Sena (UBT) about 155. In Mumbai's BMC the BJP won 89 of 227 seats, the Shiv Sena (UBT) 65, the Shiv Sena 29, the Congress 24, AIMIM 8, MNS 6 and the NCP 3. Seat counts differ slightly by source
Zilla parishads and panchayat samitis	As reported on 21 July 2026, polls for 20 zilla parishads and 211 panchayat samitis were still pending; the Supreme Court said they could proceed without exceeding the 50 per cent reservation limit and the schedule was expected in August and September 2026

Some zilla parishads had exceeded the 50 per cent limit in their reservation roster; 17 of the 32 district councils in the court's account were in that position (reported by Scroll and LiveLaw). We have not confirmed whether the pending polls have since been announced; check the State Election Commission.

Reservation and delimitation

Under the delimitation completed in 2008, the Assembly has 29 SC and 25 ST seats and the Lok Sabha delegation has 5 SC and 4 ST seats. Seat numbers are frozen until the first census after 2026 under Article 82; the Women's Reservation Act of 2023 will reserve one-third of Assembly and Lok Sabha seats for women once a census and fresh delimitation are done. In local bodies, women hold half the seats in panchayats and municipalities (reported; we did not check the Maharashtra Acts), and OBC reservation of up to 27 per cent is allowed subject to the 50 per cent overall cap.

Voters and notable firsts

Maharashtra had over 9.7 crore electors in November 2024 (reported). Records and firsts in this table are as shown in the Wikipedia lists we checked.

Item	Fact
First non-Congress government	1995, headed by a Shiv Sena Chief Minister
Highest turnout in the table	71.69% in 1995
Lowest Congress seat total in the tables above	16 in 2024
Highest BJP seat total	132 in 2024
Longest-serving Chief Minister	Vasantrao Naik, about 11 years 78 days
Shortest Chief Minister tenure	five days in November 2019 (the person now holds office, so not named here)
First woman Governor	Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, 1962 to 1964

For exam preparation

• The state was formed on 1 May 1960; the Assembly has 288 seats since 1978.
• The first non-Congress government was the Shiv Sena–BJP one of 1995.
• In 1999 the NCP and the Congress contested separately and governed together after the poll.
• The BJP won 122 seats in 2014 and 132 in 2024.
• President's rule was imposed three times: 1980, 2014 and 2019.
• The Shiv Sena split in June 2022 and the NCP in July 2023.
• The ECI gave the Shiv Sena name and symbol to the rebel group on 17 February 2023.
• In 2024 the Lok Sabha opposition alliance won 30 of 48 seats; in the Assembly vote five months later it won 46 of 288.

Past Chief Ministers, Governors and office-holders

This section lists only completed tenures, which do not change. Counting by person, 20 people have been Chief Minister since 1 May 1960; the 18th, listed as "Incumbent", has served three separate spells. The incumbents of all posts are not named here.

Chief Ministers

No.	Chief Minister	Tenure
1	Yashwantrao Chavan (INC)	1 May 1960 to 20 Nov 1962
2	Marotrao Kannamwar (INC)	20 Nov 1962 to 24 Nov 1963 (ended with his death)
3	P. K. Sawant (INC)	25 Nov to 5 Dec 1963 (10 days; shortest full tenure)
4	Vasantrao Naik (INC)	5 Dec 1963 to 21 Feb 1975 (longest-serving)
5	Shankarrao Chavan (INC)	21 Feb 1975 to 17 May 1977; 12 Mar 1986 to 26 Jun 1988
6	Vasantdada Patil (INC)	17 May 1977 to 18 Jul 1978; 2 Feb 1983 to 3 Jun 1985
7	Sharad Pawar (IC(S)/INC)	18 Jul 1978 to 17 Feb 1980; 26 Jun 1988 to 25 Jun 1991; 6 Mar 1993 to 14 Mar 1995
8	A. R. Antulay (INC)	9 Jun 1980 to 21 Jan 1982
9	Babasaheb Bhosale (INC)	21 Jan 1982 to 2 Feb 1983
10	Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar (INC)	3 Jun 1985 to 12 Mar 1986
11	Sudhakarrao Naik (INC)	25 Jun 1991 to 6 Mar 1993
12	Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena)	14 Mar 1995 to 1 Feb 1999; first non-Congress Chief Minister
13	Narayan Rane (Shiv Sena)	1 Feb to 18 Oct 1999
14	Vilasrao Deshmukh (INC)	18 Oct 1999 to 18 Jan 2003; 1 Nov 2004 to 8 Dec 2008
15	Sushilkumar Shinde (INC)	18 Jan 2003 to 1 Nov 2004
16	Ashok Chavan (INC)	8 Dec 2008 to 11 Nov 2010
17	Prithviraj Chavan (INC)	11 Nov 2010 to 28 Sep 2014
18	Incumbent (BJP)	31 Oct 2014 to 12 Nov 2019; 23 to 28 Nov 2019; and from 5 Dec 2024 (the present tenure)
19	Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena)	28 Nov 2019 to 30 Jun 2022
20	Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena)	30 Jun 2022 to 5 Dec 2024

The numbering follows the order of first taking office. Dates are from Wikipedia's list; some sources differ by a day. Counting by person, the Congress held the post for most of the state's history. Vasantrao Naik's 11 years was unbroken, which remains the record. Sharad Pawar served three separate terms.

Governors

Regular Governors who completed their tenures since 1 May 1960 (acting and additional-charge holders are noted below the table):

Governor	Tenure
Sri Prakasa	1 May 1960 to 16 Apr 1962
P. Subbarayan	17 Apr to 6 Oct 1962 (died in office)
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit	28 Nov 1962 to 18 Oct 1964
P. V. Cherian	14 Nov 1964 to 8 Nov 1969 (died in office)
Ali Yavar Jung	26 Feb 1970 to 11 Dec 1976 (died in office)
Sadiq Ali	30 Apr 1977 to 8 Nov 1980
Om Prakash Mehra	8 Nov 1980 to 5 Mar 1982
Idris Hasan Latif	6 Mar 1982 to 16 Apr 1985
Kona Prabhakara Rao	31 May 1985 to 2 Apr 1986
Shankar Dayal Sharma	3 Apr 1986 to 2 Sep 1987
Kasu Brahmananda Reddy	20 Feb 1988 to 18 Jan 1990
Chidambaram Subramaniam	15 Feb 1990 to 23 Apr 1992; 16 May 1992 to 9 Jan 1993
P. C. Alexander	12 Jan 1993 to 13 Jul 2002 (longest-serving)
Mohammed Fazal	10 Oct 2002 to 5 Dec 2004
S. M. Krishna	12 Dec 2004 to 8 Mar 2008
S. C. Jamir	9 Mar 2008 to 22 Jan 2010
Kateekal Sankaranarayanan	22 Jan 2010 to 24 Aug 2014
C. Vidyasagar Rao	30 Aug 2014 to 4 Sep 2019
Bhagat Singh Koshyari	5 Sep 2019 to 17 Feb 2023
Ramesh Bais	18 Feb 2023 to 30 Jul 2024
C. P. Radhakrishnan	31 Jul 2024 to 11 Sep 2025

Shankar Dayal Sharma later became President of India (known from other sources, not from the list we used). Acting Governors, mostly senior judges of the Bombay High Court, served short periods in 1962, 1964, 1969 to 1970, 1976 to 1977, 1985 and 1987 to 1990. Additional charge was held for short spells in 1992, 2002, 2014 and from 15 September 2025 to 9 March 2026; the last of these holders is not named here. The 35th person listed in the source for the post is the incumbent, who took office on 10 March 2026.

Speakers of the Vidhan Sabha

Speaker	Tenure
S. L. Silam	1 May 1960 to 12 Mar 1962
Balasaheb Bharde	17 Mar 1962 to 13 Mar 1967
S. K. Wankhede	22 Mar 1972 to 20 Apr 1977
Balasaheb Desai	4 Jul 1977 to 13 Mar 1978
Shivraj Patil	17 Mar 1978 to 6 Dec 1979
Pranlal Vora	1 Feb to 29 Jun 1980
Sharad Dighe	2 Jul 1980 to 11 Jan 1985
Shankarrao Jagtap	20 Mar 1985 to 19 Mar 1990
Madhukarrao Chaudhari	21 Mar 1990 to 22 Mar 1995
Dattaji Nalawade	24 Mar 1995 to 19 Oct 1999
Arun Gujarathi	22 Oct 1999 to 17 Oct 2004
Babasaheb Kupekar	6 Nov 2004 to 3 Nov 2009
Dilip Walse-Patil	11 Nov 2009 to 8 Nov 2014
Haribhau Bagade	12 Nov 2014 to 25 Nov 2019
Nana Patole	1 Dec 2019 to 4 Feb 2021
Narhari Zirwal	4 Feb 2021 to 3 Jul 2022

The source list shows no Speaker between March 1967 and March 1972; this looks like a gap in the source, not a vacancy, and we did not check it. The incumbent has held the post since July 2022, with a short break around the 2024 election.

Chief Justices of the Bombay High Court

The High Court has had 48 Chief Justices up to the incumbent's predecessor (Wikipedia's count, excluding acting Chief Justices; the count differs by one depending on whether the incumbent is included). Completed tenures from 1990 onward:

Chief Justice	Tenure
Prabodh Dinkarrao Desai	7 Jan 1991 to 14 Dec 1992
Manoj Kumar Mukherjee	9 Jan to 14 Dec 1993
Sujata Manohar	15 Jan to 20 Apr 1994 (first woman Chief Justice of the court)
Anandamoy Bhattacharjee	21 Apr 1994 to 1 Apr 1995
Manharlal Bhikhalal Shah	2 Aug 1995 to 9 Dec 1998
Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal	3 Feb 1999 to 28 Jan 2000 (later Chief Justice of India)
Bisheshwar Prasad Singh	31 Mar 2000 to 14 Dec 2001
Chunilal Karsandas Thakker	31 Dec 2001 to 7 Jun 2004
Dalveer Bhandari	25 Jul 2004 to 27 Oct 2005
Kshitij R. Vyas	25 Feb to 18 Jul 2006
Harjit Singh Bedi	3 Oct 2006 to 12 Jan 2007
Swatanter Kumar	31 Mar 2007 to 30 Dec 2009
Anil Ramesh Dave	11 Feb to 29 Apr 2010
Mohit Shantilal Shah	26 Jun 2010 to 8 Sep 2015
Dhirendra Hiralal Waghela	15 Feb to 10 Aug 2016
Manjula Chellur	22 Aug 2016 to 4 Dec 2017
Naresh Harishchandra Patil	29 Oct 2018 to 6 Apr 2019
Pradeep Nandrajog	7 Apr 2019 to 23 Feb 2020
Bhushan Pradyumna Dharmadhikari	20 Mar to 27 Apr 2020 (as listed)
Dipankar Datta	28 Apr 2020 to 11 Dec 2022
Ramesh Deokinandan Dhanuka	28 to 30 May 2023 (acting; three days)
Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya	29 Jul 2023 to 20 Jan 2025
Alok Aradhe	21 Jan to 28 Aug 2025

The first Chief Justice was Matthew Richard Sausse (1862 to 1866). Many entries in the middle of the list are for short tenures that ended in elevation to the Supreme Court or transfer. The gaps between some tenures (for example, between 2007 and 2010, and in 2017 to 2018) were filled by acting Chief Justices who are not shown. The incumbent took office on 5 September 2025.

For exam preparation

• Yashwantrao Chavan was the first Chief Minister (1 May 1960).
• Vasantrao Naik is the longest-serving Chief Minister (about 11 years, 1963 to 1975).
• Manohar Joshi was the first non-Congress Chief Minister (1995).
• Sri Prakasa was the first Governor; Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit the first woman Governor; P. C. Alexander served longest (1993 to 2002).
• S. L. Silam was the first Speaker.
• Matthew Richard Sausse was the first Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court; Sujata Manohar the first woman to hold the post.

Political history and movements

Maharashtra's modern politics grew out of the struggle for a state for Marathi speakers, the later rise of regional parties and the politics of caste and reservation. This section gives the main movements in order.

The Samyukta Maharashtra movement

After independence, Marathi-speaking areas were split among Bombay State, the Central Provinces and Berar (Vidarbha), and the Hyderabad princely state (Marathwada, which joined India in September 1948 after the Indian police action). The States Reorganisation Commission of 1955 did not propose a separate Maharashtra with Bombay city; the 1956 reorganisation joined Vidarbha and Marathwada to a bilingual Bombay State. The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, a front of the Praja Socialist Party, the Communists, the Peasants and Workers Party and others, campaigned for a Marathi-speaking state with Bombay as its capital. On 21 November 1955 police fired on a protest at Flora Fountain; about 106 died (Wikipedia's figure; 105 is also widely quoted). Flora Fountain was renamed Hutatma Chowk in their memory. The Bombay Reorganisation Act was passed in April 1960 (Wikipedia: 25 April), and Maharashtra and Gujarat were formed on 1 May 1960, a date marked as Maharashtra Day. The Marathi-speaking areas of northern Karnataka and Goa were left out; the Belgaum border dispute with Karnataka remains.

Regional balance and Vidarbha

The Nagpur Agreement of 28 September 1953 (a pact among leaders of the Marathi-speaking regions, date as commonly given, not rechecked here) promised Vidarbha a fair share of funds and a winter session at Nagpur. Demands for a separate Vidarbha state, and for a development board for Marathwada and Vidarbha, have recurred since, and the Governor has special responsibility for the development boards under Article 371(2).

Regional parties

The Shiv Sena was founded in Mumbai on 19 June 1966 by the cartoonist Bal Thackeray, first on a platform of jobs for Marathi speakers ("sons of the soil"). It began working with the BJP in 1989 and the alliance lasted, with a break in 2014, until 2019. The NCP was formed in 1999 after a split from the Congress. The MNS was formed in 2006 (as commonly dated) and won 13 seats in 2009. The Peasants and Workers Party was a force in the Konkan and western Maharashtra until the 1970s and 1980s, as the tables above show.

Dalit and caste movements

The Dalit Panthers were founded in Mumbai in 1972 (commonly dated; not rechecked) and influenced Marathi literature and politics. The Namantar movement of the late 1970s to 1994 sought to rename Marathwada University after B. R. Ambedkar. Reservation for Marathas has been the dominant caste issue of recent years. A state law in 2018 gave a quota; the Supreme Court struck it down in 2021; a fresh law in February 2024 gave 10 per cent (details from general knowledge, not rechecked in this pass), and agitations led by activists in Marathwada continued into 2025. The reservation of OBC seats in local bodies is the issue behind the long gap in local polls described above.

Security and urban crisis

The Mumbai bomb blasts of March 1993 and the terror attacks of 26 November 2008 shaped the state's security policy. Left-wing extremism has been concentrated in Gadchiroli and nearby eastern districts; Wikipedia notes an extremist attack there on the 2009 polling day. The textile mill strike of 1982 and the decline of the Mumbai mills altered the politics of the city (general knowledge; not rechecked).

Developments since 2014

Alliances were realigned in 2014, 2019, 2022 and 2023, as described under Elections. Between 2014 and 2025 the state had a BJP Chief Minister, a Shiv Sena Chief Minister heading an MVA government, a Shiv Sena Chief Minister from the breakaway group and then a BJP Chief Minister again. The 2024 Assembly result gave the ruling alliance 235 of 288 seats.

For exam preparation

• The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti campaigned for a Marathi state with Bombay as its capital; the state was formed on 1 May 1960.
• Flora Fountain was renamed Hutatma Chowk after the police firing of 21 November 1955.
• The Bombay Reorganisation Act dates from 1960.
• The Shiv Sena was founded on 19 June 1966; the NCP in 1999.
• The Nagpur Agreement (1953) is the basis for the winter session at Nagpur.

Budget and governance

The state's 2026-27 budget was presented in March 2026 (PRS Legislative Research gives 6 March 2026). The minister who presented it is not named here. The figures below are from the PRS analysis, as on October 2026; revised estimates and supplementary demands (the state tabled supplementary demands in the monsoon session of 2026, as an ETV Bharat headline shows) can change the position during the year.

Item	2026-27 estimate
Total expenditure (excluding debt repayment)	Rs 7,69,467 crore
Net receipts (excluding borrowings)	Rs 6,18,976 crore
Net borrowings	Rs 1,27,543 crore
Revenue deficit	Rs 40,552 crore (0.7% of GSDP)
Fiscal deficit	Rs 1,50,491 crore (2.8% of GSDP)
Primary deficit	Rs 80,436 crore (1.5% of GSDP)
Outstanding liabilities	20.4% of GSDP (about Rs 11.02 lakh crore)
Projected GSDP (current prices)	Rs 54,08,594 crore
Per capita GSDP	Rs 3,61,308
Own tax revenue	Rs 4,15,498 crore (7.7% of GSDP)
State GST	Rs 1,87,095 crore
Share in central taxes	Rs 98,363 crore
Central grants	Rs 66,110 crore
Committed expenditure (salaries, pensions, interest)	Rs 3,38,385 crore, 55% of revenue receipts
Capital outlay	Rs 97,498 crore

The main sectoral allocations are education, sports and arts (Rs 1,08,467 crore), transport (Rs 53,928 crore), social welfare (Rs 53,430 crore), rural development (Rs 39,294 crore), agriculture (Rs 39,160 crore), health (Rs 37,456 crore) and police (Rs 33,700 crore). The Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin cash-transfer scheme for women was given Rs 26,500 crore, 3.4 per cent of expenditure and about 31 per cent below the revised estimate for 2025-26. Salaries come to Rs 1,75,951 crore, pensions Rs 92,379 crore and interest Rs 70,055 crore. PRS reports Rs 9,725 crore of 50-year interest-free capital loans from the Centre.

The fiscal deficit of 2.8 per cent is within the 3 per cent norm usually set by Fiscal Responsibility laws, and debt of 20.4 per cent of GSDP is below the 25 per cent ceiling that is commonly cited for the state (the state's own FRBM limits were not rechecked here). The share of committed expenditure, 55 per cent of revenue receipts, leaves limited room for new schemes.

E-governance and administrative reforms

The state's online service portal, Aaple Sarkar, and the Maharashtra Right to Public Services Act, 2015 give citizens notified services within fixed times, as commonly described (not rechecked in this pass). The Mantralaya and the Vidhan Bhavan are in Mumbai. For the budget numbers of earlier years, see the PRS state-budget analyses.

For exam preparation

• The 2026-27 budget has a fiscal deficit of 2.8 per cent of GSDP and a revenue deficit of 0.7 per cent (PRS, as on October 2026).
• Outstanding liabilities are estimated at 20.4 per cent of GSDP.
• Committed expenditure takes 55 per cent of revenue receipts.
• The Assembly passes the budget in the budget session at Mumbai; the winter session meets at Nagpur.

Economy

Maharashtra has the largest state economy in India and Mumbai is the country's financial capital. As on October 2026, the Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2025-26 (tabled in the legislature on 5 March 2026) estimates nominal GSDP for 2025-26 at about ₹51 lakh crore and real growth at 7.9%, against 7.3% the year before. The Survey puts the state's share of national GDP at 14.3% and per capita income at ₹3,47,903, well above the all-India figure of about ₹2.19 lakh. Services produce most of the output, and the state attracts the largest share of foreign direct investment.

Size, growth and income

Indicator	Value	Source and year
Nominal GSDP	about ₹51 lakh crore (about US$615 billion)	Economic Survey 2025-26, estimate for 2025-26
Real GSDP growth	7.9% (7.3% in 2024-25)	Economic Survey 2025-26
Share of national GDP	14.3%	Economic Survey 2025-26
Per capita income	₹3,47,903 (₹3.17 lakh the year before)	Economic Survey 2025-26
All-India per capita income	about ₹2.19 lakh	as quoted with the Survey
Services growth / industry growth / agriculture and allied growth	9.0% / 5.7% / 3.4%	Economic Survey 2025-26
Services share of the economy	nearly 64%	Economic Survey 2025-26, as reported

Other compilations, including online encyclopaedias, show higher GSDP and per capita numbers (for example a 2026-27 projection of ₹54 lakh crore). They use a later year or a different estimate, so this guide quotes the Survey. Agriculture and allied growth fell from 9.1% in 2024-25 to 3.4% in 2025-26 because the previous year's farm output was unusually high; the Survey does not describe this as a collapse.

Mumbai, the financial capital

Mumbai houses the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange (established 1875, the oldest in Asia), the National Stock Exchange and the Securities and Exchange Board of India. An estimate for the early 2010s credited the city with about 5% of India's GDP, a quarter of its industrial output and a third of its tax collections. Those shares are old and should be treated as indicative only. Mumbai is also the centre of the Hindi film industry (Bollywood) and of Marathi cinema, and the main base for banking, insurance, shipping and commodity trading.

Jobs and enterprise

The Survey reports an unemployment rate of 3.3% for 2023-24, with 5.2% in urban areas (down from 7.4%) and 2.1% in rural areas (down from 3.2%). The state has about 63.85 lakh MSME units employing about 2.53 crore people. Maharashtra received about 31% of India's FDI inflows between October 2019 and March 2025, according to the Survey. The Survey also cites a state industrial package with a target of ₹40 lakh crore of investment and 50 lakh jobs; the summary we saw gives only the acronym "MIISP", so the exact name of the scheme is not confirmed here.

State finances

The state's own budget for 2026-27 was presented on 6 March 2026. As analysed by PRS Legislative Research and summarised by other sources:

Item	Amount
Expenditure excluding debt repayment, 2026-27	₹7,69,467 crore (a 2% rise over the 2025-26 revised estimate)
Debt to be repaid in 2026-27	₹64,526 crore
Fiscal deficit target, 2026-27	₹1,50,491 crore (2.8% of GSDP)
Revenue deficit, 2026-27	₹40,552 crore (0.7% of GSDP)
Fiscal deficit, 2025-26	2.7% of GSDP per the Survey; 3% per the revised estimate in PRS
Debt stock	about ₹9.32 lakh crore (18.3% of GSDP) per the Survey

The Survey and the budget documents differ slightly on the 2025-26 deficit (2.7% against 3.0%); the first is an Economic Survey estimate and the second is the budget's revised estimate. Budget details and the legislative side are covered in the governance sections of this guide.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the other growth centres

The economy has several poles. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and neighbouring towns) is the finance, port and film centre. Pune and its metropolitan area, which one source puts at about 7,256 sq km and more than 7 million people, is the car, engineering and IT centre. Nagpur is the logistics and administrative hub of Vidarbha and the state's winter capital, with the MIHAN cargo airport complex. Nashik has wine, agro-processing and manufacturing. Marathwada and large parts of Vidarbha remain the less industrialised regions, and regional balance in investment is a standing policy question.

Poverty and employment structure

We have not been able to confirm a current NITI Aayog multidimensional poverty figure for Maharashtra in this check, so none is given here. Look at the latest NITI Aayog National Multidimensional Poverty Index report for the figure. Maharashtra is more urbanised than most states, and agriculture still employs a large share of workers while contributing a small share of output, which is why farm distress remains a political subject even in the richest state.

For exam preparation

• Maharashtra has the largest GSDP among Indian states; the Economic Survey 2025-26 estimates it at about ₹51 lakh crore and its share of national GDP at 14.3%.
• The Survey puts real growth for 2025-26 at 7.9% and per capita income at ₹3,47,903.
• Services contribute nearly 64% of the state economy.
• Mumbai houses the RBI headquarters, BSE (1875), NSE and SEBI.
• The 2026-27 budget targets a fiscal deficit of 2.8% of GSDP.
• Maharashtra received about 31% of India's FDI inflows from October 2019 to March 2025 (Survey).

Agriculture, forests, minerals, industry and energy

Maharashtra is a mixed farming state with low irrigation cover and heavy reliance on the monsoon. Western Maharashtra grows sugarcane under a cooperative model, Vidarbha and Marathwada grow cotton and soybean, Nashik grows grapes and onions, the Konkan grows Alphonso mangoes, and Nagpur is known for oranges. Coal, manganese, iron ore and limestone lie in the east, the tiger forests are in Vidarbha, and the industrial belt runs from Mumbai to Pune and Nashik.

Crops and farming regions

Region	Typical crops and products
Western Maharashtra (Pune, Solapur, Sangli, Satara, Ahilyanagar, Kolhapur)	Sugarcane through cooperative mills; jowar (jwari), bajra, vegetables; Sangli turmeric
Nashik division	Grapes, onions (the Lasalgaon market), pomegranate, wine grapes
Marathwada and Vidarbha	Cotton, soybean, pulses, oranges around Nagpur, rice in the east
Konkan	Rice, Alphonso mango, cashew, coconut, fisheries

The Economic Survey 2025-26 reports that the 2025 monsoon brought 109.1% of normal rainfall. For the kharif season of 2025-26 it expects cereal output to rise 10.6%, sugarcane 22% and cotton 7%, with pulses falling 28.2% and oilseeds 47.4%. For the rabi season it expects cereals up 28.3% and pulses up 29.7%, with oilseeds down 16.2%. These are estimates compared with the previous year, not final production figures. Irrigation potential actually used in 2024-25 was 50.55 lakh hectares. Older compilations put the irrigated share of the net sown area at only a small fraction (11% to 16% in different sources and years), which is why drought in Marathwada and parts of Vidarbha is a recurring concern and why the 2026-27 budget announced river-linking projects (see the schemes section).

Sugar

Maharashtra is generally ranked first or second in India for sugar, trading places with Uttar Pradesh. A report put its production at about 94 lakh tonnes in 2023-24 and a lower figure in 2024-25, when roughly 200 mills operated, about half of them cooperatives. Production dipped in 2024-25 because of a late start to crushing, more cane diverted to ethanol and lower yields (reported). The cooperative sugar factories of Western Maharashtra grew with the state's cooperative movement and shaped rural politics; the state is said to have had over 25,000 cooperative societies of all kinds by the 1990s (reported).

Fruits and horticulture

• Grapes and wine: Nashik is the main grape area. Nashik Grapes and Nashik Valley Wine (registered 2008) carry GI tags, and the district has about two dozen wineries (reported).
• Onion: Lasalgaon, in Nashik district, is the best-known onion market and the Lasalgaon onion has a GI tag.
• Alphonso mango: the GI-tagged Alphonso grows in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of the Konkan.
• Oranges: Nagpur Orange has a GI tag, and Nagpur is known as the Orange City.
• Others: Jalgaon banana, Mahabaleshwar strawberry and Sangli turmeric are GI-tagged.

Forests and wildlife

The India State of Forest Report 2023 gives Maharashtra 65,383 sq km of forest and tree cover combined, the third largest after Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh. Divided by the state's area of 3,07,713 sq km, that is about 21%, a figure we calculated and the report does not state. The state has the largest tree cover (trees outside forests) among states, at 14,524.88 sq km, and mangrove cover rose by 12.39 sq km between 2021 and 2023. The main forests are in Vidarbha in the east and along the Sahyadri (Western Ghats) in the west.

Protected areas include six national parks (Chandoli, Gugamal, Nawegaon, Sanjay Gandhi, Tadoba, Pench) and more than 40 wildlife sanctuaries (41 as of 2017, per one compilation). There are six tiger reserves:

Tiger reserve	Year notified	Area (sq km)	Note
Melghat	1974	2,768	Amravati district; one of the first nine Project Tiger reserves (reported)
Tadoba-Andhari	1993	1,728	Chandrapur district; Tadoba National Park dates from 1955
Pench	1999	741.19	Shared with Madhya Pradesh
Sahyadri	2007	1,166	Western Ghats
Navegaon-Nagzira	2013	1,895	Gondia and Bhandara area
Bor	2014	816	Wardha district

The six reserves cover about 9,113 sq km. The 2022 tiger estimate counted 444 tigers in Maharashtra, up from 312 in 2018 and 103 in 2006, which placed the state fourth in the country behind Madhya Pradesh (785), Karnataka (563) and Uttarakhand (560), according to news reports of the 2022 figures. Reserve-wise estimates reported then included Tadoba-Andhari about 112, Melghat 55, Pench 41 and Navegaon-Nagzira 12. Most of the state's tigers live in Vidarbha, reported as about 97% in 2022.

Minerals

Vidarbha holds most of the state's minerals: coal in the Nagpur and Chandrapur belt (Gondwana-age deposits near Kamptee), manganese in the eastern districts, iron ore in Gadchiroli, Chandrapur and Bhandara, and limestone in Chandrapur and nearby districts. Ilmenite occurs along the Ratnagiri coast. Offshore, Mumbai High supplies a significant part of India's crude oil. We have not confirmed current production tonnages for any mineral, so none are given.

Industry

Industry is concentrated in the Mumbai-Thane-Navi Mumbai region, the Pune corridor (Pimpri-Chinchwad, Chakan, Hinjewadi and Magarpatta) and Nashik. Main sectors are automobiles (Pune is home to Tata Motors and Bajaj), pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles, engineering, gems and jewellery, and IT and IT-enabled services. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) develops industrial estates. The Survey describes industrial growth of 5.7% for 2025-26 and a plan to cut the industrial power tariff from ₹9.45 to ₹9.14 per unit over five years.

Energy

Maharashtra's maximum electricity demand reached 30,675 MW in March 2025 (reported from the state load dispatch centre), and the state generator Mahagenco recorded its highest-ever output of 11,452 MW on 9 March 2025. Thermal plants at Chandrapur, Koradi and elsewhere form the base; the Koyna hydroelectric project in Satara (about 1,956 MW, reported) is the largest hydro station; nuclear power comes from Tarapur, with Jaitapur planned. The state is among the leading wind-power states. Renewable capacity is 14,113 MW against a target of 100 GW (Survey). A press report says the state is planning for 78,591 MW of total capacity by 2031-32; treat this as a plan, not a fact. Transmission is handled by the Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company and distribution by Mahavitaran (MSEDCL), with Tata Power and BEST serving parts of Mumbai.

For exam preparation

• Maharashtra is a leading sugar producer, trading first place with Uttar Pradesh, and the cooperative mill model is a state hallmark.
• Nashik is the grape and wine centre; Lasalgaon is the onion market; Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg grow GI-tagged Alphonso.
• Maharashtra has six tiger reserves: Melghat, Tadoba-Andhari, Pench, Sahyadri, Navegaon-Nagzira and Bor.
• The 2022 tiger estimate counted 444 tigers in the state.
• ISFR 2023 shows 65,383 sq km of forest and tree cover, third after MP and Arunachal Pradesh.
• Koyna in Satara is the state's largest hydroelectric project; Tarapur has nuclear power.

Transport and infrastructure

Maharashtra has the densest and most varied transport network of any Indian state: the country's oldest suburban railway, two major ports, several international airports and, since 2025, the full Samruddhi Mahamarg between Mumbai and Nagpur. As on October 2026, Navi Mumbai's international airport is open, Mumbai Metro Line 3 runs end to end and the Atal Setu sea bridge has been in service since January 2024.

Railways

The Central Railway and Western Railway zones have their headquarters in Mumbai. The Nagpur area falls under divisions of Central Railway and South East Central Railway. The Konkan Railway, run by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited with headquarters at CBD Belapur in Navi Mumbai, runs 756.25 km from Roha in Maharashtra to Thokur in Karnataka, of which 361 km lies in Maharashtra (Goa has 156.25 km and Karnataka 239 km). The full route was completed on 26 January 1998. It has 92 tunnels, the longest being Karbude near Ratnagiri at 6.561 km.

The first passenger train in India ran on 16 April 1853 from Bori Bunder (Mumbai) to Thane, a distance of 34 km. The Mumbai Suburban Railway has Western, Central, Harbour, Trans-Harbour and Port lines and carried about 6.2 million passengers a day in 2022-23, over 2.2 billion a year.

Roads and expressways

A compilation reports a road network of about 2.67 lakh km, the largest of any state (year not stated). The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, fully open since April 2002, was India's first controlled-access toll road.

The Samruddhi Mahamarg (Hindu Hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg) is a six-lane expressway of 701 km between Nagpur and Mumbai, built at about ₹55,000 crore and passing through 10 districts. It opened in four phases: Nagpur to Shirdi on 11 December 2022, Shirdi to Bharvir Khurd on 26 May 2023, Bharvir Khurd to Igatpuri on 4 March 2024, and the last 76 km from Igatpuri to Amane (Bhiwandi) on 5 June 2025. It cuts the Nagpur-Mumbai journey from about 18 hours to about 8. It includes a 7.8 km tunnel in the Kasara ghat, described in reports as India's longest road tunnel.

The Atal Setu (Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, officially the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu) is a 21.8 km six-lane sea bridge linking Mumbai with Navi Mumbai, opened on 12 January 2024. It cut the trip from about two hours to about 15-20 minutes. The first phase of the Mumbai Coastal Road, 10.58 km from the Princess Street flyover to the Worli end of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, was inaugurated on 11 March 2024, and a northbound bridge connecting it to the sea link opened on 27 January 2025.

Airports

The main airports are Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Mumbai), Pune Airport and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport (Nagpur). Navi Mumbai International Airport was inaugurated on 8 October 2025 and began commercial flights on 25 December 2025, when IndiGo, Air India Express and Akasa Air handled 48 flights to nine domestic destinations on the first day.

Ports

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA, Nhava Sheva) handled a record 7.3 million TEUs and 92.11 million tonnes in 2024-25, up 13.55% from 6.43 million TEUs the year before. Mumbai Port is the other major port, and the state has about 50 minor ports (reported). The Vadhavan Port near Dahanu in Palghar was approved by the Union Cabinet at a total cost of ₹76,220 crore, built by a company owned 74% by JNPA and 26% by the Maharashtra Maritime Board.

Metro and urban transport

According to a 2026 status summary, Mumbai Metro has about 90.95 km operating with 77 stations. Line 1 (Blue, Versova to Ghatkopar, 11.4 km, opened June 2014) was the first. Lines 2A and 7 opened in 2022-23. Line 3 (Aqua) is a fully underground 33.5 km line with 27 stations from Aarey JVLR to Cuffe Parade; it opened in phases in October 2024 (Aarey to BKC, 12.6 km), May 2025 (BKC to Acharya Atre Chowk, 9.7 km) and on 9 October 2025 to Cuffe Parade. Lines 2B and 9 are partly open. Pune, Nagpur and Navi Mumbai also have metro systems.

Water

The Survey reports 90.3% of rural households with tap water under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The 2026-27 budget announced river-linking plans (Wainganga-Nalganga, ₹94,968 crore; Damanganga-Vaitarna-Godavari, ₹13,497 crore); costs and timelines may change.

For exam preparation

• India's first passenger train ran from Bori Bunder to Thane on 16 April 1853.
• The Samruddhi Mahamarg is 701 km, runs from Nagpur to Mumbai and opened fully on 5 June 2025.
• Atal Setu (21.8 km) opened on 12 January 2024.
• Navi Mumbai International Airport started commercial operations on 25 December 2025.
• JNPA at Nhava Sheva is the state's largest container port; Vadhavan is the planned new major port.
• Mumbai Metro Line 3 (Aqua) is fully underground and 33.5 km long.
• The Konkan Railway runs 756.25 km from Roha to Thokur.

Culture, tribes and heritage

Maharashtra's culture rests on the Marathi language, the Bhakti saints of the Warkari tradition, the memory of Shivaji and the Maratha state, and a large tribal population in the Sahyadri and Vidarbha forests. Marathi was granted classical-language status in October 2024. The state's folk forms (Lavani, Powada, Tamasha), its saint literature, Warli art and Ganeshotsav are among its most asked-about features.

Language and literature

Marathi appears in a copper-plate inscription of 739 CE found in Satara, and Marathi-only inscriptions appear under the Shilahara rulers around the 12th century. Literary Marathi begins in the late 13th century with Dnyaneshwar (1275-1296), whose commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhavarth Deepika (Dnyaneshwari), is the first widely read Marathi work. Tukaram and Samarth Ramdas were leading poets of the 17th century. The 20th century brought modern drama and the Dalit literature movement. Four Marathi writers have received the Jnanpith Award:

Writer	Year
Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar (for Yayati)	1974
Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar "Kusumagraj"	1987
Vinda Karandikar	2003
Bhalchandra Nemade	2014

The Warkari tradition and Pandharpur

The Warkari (Varkari) movement is a Bhakti tradition centred on Vithoba (Vitthal) of Pandharpur. Its best-known saints are Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Chokhamela, Eknath and Tukaram. The annual Pandharpur Wari is a walk of about 250 km lasting about 21 days, ending at Pandharpur on Ashadhi (Shayani) Ekadashi in June-July. Sant Dnyaneshwar's palkhi (palanquin carrying the saint's padukas) leaves from Alandi and Sant Tukaram's from Dehu; walkers travel in groups called dindis. The tradition of carrying the padukas in a palkhi is traced to Tukaram's youngest son, Narayan Maharaj, in 1685. A second pilgrimage falls on Kartiki Ekadashi in autumn. About a million pilgrims are estimated to reach Pandharpur each year (reported).

Folk music, dance and theatre

• Lavani is a song-and-dance form that grew in the 17th to 19th centuries, with roots said to lie among Dhangar shepherds of Solapur and early performances for soldiers. It has two styles, Nirguni (philosophical or devotional) and Shringari (romantic), and two formats, Phadachi Lavani (staged, for large audiences) and Baithakichi Lavani (private sittings). Performers wear the nine-yard nauvari saree and keep rhythm to the dholki. It shaped Tamasha, the Marathi folk theatre, and later Marathi cinema.
• Powada is a Marathi ballad form meant to glorify heroes. Its composers and singers are called shahirs, and the professional performing community is that of the Gondhalis. The earliest well-known powada, by Agnidas, describes Shivaji's killing of Afzal Khan, and a later one by Tulsidas tells of Tanaji Malusare's capture of Sinhagad. In the Maratha period the best-known shahirs included Ram Joshi (1762-1812), Anant Phandi (1744-1819) and Honaji Bala (1754-1844). The form was later used for social messages, including during the Samyukta Maharashtra movement.
• Marathi theatre began with the public staging of Sita Swayamvar by Vishnudas Bhave in Sangli in 1843. Annasaheb Kirloskar's Shakuntal (1880) is seen as the start of Sangeet Natak (musical theatre), whose music is called Natya Sangeet; Bal Gandharva and Keshavrao Bhole were celebrated singer-actors of this era, and Khadilkar, Deval and Gadkari were leading playwrights. In the 20th century Vijay Tendulkar's Ghashiram Kotwal and P. L. Deshpande's Teen Paishacha Tamasha blended folk forms such as tamasha with modern stagecraft. Marathi Rangabhoomi Din is observed on 5 November.
• The Dhangar Gaja dance, the Koli dance of the coast and the Lezim are other well-known folk performances.

Festivals

Festival	Notes
Ganeshotsav (Ganesh Chaturthi)	The festival of the state; public celebration was popularised by Bal Gangadhar Tilak in the 1890s as a means of gathering people under colonial restrictions. It ends with immersion (visarjan) on Anant Chaturdashi. Around 1.5 lakh idols are reported immersed in Mumbai each year, and one source reports the state declared it the state festival on 10 July 2025.
Gudi Padwa	Marathi New Year, in spring.
Ashadhi and Kartiki Ekadashi	Pandharpur pilgrimages.
Nashik Kumbh Mela	Held every 12 years at Nashik (and Trimbak).
Pola	Bullock-honouring festival of the farming year (not verified in this check).
Marathi Rangabhoomi Din (5 November)	Observed for Marathi theatre.

Samyukta Maharashtra and the cultural identity

The Samyukta Maharashtra movement for a Marathi-speaking state, which led to the formation of the state in 1960, used powadas and street theatre as tools. The history of the movement is covered in the political sections of this guide; its cultural effect was to make Marathi, Mumbai's place in the state and the memory of Shivaji central to the state's public identity.

Cuisine and dress

Popular vegetarian dishes include batata vada, vada pav, puran poli, ukdiche modak, sabudana khichdi, pav bhaji and masala bhat. The non-vegetarian specialities are Kolhapuri and Vidarbha (Saoji) preparations. Traditional dress for women is the nauvari saree, and for men the dhoti with a pheta (turban).

Tribes

Under Census 2011 Maharashtra has 45 Scheduled Tribes with 105.10 lakh people, 9.35% of the state's population, the second-largest ST population among states after Madhya Pradesh and about a tenth of India's total. The state's Tribal Sub Plan area covers 50,757 sq km (16.5% of the state), served by 29 Integrated Tribal Development Project offices. Three groups are Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs): Kolam, Katkari and Madia Gond.

Tribe	Main areas	Notes
Bhil (including Pardhi Bhil and Kokna sub-groups)	Nandurbar, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nashik	Largest ST in the state, about 25.9 lakh in Census 2011 (reported)
Gond (Raj, Madia, Dorla and others)	Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Gondia, Nagpur, Bhandara, Yavatmal	Largest forest tribe of the east; see also Chhattisgarh
Mahadeo Koli, Thakur	Sahyadri districts, Thane, Palghar, Nashik	One of the main western tribes
Warli	Palghar, Thane, Nashik	Known for Warli painting
Katkari (PVTG)	Raigad, Palghar, Thane, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg	Traditionally forest-based
Kolam (PVTG)	Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Nanded, Wardha
Pawra	Nandurbar and north	Listed as a main tribe by the tribal department

Art, craft and GI tags

Warli painting comes from the Warli people of the northern Sahyadri (Palghar, Dahanu, Talasari). It uses white rice-flour paste on mud-plastered hut walls. The circle (sun and moon), triangle (mountains and trees) and square (sacred space, the chauk) are the basic shapes, with a mother goddess painted inside the square. Jivya Soma Mashe is called its modern father because in the 1970s he took it from ritual walls to paper and canvas. Warli painting has a GI tag.

Maharashtra has a long list of GI-registered products, though counts vary by source and date (reports range from 33 to 55), so no total is given here. Examples verified in this check:

• Agriculture: Alphonso mango, Nagpur Orange, Nashik Grapes, Lasalgaon Onion, Sangli Turmeric, Mahabaleshwar Strawberry, Jalgaon Banana, Ajara Ghansal Rice, Waigaon Turmeric.
• Food and drink: Kolhapur Jaggery (2011), Kunthalgiri Khawa (2022), Nashik Valley Wine (2008).
• Handicrafts: Kolhapuri Chappal, Paithani Sarees, Warli Painting, Solapur Chaddar, Miraj Tanpura, Sawantwadi Wooden Craft.

Cinema

Mumbai's Hindi film industry is among the most prolific in the world, and Marathi cinema is described as the oldest film industry in India. Dadasaheb Phalke's Raja Harishchandra (1913) is widely recognised as India's first full-length feature film, though some historians give that place to Dadasaheb Torne's Shree Pundalik (1912). Ayodhyecha Raja was the first Marathi talkie, a year after Hindi cinema's first sound film Alam Ara (1931). V. Shantaram's Pinjara (1972) was the first Marathi film shot in colour, and Sairat (2016) is reported as the first Marathi film to earn over ₹100 crore worldwide. Shwaas (2004) and Harishchandrachi Factory (2009) were India's Oscar submissions. The film Natarang is often cited for bringing Lavani to modern audiences.

For exam preparation

• Marathi received classical-language status in October 2024.
• Dnyaneshwar (1275-1296) wrote the Bhavarth Deepika, the first widely read Marathi work.
• The Pandharpur Wari ends on Ashadhi Ekadashi; palkhis start from Alandi (Dnyaneshwar) and Dehu (Tukaram).
• Four Marathi writers have won the Jnanpith: Khandekar (1974), Shirwadkar (1987), Karandikar (2003) and Nemade (2014).
• Kolam, Katkari and Madia Gond are the state's PVTGs.
• Sita Swayamvar (1843) was the first public Marathi play; Kirloskar's Shakuntal (1880) began Sangeet Natak.
• Raja Harishchandra (1913) by Dadasaheb Phalke is widely recognised as India's first full-length feature film.
• Warli painting uses white rice paste on mud walls and has a GI tag.

Tourism and places of interest

Maharashtra has five groups of UNESCO World Heritage listings (Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco ensembles of Mumbai), plus the Maratha Military Landscapes added in July 2025 and part of the Western Ghats. It also has hill stations, beaches, forts, tiger reserves and four of the 12 Jyotirlinga temples by one count. One compilation placed the state second among states for foreign visitors and fifth for domestic visitors in 2021.

World Heritage sites

Site	Year	Notes
Ajanta Caves	1983	30 rock-cut Buddhist caves near Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE, on the Waghur river; found in April 1819 by a British officer; caves 1, 2, 16 and 17 hold the largest corpus of surviving ancient Indian wall paintings, mostly Jataka tales.
Ellora Caves	1983	34 caves, 12 Buddhist (1-12), 17 Hindu (13-29) and 5 Jain (30-34), cut between about 600 and 1000 CE; Cave 16, the Kailasa temple, is a monolith attributed to Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (756-773).
Elephanta Caves	1987	On Gharapuri island, about 10 km east of Mumbai, reached by ferry from the Gateway of India; Shiva temples of the 5th-9th centuries with a 7 m Trimurti.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CSMT)	2004	Victorian Gothic railway station in Mumbai (criteria ii and iv).
Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai	2018	Buildings around the Oval Maidan and the Art Deco blocks along Marine Drive.
Western Ghats (Kaas Plateau among the components)	2012	Natural site spanning several states.
Maratha Military Landscapes of India	2025	Inscribed at the 47th World Heritage Committee session in Paris in July 2025, India's 44th property; 12 forts, of which 11 are in Maharashtra: Salher, Shivneri, Lohgad, Khanderi, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala, Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg (Gingee in Tamil Nadu is the twelfth).

Forts

Besides the UNESCO-listed forts, Daulatabad (near Ellora) and Shaniwar Wada in Pune (built 1730 under the Peshwas) are major heritage sites. Raigad, Shivaji's capital, and Shivneri, his birthplace, are on the UNESCO list.

Wildlife and wetlands

Tadoba-Andhari (Chandrapur) covers 1,727.59 sq km and was a 116.54 sq km national park from 1955; Andhari Sanctuary was added in 1986 and the two were merged in 1995. Sanjay Gandhi National Park inside Mumbai covers 103.84 sq km and includes the 2,400-year-old Kanheri Caves, and is known for a dense leopard population. The state has three Ramsar wetlands: Nandur Madhameshwar (designated 21 June 2019, 14 sq km), Lonar Lake (22 July 2020, 4.27 sq km, formed by a meteorite impact) and Thane Creek (designation date not confirmed here).

Pilgrimage sites

• Pandharpur: the Vithoba temple, the destination of the Wari.
• Shirdi: the Sai Baba shrine, reported to see about 25,000 pilgrims a day on average.
• Jyotirlingas: Bhimashankar, Trimbakeshwar (Nashik), Grishneshwar (near Ellora) and Parli Vaijnath are listed by the source we used; Aundha Nagnath in Hingoli is also claimed as a Jyotirlinga.
• Others: Tuljapur, Kolhapur (Mahalakshmi), Jejuri (Khandoba), the Ashtavinayak circuit around Pune, Hazur Sahib in Nanded (Sikh), Deekshabhoomi in Nagpur (where B. R. Ambedkar and his followers took Buddhism in 1956), and the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai.

Hill stations and other places

The Sahyadri hill stations include Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani, Lonavala, Khandala, Matheran, Amboli, Igatpuri and Jawhar, and Chikhaldara in Vidarbha. Nashik has wine tourism and hosts the Kumbh. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar is called the tourism capital of the state and has Bibi ka Maqbara and Daulatabad. Mumbai has the Gateway of India, Marine Drive and the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. Nagpur is the gateway to Tadoba, Pench and Melghat and has the Zero Mile Stone marking India's geographic centre.

For exam preparation

• Ajanta and Ellora (1983), Elephanta (1987) and CSMT (2004) are the older World Heritage sites; Mumbai's Victorian Gothic and Art Deco ensembles came in 2018.
• The Maratha Military Landscapes were inscribed in July 2025: 12 forts, 11 of them in Maharashtra.
• Ajanta is Buddhist; Ellora has Buddhist, Hindu and Jain caves; the Kailasa temple is Cave 16.
• Lonar Lake and Nandur Madhameshwar are Ramsar sites.
• Sanjay Gandhi National Park lies inside Mumbai and contains the Kanheri Caves.
• Nagpur's Zero Mile Stone marks India's geographic centre.

Education, health, sports and personalities

Maharashtra has one of India's oldest modern education systems and a high concentration of premier institutions in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. Census 2011 recorded literacy of about 82.3%, and one compilation gives a higher recent figure of 87.3% for 2024 whose source we could not confirm. The Economic Survey 2025-26 counts 87 universities and 5,579 colleges.

Schools and universities

Item	Figure (Economic Survey 2025-26)
Primary schools	about 1.04 lakh, with 145 lakh students
Secondary schools	29,641, with 63.6 lakh students
Universities	87
Colleges	5,579, with 45.31 lakh enrolled

Historic institutions

• University of Mumbai (1857), one of India's oldest universities.
• College of Engineering Pune (1854), among the oldest engineering colleges in Asia.
• Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (1821).
• SNDT Women's University (1916), the oldest women's university in South Asia by one description.
• Savitribai Phule Pune University, established 10 February 1949 as the University of Poona and renamed in 2014; about 411 acres at Ganeshkhind, with 46 departments and (reported) 612 affiliated colleges.
• Tata Institute of Social Sciences (1936, Asia's oldest school of professional social work, deemed university 1964) and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (founded 1 June 1945 by Homi Bhabha, deemed university 2002).

Premier institutions

Institution	Facts
IIT Bombay	Established 1958 in Powai, the second IIT; set up with UNESCO support and Soviet funding; named an Institution of Eminence in 2018.
IIM Nagpur	Established 2015; temporary campus at VNIT, permanent 132-acre MIHAN campus inaugurated May 2022.
AIIMS Nagpur	Established 6 September 2018 at MIHAN as one of the four Phase-IV AIIMS announced in 2014.
VNIT Nagpur	National Institute of Technology in Nagpur.
IISER Pune	Established 2006; an Institute of National Importance.
Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai	Founded 1 October 1933 as the University Department of Chemical Technology; deemed university from 12 September 2008, described as the only state-funded deemed university; a second campus at Jalna (Marathwada) with a foundation stone laid 4 May 2018.
IIM Mumbai	Established 1963 as NITIE at Powai; became the 21st IIM by an Act of Parliament in 2023 (formally from 11 August 2023).
TIFR, Mumbai	Basic-research institute at Colaba founded in 1945 by Homi Bhabha with Tata support; the atomic research centre at Trombay was renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre after his death in 1966.
Armed Forces Medical College, Pune	Military medical college.

Health

We could not confirm current infant mortality, maternal mortality, life expectancy, hospital-bed or medical-college counts for the state in this check, and none are given. See the latest NFHS-5 and Sample Registration System releases. One compilation lists a Human Development Index of 0.792 (High) for 2023, ranked 14th among states, but another source ranks the state ninth; treat the rank as unconfirmed. The state's public health insurance scheme is described in the schemes section, and the Survey reports about 8.75 lakh urban and 16.05 lakh rural homes completed under PMAY, which bears on living conditions. Tata Memorial and JJ Hospital in Mumbai are well-known referral institutions, but we did not check figures for them.

Sports

Cricket is the most popular spectator sport, and kabaddi and kho kho are strong in rural areas. Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai hosted the 2011 Cricket World Cup final, the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune is an international venue, and the Mahindra Hockey Stadium in Mumbai hosted the 1982 men's Hockey World Cup. The Mumbai team has won 40 Ranji Trophy titles and 16 Irani Trophy titles (reported, as on the compilation used), and Mumbai Indians were one of the eight founding franchises of the IPL in 2008. Mallakhamb (pole gymnastics) was developed in Pune by Balambhat Deodhar under Peshwa patronage, and Kolhapur district is a wrestling centre; the Maharashtra Kesari and Hind Kesari wrestling championships are held in the state. The Maharashtra Open (ATP 250) is played in Pune, the Mumbai Marathon dates from 2004 and the Pune International Marathon from 1983. K. D. Jadhav from Goleshwar village near Karad in Satara won a bronze medal in freestyle bantamweight (57 kg) wrestling at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the first individual Olympic medal for independent India.

Historic personalities

Name	Known for
Chhatrapati Shivaji	Founder of the Maratha state; born at Shivneri fort
Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath, Tukaram	Warkari saints and poets
Samarth Ramdas	17th-century poet-saint
Bal Gangadhar Tilak	Nationalist leader; popularised public Ganeshotsav
B. R. Ambedkar	Led the 1956 conversion to Buddhism at Nagpur
K. D. Jadhav	1952 Olympic bronze medallist
Homi J. Bhabha	Born in Bombay in 1909; founded TIFR and was the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1948)
Dadasaheb Phalke	Maker of Raja Harishchandra (1913)
Annasaheb Kirloskar	Author of Shakuntal (1880), which began Sangeet Natak
Vijay Tendulkar, P. L. Deshpande	Playwrights of Ghashiram Kotwal and Teen Paishacha Tamasha
V. S. Khandekar, Kusumagraj, Vinda Karandikar, Bhalchandra Nemade	Jnanpith-winning writers

For exam preparation

• IIT Bombay (1958) was the second IIT; IIM Nagpur (2015) and AIIMS Nagpur (2018) are at MIHAN.
• The University of Mumbai was founded in 1857.
• ICT Mumbai began as UDCT in 1933 and became a deemed university in 2008.
• K. D. Jadhav won India's first individual Olympic medal after independence (bronze, 1952).
• Census 2011 literacy of Maharashtra was about 82.3%.
• TIFR (1945) and TISS (1936) are in Mumbai; IIM Mumbai was NITIE until 2023.
• Wankhede Stadium hosted the 2011 World Cup final; Mallakhamb was developed in Pune.

Government schemes

Maharashtra's schemes mix large cash transfers and farm subsidies with central programmes. Amounts below are from the Economic Survey 2025-26 and the 2026-27 budget as reported, and eligibility rules change; check the latest government notice before applying. As on October 2026.

Scheme	What it does	Figures
Mukhya Mantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana	Monthly cash support to women of eligible families (₹1,500 a month and an age band of roughly 21-65 reported at launch; not re-verified)	2.53 crore beneficiaries; ₹33,232 crore paid; ₹26,500 crore in the 2026-27 budget (₹36,000 crore allocated for 2025-26)
Mukhyamantri Baliraja Mofat Veej Yojana	Free electricity for farm pumps	₹23,000 crore in the 2026-27 budget
Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar Farmers' Loan Waiver	Waives crop loans up to ₹2 lakh per farmer (extra ₹50,000 for timely repayers), for loans taken up to 30 September 2025	Announced in the 2026-27 budget, as reported
Shiv Bhojan	Subsidised meals	over 4 crore meals served (Survey, as reported)
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana	Cashless hospital insurance; started in 8 districts in July 2012 and extended to all districts by November 2015	The original cover was ₹1.5 lakh a family; the current cover is not confirmed here
Housing (PMAY)	Urban and rural homes	8.75 lakh urban and 16.05 lakh rural units completed (Survey)
Jal Jeevan Mission	Tap water to rural households	90.3% coverage (Survey)

Central schemes such as PM-KISAN and Ayushman Bharat also apply in the state; check the central portals for their rules.

How to read these numbers

Allocation, amount paid and beneficiaries are three different figures. The Survey's ₹33,232 crore for Ladki Bahin is the cumulative stipend paid up to the Survey's cut-off date, ₹36,000 crore was the 2025-26 allocation, and ₹26,500 crore is the 2026-27 budget allocation. The lower 2026-27 figure should not be read as a cancellation; the Survey figures we saw give no reason for it, and we have not checked whether eligibility was tightened. The budget summary we used lists the Baliraja scheme (₹23,000 crore) and a separate "free electricity for farmers" line (₹20,000 crore); they may overlap, so do not add them. Details of the farm-loan waiver (the list of eligible loans and the repayment bonus) should be read from the government order. Scheme names often change when governments change, which is a reason to confirm the current name before an exam answer.

For exam preparation

• The Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana is the state's women's cash-transfer scheme, with about 2.53 crore beneficiaries reported by the Survey.
• The Baliraja scheme gives free electricity to farmers.
• The Phule Jan Arogya Yojana began in 2012 in eight districts.
• The 2026-27 budget announced a crop-loan waiver of up to ₹2 lakh named for Ahilyadevi Holkar.
• Shiv Bhojan serves subsidised meals; over 4 crore were reported served.

Government exams in Maharashtra

Government recruitment in Maharashtra runs through a few large channels. The Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) selects officers for Class I and II posts and, more and more, for Group B and Group C posts through combined exams. The Police Headquarters recruits constables through its own online recruitment portal. The Revenue Department's Talathi post has moved under the MPSC in the latest cycle. The Maharashtra State Council of Examination in Pune runs the teacher eligibility test (TET) and the teacher aptitude test (TAIT), and the High Court recruits its own staff. Vacancy numbers, dates and age rules change with each notification, so treat every figure below as a pointer. Where a figure came from an exam-preparation website rather than the official notice, the text says "reported". As on 4 October 2026, the MPSC website would not open its content for us, so no figure below is confirmed against an official notice.

Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC)

The MPSC is a constitutional body set up under Article 315. Its office is at CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai, and its official languages are Marathi and English. It conducts recruitment exams, applies the state's reservation rules and advises the government on recruitment rules and service matters. Its work for aspirants falls into three tracks: Rajyaseva (the State Services), the Group B combined exam and the Group C combined exam. Our Maharashtra government jobs page tracks open notifications.

Rajyaseva (State Services). The exam fills Group A and B gazetted posts such as Deputy Collector, Deputy Superintendent of Police and Block Development Officer. The latest cycle was notified on 24 December 2025, according to one exam site, with 87 posts reported (79 State Services posts and 8 Maharashtra Veterinary Services posts). Prelims were reported for 31 May 2026. One search summary listed Mains dates in October 2026, which we could not confirm. The reported pattern is:

Stage	Reported pattern
Prelims	Two objective papers of 200 marks each. Paper 1 is General Studies (100 questions, 2 hours) with one-fourth negative marking. Paper 2 is aptitude (80 questions, 2 hours) and is qualifying at 33%. Only Paper 1 counts for the Mains cut-off.
Mains	Nine descriptive papers. Marathi and English language papers (300 marks each) are qualifying. Merit papers: Essay, four General Studies papers and two optional papers, 250 marks each, for 1,750 marks.
Interview	275 marks. Merit is Mains plus interview, 2,025 marks in all.

One source reports that the commission announced on 25 June 2026 that the optional subject will be dropped from 2027. We found it in only one place, so check the commission's notice before you drop the optional from your plan. Age limit and attempts are covered in the next section.

Group B combined exam (Assistant Section Officer, State Tax Inspector, Police Sub-Inspector). The 2026 cycle was reported as notified on 9 April 2026, with applications from 10 to 30 April 2026 and a Prelims on 14 June 2026. The reported vacancies are 552: Assistant Section Officer 6, State Tax Inspector 236 and Police Sub-Inspector 310. A graduate degree and knowledge of Marathi are required. The reported pattern:

Stage	Reported pattern
Prelims	One objective paper, 100 questions, 100 marks, 1 hour, in Marathi and English.
Mains	Two objective papers, 400 marks in all. Paper 1 (200 marks): Marathi 100, English 60, General Knowledge 40. Paper 2 (200 marks): General Ability and subject-specific questions. Reported negative marking is 0.25 per wrong answer.
Physical test (Police Sub-Inspector only)	100 marks, qualifying; a score of 60 is reported as the pass mark. Minimum height 165 cm for men and 157 cm for women, as reported.
Interview (Police Sub-Inspector only)	40 marks.

The Sub-Inspector is thus picked by the MPSC, not the Police Headquarters. Age for the Sub-Inspector post is reported as 19 to 31 for the open category, and for the other two posts 18 to 38.

Group C combined exam (Clerk-Typist, Tax Assistant and others). The 2025 cycle was reported as notified on 30 September 2025, with applications from 7 to 27 October 2025. Posts include Clerk-Typist, Tax Assistant, Industry Inspector, Technical Assistant and Bailiff and Clerk. Counts differ by source: one lists 938 posts at the start (Clerk-Typist 852, Tax Assistant 73, Industry Inspector 9, Technical Assistant 4), another lists 1,741 after revision. Prelims were reported for 4 to 11 January 2026 and Mains for 29 March to 26 April 2026. The pattern is a 100-mark Prelims, a 400-mark Mains and, for Clerk-Typist and Tax Assistant, a typing test of 30 words per minute in Marathi or 40 in English.

Maharashtra Police Bharti (constable)

Constable recruitment is run by the police department through an online recruitment portal (policerecruitment2025.mahait.org), not through the MPSC. The 2025 drive was reported as about 15,631 vacancies across Police Constable, Police Constable Driver, Bandsman, SRPF Armed Police Constable and Prison Constable. Applications were reported from 29 October to 30 November 2025. We could not open the portal itself because its security certificate had expired when we tried, so these figures are secondary.

Item	Reported detail
Qualification	Class 12 for constable, SRPF, prison and driver posts (driver also needs a licence); Class 10 for Bandsman.
Age (as on 30 November 2025)	Constable and Bandsman 18 to 28 (open), 18 to 33 (reserved); Driver 19 to 28 and 19 to 33; SRPF 18 to 25 and 18 to 30.
Physical test	50 marks: 1600 m run (men) or 800 m run (women) 20 marks, 100 m run 15 marks, shot put 15 marks. At least 50% needed.
Written test	100 questions, 100 marks, 90 minutes: arithmetic, general knowledge and current affairs, intellectual test, Marathi grammar. 40% is reported as the minimum.
Next stages	Document verification and medical test.

Talathi (Gram Mahsul Adhikari)

The Talathi is the village-level revenue officer. In 2023 the Revenue Department advertised 4,644 posts (later reported as 4,793), and the written exam ran from 17 August to 14 September 2023. The pattern then was 100 questions for 200 marks: Marathi, English, general knowledge and an intellectual test, 50 marks each. The qualification was a graduate degree with a computer certificate and Marathi.

The 2026 round is different. The post is now reported under the name Gram Mahsul Adhikari (Talathi), Group C, with 1,539 posts, recruited by the MPSC rather than the department. One source says it is part of the MPSC Group C combined Prelims 2026 (advertisement 017/2026) with 5,707 Group C vacancies in total. An OMR-based Prelims was reported for 25 October 2026. The application deadline appears as 5 August 2026 on one site and 10 August on another. Age is reported as 18 to 38 for open candidates and up to 43 for reserved.

Teacher recruitment: MAHA TET, TAIT and the Pavitra portal

The MAHA TET is conducted by the Maharashtra State Council of Examination, Pune. The 2025 edition was reported for 23 November 2025: Paper 1 (classes 1 to 5) in the morning and Paper 2 (classes 6 to 8) in the afternoon, each of 150 questions and 150 marks in 2 hours 30 minutes. Sources disagree on whether it was computer-based or pen-and-paper. The general-category pass mark is reported as 60% (90 of 150), the SC mark as 55%, and the certificate as valid for life.

The TAIT (Teacher Aptitude and Intelligence Test) is the score used for filling teacher posts. For the 2025 round, 2,28,808 candidates were reported as registered and 2,11,308 as appearing. Sources give different date ranges for the test, so we do not state them. Selection runs on the Pavitra portal: candidates fill preferences, merit lists are published and appointments are made by the school's management. A news report dated 27 August 2026 says 13,119 candidates were recommended against 19,754 advertised non-interview vacancies, in a drive of 30,209 posts across Zilla Parishad, municipal, tribal and private aided schools.

The MAH-CET is different: it is an admission test, not a recruitment exam. The State CET Cell, set up under Section 10 of the Maharashtra Unaided Private Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admissions and Fees) Act, 2015, runs entrance tests for engineering, MBA, law, agriculture, pharmacy and similar courses.

Zilla Parishad recruitment

Zilla Parishads, the district-level rural bodies, recruit Group C posts such as Health Worker, Pharmacist, Laboratory Technician, Junior Engineer, Gram Sevak, Junior Assistant and Junior Accounts Officer. The 2023 drive was reported at about 18,939 posts (another site says 19,460) across the districts, with applications from 5 to 25 August 2023. We could not confirm a newer statewide advertisement or the exam agency, so check the district's Zilla Parishad site.

Bombay High Court

The High Court has its principal seat in Mumbai and benches at Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. It recruits its own non-judicial staff. The notification of 9 December 2025 was reported for 2,381 posts: Clerk 1,382, Peon 887, Driver 37, Stenographer (Lower Grade) 56 and Stenographer (Higher Grade) 19, with a Clerk screening test on 26 April 2026. The Clerk screening paper is reported as 90 questions for 90 marks in 60 minutes (English 20, Marathi 10, general knowledge 10, general intelligence 20, arithmetic 20, computer 10), with 45 marks to qualify. It is followed by a typing test, an interview, document verification and a medical check. Graduate Clerk candidates need typing of 40 words per minute in English and 30 in Marathi, and the age limit is reported as 18 to 38 (43 for reserved). We could not confirm the result.

For exam preparation

• The MPSC is a constitutional body under Article 315, based at CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai.
• Rajyaseva Prelims has two 200-mark papers; the aptitude paper is qualifying at 33%.
• Rajyaseva Mains has 1,750 marks and the interview 275 marks, as reported.
• The Group B combined exam recruits the Assistant Section Officer, State Tax Inspector and Police Sub-Inspector.
• Constables are recruited by the police department: a 50-mark physical test and a 100-mark written test.
• The MAHA TET has 150 questions in 150 marks per paper, and the certificate is reported as valid for life.

Domicile, reservation and recruitment rules

In Maharashtra recruitment, being a resident of the state changes whether you can claim reservation and age relaxation. The state has one of the most layered quota systems in the country, with a disputed Maratha quota on top of it, so read this section with the notification of the exam you are targeting in hand. We could not open an official government order on domicile for this guide, so the domicile points below are reported.

Domicile and language

A Maharashtra domicile certificate is reported to need 15 years of residence in the state, with other routes such as parents being long-term residents, and it is issued by the tehsildar or collector, with an online route through the Aaple Sarkar portal. These come from a search summary, so confirm them on the government portal. An exam-prep source says only Maharashtra residents get age relaxation and reservation in MPSC exams; candidates from other states compete as open category. Marathi knowledge is reported as mandatory for the Group B and C combined exams, and the papers include Marathi language sections. The Rajyaseva Mains has a qualifying Marathi paper, as reported.

Reservation in state services

The Maharashtra State Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Special Backward Category and Other Backward Classes) Act, 2001 sets the quota in direct recruitment. We read the printed Act (as modified up to 29 October 2012).

Category	Share of vacancies
Scheduled Castes	13%
Scheduled Tribes	7%
De-notified Tribes (A), Vimukta Jati	3%
Nomadic Tribes (B)	2.5%
Nomadic Tribes (C)	3.5%
Nomadic Tribes (D)	2%
Special Backward Category	2%
Other Backward Classes	19%
Total	52%

The Act allows the state to set the quota on the basis of the latest census population, and it applies the creamy-layer principle to all categories except SC and ST. The four De-notified and Nomadic Tribe categories are inter-transferable if suitable candidates are not found. Unfilled reserved vacancies carry forward for up to five years in direct recruitment and three years in promotion. It also continues extra ST reservation for Group C and D posts in eight districts, including Thane, Nashik and Gadchiroli.

On top of the 52%, the 10% EWS quota for economically weaker sections took effect in Maharashtra on 1 February 2019. A news report from the time says it covers government jobs, state-run bodies and local bodies as well as colleges.

The Maratha quota (as on 4 October 2026)

Step	What was reported
2018	The state passed an SEBC Act giving Marathas a separate quota (16% as passed; later reported as 12 to 13% after the High Court).
May 2021	A Supreme Court Constitution Bench struck down the 2018 quota because it broke the 50% ceiling of the 1992 Indra Sawhney judgment. A curative petition was reported as pending.
20 February 2024	The legislature passed the Maharashtra State Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act, 2024, giving Marathas 10% in jobs and education.
2025 to 2026	The Bombay High Court is hearing petitions against the 2024 Act. Two benches were reconstituted, and a third three-judge bench was reported to start hearing afresh from 9 October 2026. One report said the High Court declined to grant interim relief against the Act in 2025.
2 September 2025	A state government order on the Hyderabad Gazetteer set up a way for Marathas with documents showing Kunbi ancestry to get Kunbi caste certificates, which brings OBC benefits. OBC groups protested, and the High Court was reported as declining a temporary stay.

What this means for you: the SEBC quota is tied to the final High Court outcome, and a candidate cannot claim both EWS and SEBC. We did not find the quota's current roster share in any particular recruitment, so rely on the vacancy table in each notification. The combined total is reported as about 62%, above the 50% ceiling.

Age and attempts

Reported age limits, with relaxations, are the same pattern across most exams:

• Rajyaseva 2026 (as on 1 February 2026): open and EWS 19 to 38, SC and ST up to 43, OBC up to 41 and persons with benchmark disability up to 48, per one source. A second source says reserved categories get 5 extra years, which would be 43, and persons with disability 7 years. Two sources disagree on the OBC and disability limits.
• Group C 2025: general 38, reserved 43, persons with disability 45 (as on 1 February 2026).
• Group B 2026: Assistant Section Officer and State Tax Inspector 18 to 38; Police Sub-Inspector 19 to 31 (as on 1 August 2026).
• Talathi 2023: 19 to 38 open, up to 43 reserved; relaxations of 5 years for backward classes and sportspersons and 7 years for project-affected, earthquake-affected and disabled candidates.
• One exam site says the attempt limit for the combined exams is 6 for the open category, 9 for OBC and none for SC and ST. Another says there is no fixed limit as long as the age limit is met. We could not resolve this, so check the notification.

Selection stages and vacancy cycles

Rajyaseva is Prelims, Mains and Interview. Group B is Prelims, Mains and, for Sub-Inspectors, a physical test and interview. Group C is Prelims, Mains and a typing or skill test. Police constables go through a physical test, a written test and document verification. We could not confirm a fixed annual calendar for MPSC notifications.

For exam preparation

• The state-services quota Act of 2001 gives SC 13%, ST 7%, DT(A) 3%, NT(B) 2.5%, NT(C) 3.5%, NT(D) 2%, SBC 2% and OBC 19%, a total of 52%.
• The 10% EWS quota took effect in Maharashtra on 1 February 2019.
• The 2018 Maratha quota was struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2021.
• The SEBC Act, 2024 (passed 20 February 2024) gives Marathas 10% and is under challenge in the Bombay High Court.
• Unfilled reserved vacancies carry forward for five years in direct recruitment.
• Reservation and age relaxation in MPSC exams are reported to be limited to Maharashtra residents.

How to use this guide for exam preparation

Maharashtra GK shows up in the MPSC Prelims, in the Group B and C papers, in the Talathi and police papers and in the Zilla Parishad exams. The Marathi language and grammar sections in these papers are as important as GK, so give them a fixed slot in every week.

Which sections to prioritise

Section of this guide	Why it matters	Typical question
History	Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Bombay State, formation in 1960	Dates, firsts and the leaders of the movement
Geography	Rivers, Sahyadri, national parks, tiger reserves, soils	Which river, park or soil belongs where
Administration	36 districts, 6 divisions, the two capitals	Counting and naming questions
Government and politics	Vidhan Sabha, Vidhan Parishad, High Court, reservation	Seat counts, articles and body structure
Economy	GSDP rank, crops, ports, financial hub	Rank and only/first questions
Exams and reservation	This section	Quota percentages and age rules

A four-week plan

• Week 1, history and administration. Read the formation story, the districts and divisions, and the legislature. Memorise 36 districts, 6 divisions and the seat numbers (288, 78, 48, 19).
• Week 2, geography. Rivers, Sahyadri, parks and tiger reserves, soils and climate. Draw a blank map and label it twice.
• Week 3, economy, culture and schemes. Crops, ports, industries and the main schemes, then revise the reservation percentages from the table above.
• Week 4, tests and revision. Run the rapid-fire table, then take full mocks in the online test series. Check the state's open jobs on the Maharashtra government jobs page.

Common traps

• MPSC versus police. The Sub-Inspector is an MPSC Group B post; constables come through the police department's portal.
• Talathi. The post is now reported to be under the MPSC with a new name, not the old Revenue Department exam.
• Reservation numbers. The Act's total is 52%; EWS (10%) and the SEBC quota (10%) are separate and disputed or added on top.
• Reported figures. Vacancy counts differ across sites. Use the notification, not a coaching website.
• Neighbouring states. Do not mix Maharashtra facts with those in our guides on Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh.
• Capitals. Mumbai is the capital and Nagpur holds the winter session.

Rapid-fire facts

Each row below comes from a source we opened (listed in the last section). Exam figures labelled "reported" come from secondary sites. A few facts we could not confirm are listed in the verification section rather than here.

Fact	Answer
Date of formation	1 May 1960
Carved out of	Bombay State
Neighbour formed the same day	Gujarat
Maharashtra Day	1 May
Movement for a Marathi-speaking state	Samyukta Maharashtra movement (1956 to 1960)
Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti founded	6 February 1956, Pune (reported)
Memorial for the movement's martyrs	Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai (formerly Flora Fountain)
Bilingual Bombay State came from	States Reorganisation Act, 1956
Capital	Mumbai
Winter capital	Nagpur
Winter session venue	Vidhan Bhavan, Nagpur
Number of districts	36 (as on 4 October 2026)
Districts at formation	26
Latest district created	Palghar, 1 August 2014
Number of divisions	6
Divisions	Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati, Nagpur
Districts in Konkan division	7
Districts in Aurangabad division	8
Districts in Nagpur division	6
Districts in Pune, Nashik and Amravati divisions	5 each
Most populous district (Census 2011)	Pune
Least populous district (Census 2011)	Gadchiroli
Smallest district by area	Mumbai City
Area	307,713 sq km, third largest state
Vidhan Sabha seats	288
Vidhan Parishad seats	78
Legislature type	Bicameral
Lok Sabha seats	48
Rajya Sabha seats	19
Rajya Sabha seats since	1960
Vidhan Parishad election method	Single transferable vote
Vidhan Sabha election method	First past the post
State animal	Indian giant squirrel
State bird	Yellow-footed green pigeon
State flower	Jarul
State tree	Mango
Longest river	Godavari
Highest peak	Kalsubai, 1,646 m
Western Ghats are called locally	Sahyadri
Main plateau	Deccan
Typical soil of the semi-arid region	Regur (black cotton soil)
Number of national parks (reported)	6
Parks named in our source	Chandoli, Gugamal, Navegaon, Pench, Sanjay Gandhi (Borivali), Tadoba-Andhari
Tiger reserves named in our source	Tadoba-Andhari, Melghat, Nagzira, Sahyadri, Bor, Pench
Financial capital	Mumbai
Hosts the RBI, BSE and NSE	Mumbai
Biggest container port	JNPT
Number-one economy rank	Maharashtra (estimated GSDP for 2026, reported)
Share of services in GSDP	About 60% (reported)
Auto manufacturing centre	Pune
High Court established	14 August 1862
High Court principal seat	Mumbai
High Court benches	Nagpur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Panaji; Kolhapur (reported 2025)
MPSC set up under	Article 315
MPSC headquarters	CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai
MPSC official languages	Marathi and English
Rajyaseva stages	Prelims, Mains, Interview
Rajyaseva Prelims	Two papers, 200 marks each
Rajyaseva aptitude paper qualifying mark (reported)	33%
Rajyaseva Mains merit marks (reported)	1,750
Rajyaseva interview marks (reported)	275
Rajyaseva 2026 posts (reported)	87 (79 + 8 veterinary)
Group B 2026 posts (reported)	552
Group B 2026 Police Sub-Inspector posts (reported)	310
Group B Prelims	100 marks, 1 hour
Group B Mains	400 marks, two papers
Sub-Inspector physical test marks (reported)	100, qualifying
Sub-Inspector interview marks (reported)	40
Sub-Inspector minimum height (reported)	165 cm men, 157 cm women
Group C 2025 Mains marks (reported)	400
Group C typing speed (reported)	30 wpm Marathi or 40 wpm English
Talathi 2023 initial posts (reported)	4,644
Talathi 2023 paper	100 questions, 200 marks
Talathi 2026 posts (reported)	1,539 under the MPSC
Constable drive 2025 posts (reported)	15,631
Constable physical test (reported)	50 marks
Constable written test (reported)	100 marks, 90 minutes
Constable open age (reported)	18 to 28
High Court staff drive posts (reported)	2,381
High Court Clerk screening paper (reported)	90 marks, 60 minutes
MAHA TET conducted by	State Council of Examination, Pune
MAHA TET paper size	150 questions, 150 marks
MAHA TET general pass mark (reported)	90 of 150
TAIT 2025 registered (reported)	2,28,808
Pavitra drive 2025 to 2026 posts (reported)	30,209
MAH-CET conducted by	State CET Cell
Zilla Parishad 2023 drive (reported)	About 18,939 posts
State services quota total	52%
SC and ST quota	13% and 7%
OBC quota	19%
Special Backward Category quota	2%
Nomadic Tribes (B), (C), (D)	2.5%, 3.5% and 2%
De-notified Tribes (A)	3%
EWS quota in Maharashtra from	1 February 2019
Carry-forward of unfilled vacancies	5 years (direct), 3 years (promotion)
Maratha quota struck down by Supreme Court	May 2021
SEBC Act, 2024 passed	20 February 2024
Quota under SEBC Act, 2024	10%
Kunbi certificates order	2 September 2025

Frequently asked questions

When was Maharashtra formed and what is its capital?

Maharashtra was formed on 1 May 1960 from Bombay State. Mumbai is the capital, and Nagpur hosts the winter session of the legislature.

How many districts and divisions does Maharashtra have?

As on 4 October 2026 it has 36 districts in 6 divisions: Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amravati and Nagpur. Palghar, created on 1 August 2014, is the latest.

What is the full form of MPSC and what does it do?

It is the Maharashtra Public Service Commission, a constitutional body under Article 315. It conducts Rajyaseva, the Group B combined exam and the Group C combined exam.

What is the age limit for MPSC Rajyaseva?

For the 2026 cycle, 19 to 38 for the open category, as reported, with relaxation for reserved categories. Sources disagree on some limits, so read the notification.

Is there an optional subject in Rajyaseva?

The 2026 Mains is reported to have two optional papers. One source says the commission announced on 25 June 2026 that the optional will be removed from 2027. We only found this in one place.

Who recruits the Maharashtra Police Sub-Inspector?

The MPSC does, through the Group B combined exam, with a physical test and interview. Constables are recruited through the police department.

What is the selection process for Maharashtra Police constable?

As reported, a 50-mark physical test, a 100-mark written test, document verification and a medical check.

Is the Talathi exam held by the MPSC now?

The 2026 round is reported to be under the MPSC as Gram Mahsul Adhikari (Talathi), Group C, with a Prelims reported for 25 October 2026. Earlier rounds were run by the Revenue Department.

What is the pattern of the Talathi exam?

The 2023 pattern was 100 questions for 200 marks: Marathi, English, general knowledge and intellectual test, 50 marks each. Check the 2026 notification, as the MPSC pattern may differ.

What are the TET and TAIT in Maharashtra?

The MAHA TET is the eligibility test, and the TAIT is the aptitude test whose score is used for teacher recruitment through the Pavitra portal.

What is the MAHA TET pass mark?

The general-category mark is reported as 60% (90 of 150), and the certificate as valid for life.

What is the Maharashtra reservation in state services?

SC 13%, ST 7%, DT(A) 3%, NT(B) 2.5%, NT(C) 3.5%, NT(D) 2%, SBC 2% and OBC 19%, a total of 52%, plus the 10% EWS quota.

What is the status of the Maratha reservation?

The 2018 quota was struck down by the Supreme Court in May 2021. The SEBC Act, 2024 gives 10% and is under challenge in the Bombay High Court, with a new bench reported to begin hearing from 9 October 2026.

Can I claim both EWS and Maratha quota?

No. Reports say a candidate cannot claim both. Check the notification for the option rules.

Do I need a Maharashtra domicile?

Open exams admit candidates from other states, but reservation and age relaxation are reported to need Maharashtra domicile. Marathi knowledge is reported as needed for the Group B and C combined exams.

How many posts does the Bombay High Court staff drive have?

2,381 posts were reported for the December 2025 notification, including 1,382 Clerks.

Where can I practise Maharashtra GK mocks?

Use our online test series and watch the Maharashtra government jobs page for open notifications.

Sources and verification

Time-sensitive facts (budget, exam rules, district count, local-body results) were checked on 4 October 2026. Where sources disagreed or a figure came from a single secondary source, the text says so. Election figures are Wikipedia reproductions of Election Commission data, with the 2026-27 budget from PRS Legislative Research; cross-check Election Commission results before quoting a number in an answer. Census 2011 is the latest published census.

Facts verified on 4 October 2026. The MPSC and the police portal could not be opened for content, so almost every exam figure comes from secondary exam sites and is flagged "reported" in the text. Time-sensitive facts carry as-on dates, and where sources disagreed the text says so or leaves the fact out. Census 2011 is the latest published census.

Primary source opened: Maharashtra State Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Special Backward Category and Other Backward Classes) Act, 2001, as modified up to 29 October 2012 (a PDF hosted by a college, so a copy rather than the government site). The State CET Cell website (cetcell.mahacet.org).

Other sources opened:

• Physics Wallah pages on MPSC Rajyaseva 2026, Group B and C eligibility, Group B 2026 notification, Group B selection process, Group C 2025, Talathi 2026, Maharashtra Police constable selection process, MAHA TET exam date 2025.
• Taiyarho page on MPSC Rajyaseva, Adda247 pages on Talathi Bharti and Bombay High Court recruitment, AIM India page on Maharashtra Police Bharti 2025, My Sarkari Naukri page on Zilla Parishad Maharashtra recruitment 2023.
• Careers360 (TAIT 2025 result) and Free Press Journal (TAIT and Pavitra portal, 27 August 2026).
• LiveLaw articles on the Bombay High Court bench for the Maratha quota challenge and on the NEET plea; The Week report of 26 June 2025; Vajiram and Ravi page on the Maratha reservation; People Matters report on the EWS quota (5 February 2019).
• Wikipedia, as a cross-check only: Maharashtra, Maharashtra Legislature, Districts of Maharashtra, Geography of Maharashtra, Economy of Maharashtra, Samyukta Maharashtra movement, List of Rajya Sabha members from Maharashtra, Maharashtra Public Service Commission, Bombay High Court, Reservation in India, List of national parks of India.
• Used only through search summaries, and flagged in the text: reports on the September 2025 Kunbi order, domicile eligibility, MPSC Group C 2025.