A.P. introduces incentives for families to have 3 children

6 MARCH 2026

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu introduced the Draft Population Management Policy, whose objective is to raise the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) from 1.5 to a replacement level of 2.1, in the Assembly, thereby reversing the declining fertility rate and prepare the State for an ageing society by 2047.
To encourage parents to have a third child, he proposed an incentive of ₹25,000, noting that inaction at this stage would cause problems like in Japan, Italy and South Korea with 1.2, 1.2 and 0.7 TFRs they were facing.
Andhra Pradesh is now mirroring Tamil Nadu (TFR of 1.4) and Kerala (1.6).
Mr. Naidu said, as part of the efforts to increase the TFR, the government would give a “Poshana – Shiksha – Suraksha” package for the families having a third child, under which the incentive would be paid at the time of delivery and ₹1,000 monthly assistance for five years and free education to the child up to age 18.
The new policy had been targeted to be implemented from April 1, 2026.
The State set the goal to stabilise the TFR at 2.1 and nearly double women’s participation in labour force to boost Gross State Domestic Product by 15%.