As the “wealthiest” Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader, is more than 6,000 times wealthier than West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, who holds the lowest assets. Naidu’s self-declared assets amount to ₹932 crore, while Banerjee’s assets are valued at just ₹15.38 lakh, according to data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) based on affidavits filed by the CMs during their most recent state elections.

Interestingly, five of the 10 richest CMs belong to regional parties, while three are from the BJP and two from Congress. Four of the five CMs with the least assets are members of the Opposition INDIA bloc. Of the 31 CMs across 28 states and three Union Territories, all but two are crorepatis.

Among the CMs with the highest annual income for the latest financial year are Devendra Fadnavis, the newly elected Maharashtra CM from BJP, earning ₹38.74 lakh; Conrad Sangma, CM of Meghalaya, at ₹29.58 crore; and M. K. Stalin, the DMK leader from Tamil Nadu, earning ₹28.78 lakh. Only nine CMs listed their profession as a source of income, while 22 cited politics or social work.

Breaking down assets for the three richest and the three poorest CMs:

Richest Assets: Naidu’s wealth, primarily from movable assets worth ₹810 crore, includes shares in Heritage Foods Limited, a dairy company he founded, valued at ₹764 crore. The company, now worth ₹4,400 crore, was established in 1992 as part of the liberalization of India’s dairy sector. The company started with an investment of ₹50 lakh and procures 16 lakh liters of milk daily. Naidu’s other movable assets include ₹34.28 crore in loans given to companies and individuals, while his immovable assets are valued at ₹121 crore.

The second wealthiest CM, Pema Khandu of Arunachal Pradesh, has assets totaling ₹333 crore, with ₹175 crore in immovable assets, including commercial properties and agricultural land. His movable assets include ₹164 crore, primarily in bank deposits.

Poorest Assets: Mamata Banerjee has the lowest assets at ₹16.72 lakh, consisting largely of bank deposits, including an election account. She owns no immovable property and has only ₹43,837 worth of jewelry. Similarly, Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, with ₹55.24 lakh in assets, has no immovable properties but owns ₹30 lakh worth of jewelry. Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, with assets totaling ₹1.19 crore, has agricultural land as his most valuable immovable asset.

Changes in Assets: Between their latest and previous affidavits, six CMs saw a decrease in assets. Notably, Mamata Banerjee experienced the steepest decline, with a 49.5% reduction in assets between 2016 and 2021. Other CMs with asset declines include Nitish Kumar (Bihar), N. Biren Singh (Manipur), Bhagwant Mann (Punjab), Manik Saha (Tripura), and Omar Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir), whose assets fell by 15.9%. Conversely, Naidu saw the highest absolute increase in assets, growing by ₹263 crore (39.4%) between 2019 and 2024.