South drives CM wealth surge as four leaders hold 91% of assets

Total declared assets of India's chief ministers rose from Rs 1,632 crore in ADR's 2025 report to Rs 3,660 crore in 2026, with average assets more than doubling from Rs 54.42 crore to Rs 118.07 crore.

Karnataka CM D K Shivakumar declared assets of Rs 1,413.8 crore, Tamil Nadu CM C Joseph Vijay declared Rs 648.86 crore, and along with N Chandrababu Naidu (Rs 931.84 crore) and Pema Khandu (Rs 332.57 crore), these four hold 90.9% of all CM assets.

Southern states have six CMs but account for about 83.6% of all declared CM assets in 2026, due to three billionaire CMs from the South.

The number of billionaire chief ministers increased from two to four between 2025 and 2026, and CMs with criminal cases rose.

Between ADR's 2025 and 2026 reports, the leadership profile became younger, and the number of women CMs fell from two to one.