CHENNAI: Poll-time bonanza came early for millions of women and households across Tamil Nadu, who woke up on Friday morning to find Rs 5,000 credited to their accounts.
The initial confusion turned to joy after they learnt that it was from the State government – an advance of Rs 3,000 towards three months of assistance under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai (KMUT) and an additional one-time special summer relief of Rs 2,000.
In addition, announced Chief Minister MK Stalin, the amount would be doubled to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,000 after the DMK government he is heading retains power in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The money that was credited to 1,31,75,492 women on Friday will entail an additional expenditure of Rs 6,550 crore in a single day. The amount was transferred directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts.
The chief minister said the government decided to disbursed the amount in advance to ensure uninterrupted support to women beneficiaries, and alleged that there were attempts to stall the scheme citing the Model Code of Conduct when the election dates are notified.
Reiterating his commitment to women’s welfare, Stalin said that under a proposed Dravidian Model 2.0 government, the monthly assistance under the scheme would be doubled to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,000.
Appealing to the beneficiaries, the chief minister said women should use the cash for the next three months. They should be careful while spending the money, he said, advising them to save as much as possible.
The Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai is one of the flagship welfare initiatives of the DMK government, providing monthly financial assistance to eligible women heads of households across the State.
At the launch of the KMUT 2.0 expansion during the Vellum Tamil Pengal event in Chennai on December 12, 2025, the chief minister announced the extension of the scheme to include 16.94 lakh new beneficiaries and had also hinted at a hike in the assistance amount.
Earlier, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami had also promised that the monthly entitlement would be raised to Rs 2,000 and would also be extended to all ration card holders if his party returned to power.