The Central Government has allocated ₹3,880 crore to Nagaland under the “Pride of Hills: Special Development Assistance for the Hill States” scheme for the financial year 2026–27. The scheme is aimed at addressing challenges specific to hill states, including difficult terrain, limited connectivity, sparse populations, and constrained revenue sources that affect fiscal capacity.

The initiative is part of the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI), which has a total outlay of ₹25,000 crore for nine hill states. Among the allocations, Arunachal Pradesh received the highest share of ₹4,900 crore, followed by Himachal Pradesh with ₹3,920 crore. Nagaland was allocated ₹3,880 crore, while Uttarakhand received ₹3,460 crore and Tripura ₹3,450 crore. Manipur was allotted ₹2,400 crore and Meghalaya ₹2,070 crore. Sikkim received ₹820 crore, and Mizoram was allocated ₹100 crore.

The funding is intended to support capital expenditure, infrastructure development, and economic growth in the hill states.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio expressed appreciation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the allocation. In a social media post, he stated that the assistance would contribute to development and help address region-specific challenges.