The 2026 Act that wrote Amaravati into the law as the capital

What the Act says

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 said, in Section 5(2), that Hyderabad would be the common capital for up to ten years "and there shall be a new capital" for Andhra Pradesh. The 2026 amendment replaces that open-ended phrase with "and Amaravati shall be the new capital". That single substitution is the whole point: the capital's name now sits in a central statute, not in a state government order.

The Lok Sabha passed the Bill during the 2026 Budget session; the Rajya Sabha passed it on 2 April 2026. Akashvani reported the President's assent on 7 April 2026, and Wikipedia records it as signed on 6 April 2026. Either way, the Act was in force by the first week of April.

Why it matters

• Political risk falls. A future state government cannot shift the capital by its own legislation alone; changing a central Act needs Parliament.
• Lenders and institutions wanted this. The World Bank, ADB and the banks building the financial district all lend against a capital that will stay put.
• Land pooling farmers get certainty. The 2019 to 2024 pause hit the 26,000-plus families who pooled land hardest. Their returnable plots are in a city that now has statutory backing.

What it does not settle

The Act names the capital; it does not fund it, build it or fix timelines. Construction still depends on tenders, monsoons and loan disbursements. Politics has not gone quiet either. In July 2026 the opposition YSRCP said it would fight the next election on a MAVIGUN corridor idea (Machilipatnam–Vijayawada–Guntur) as an alternative to concentrating spending in Amaravati. That is a policy argument for the next election; it does not change the law as it stands.