Kerala to become Keralam: How much does it cost a state to change its name?

The recent decision by the Union Cabinet to rename Kerala as ‘Keralam’ seeks to align the state’s official title with its linguistic roots in Malayalam. But the state’s proposal for name change has merely cleared its first hurdle with the Cabinet go-ahead and this clearance also came two years after the Kerala Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution. In totality though, the name change process, which was met with cheers, memes and much commentary on social media, could be a long affair. First, the President must refer a bill for this purpose to the state assembly and thereafter the Centre has to introduce a bill in Parliament.

Not only is the name change process likely to take time, this cultural milestone for Kerala would also entail a substantial price tag. It is clear from previous such exercises that renaming a state is an expensive administrative undertaking. During a 2006 parliamentary debate regarding the transition from Uttaranchal to Uttarakhand, the then BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad noted that the exercise could cost between Rs 400-500 crore.

The Olivier Formula

To estimate the cost of renaming a state, a framework developed by South African intellectual property lawyer, Darren Olivier, comes in handy. Olivier treated a state like a corporate entity, suggesting that a large organisation would typically spend about 6 per cent of its revenue on marketing. And a comprehensive rebranding (like a name change) requires approximately one-tenth of this marketing budget for a corporate entity. In other words, 0.6 per cent of revenue of this entity could be spent on rebranding.

Replacing the large corporate entity with a state, one can use the same formula. So, 0.6 per cent of a state’s total revenue receipts would be the amount it would spend in changing its name. As per a PRS Legislative analysis, Kerala’s receipts (excluding borrowings) for 2025-26 were Rs 1,53,544 crore.

Applying the Olivier formula, the estimated cost of renaming Kerala as Keralam would be Rs 920 crore, i.e, 0.6 per cent of Rs 1.53 lakh crore.
 
Changes required

The typical expenses associated with renaming a state include spending on new infrastructure and signage; updating government stationery, letterheads, seals and ID cards; modifying official websites and archives. Signages on roads, highways, railway stations, airports and government buildings also need to be replaced.

Not only will the state bear administrative costs due to the name change, private businesses and institutions also need to update documents, redo branding and packaging with the new name.

Will individuals also have to shell out some money when trying to register new property deeds, obtain passports and other government documents etc under the new name? India’s former Chief statistician, Pronab Sen, said the change in name of a state should ideally cost nothing for individuals. “That is, if a reasonable transition period is allowed, during which both, the old and the new name, are allowed to be used.” When Orissa’s name was changed to Odisha, “there was no great financial cost for individuals since both names were allowed to be used for some time”, Sen pointed out.

He sought to differentiate the change in name to Keralam from instances when new states were carved out of existing states such as Uttarakhand (first called Uttaranchal) from Uttar Pradesh and Telangana from Andhra Pradesh. “Creation of a new state is a very expensive proposition because the entire government structure has to be built from scratch in the new state. In the case of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, a new capital city had to be created,” Sen added. This required tens of thousands of crores in creating infrastructure and a separate identity.
Not just states, some union territories have also been through name changes. For instance, Pondicherry was renamed as Puducherry in 2006.

Benefits of name change

While the cost of adding a single letter to Kerala’s name would be substantial, it may also lead to a minor economic fillip to specific sectors. These include printing presses and construction crews tasked with updating signage. The former would be kept busy printing new letterheads and stationery, for official and private sector needs. The construction sector would also marginally benefit during this exercise. Some man days of works would also be created. But the expenses are almost certain to exceed the benefits of this renaming exercise.