Kolkata: The new govt’s first budget would be a statement of intent for Bengal’s future, aimed at restoring the state’s old glory, state finance minister Swapan Dasgupta told TOI ahead of the budget presentation on June 22. “There would be a roadmap of what we would like to do, but not all of these proposals would be incorporated in the remaining eight months of this current financial year,” he said.Dasgupta met Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and NITI Aayog vice-chairman Ashok Lahiri on Wednesday ahead of the budget. The first budget session of the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly commenced on June 18.The scale of the fiscal challenge facing the govt is considerable. Bengal’s outstanding debt stood at around Rs 7.8 lakh crore as of 2025-26, with an annual repayment burden exceeding Rs 82,000 crore — of which Rs 49,000 crore is interest and the rest principal.Against this, the state’s own revenue generation for 2025-26, as per budget estimates, was Rs 1,12,543 crore — meaning nearly 75% of the state’s own revenue is required just to service debt.Even when measured against the state’s total revenue, including non-tax revenue, its share of central taxes and grants-in-aid — over Rs 2.6 lakh crore as per budget estimates — debt repayment still consumes almost a third.Dasgupta has previously invoked the example of the Marshall Plan, the US-led initiative that helped rebuild war-ravaged Europe after World War II, as a reference point for the scale of reconstruction Bengal needs.He has also said his immediate focus is on expanding the state’s revenue base without imposing additional taxes on ordinary citizens.
