‘Ours is a welfare state and we are committed to the people’

Kolkata: While stating that the state government is well within its limits in borrowing from the market, State Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee on Thursday said the projected market loan in 2025-26 FY has been pegged at Rs 81972 crore, which is slightly higher than Rs 79727 crore for 24-25 financial year.

Two Appropriation Bills (1 and 2) and the West Bengal Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2025 were passed in the state Assembly on Thursday.

Noting that capital expenditure has a significant influence in the creation of long-term assets, employment and betterment of living standards, Bhattacharjee said expenditure on this account for 2025-26 has been pegged at Rs 39,337 crore, which was Rs 34,915 crore in the current fiscal.

“Ours is a welfare state and we are committed to the people at large so capital expenditure is always emphasised,” she added.

Bhattacharjee stated that Rs 26700 crore has been projected for Lakshmir Bhandar scheme which is a giant stride in women empowerment while Rs 15456.70 crore is pegged for Banglar Bari with the state promising to allocate funds for another 16 lakh rural houses.

Bhattacharjee highlighted that Bengal’s revenue receipt for the 2025-2026 fiscal is projected to be Rs 2.66 lakh crore, as per the recently tabled budget, which is Rs 29809 crore more in comparison to fiscal 2024-25 where the revenue receipt was a little over Rs 2.36 lakh crore.

“The state’s GSDP growth projection for 2025-26 is 9.91 per cent which is greater than that of the Centre,” Bhattacharjee said, adding that the scope of taxation by the state has narrowed since most of the indirect taxes have come under the GST ambit.