Bengal Interim Budget Pegs 2026-27 Debt At Over Rs 8.15 Lakh Crore

2026-02-05 08:15:28

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Feb 5 (IANS) The West Bengal government will end the financial year 2026-27 with an accumulated debt figure of around Rs 8.15 lakh crore, as indicated in the documents of the interim (vote on accounts) budget for the fiscal under review, which was presented by the West Bengal Minister of State for Finance (Independent Charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya on the floor of the Assembly on Thursday.

The total accumulated debt by March 31, 2027, has been pegged at Rs 8,15,891.35 crore in the Budget estimates for 2026-27, which is 6.5 per cent higher than the figure of Rs 7,62,326.61 crore as on March 31, 2026, as per the revised estimates for 2025-26.

Incidentally, at the end of the financial year 2010-11, which was the last financial year under the previous Left Front regime, the total accumulated debt was a little over Rs 1.90 lakh crore.

The total debt repayment figure (principal plus interest) as per the Budget estimates for 2026-27 has been pegged at Rs 97,640.32 crore, which is substantially higher than the figure of Rs 83,148.98 crore as per the revised estimates for 2025-26.

While the revenue deficit as of March 31, 2027, is projected at Rs 21,759.34 crore, the fiscal deficit as of the same period has been pegged at Rs 62,423.36 crore.

Economists feel that such projected accumulated debt figures are inevitable in a situation where there is no concrete proposal for generating higher state's own tax revenue, while there are huge revenue expenditures on account of different social welfare and dole schemes.

The two parallel factors, namely skyrocketing revenue expenditure and limited avenues of state tax revenue generation, are extremely difficult to manage at the same time, economists feel.

According to them, even during the previous Left Front regime, the avenues for higher state tax revenue generation were limited. However, the previous regime used to balance its limited resources by limiting its revenue expenditure.

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