Bengal’s Rs 3.89 lakh crore Budget for 2025-26 focuses on jobs, infra dev

Kolkata: With a strong emphasis on social welfare and rural infrastructure, Bengal Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya presented Bengal’s Rs 3.89 lakh crore Budget for 2025-26 in the Assembly on Wednesday.

She also announced a 4 per cent increase in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees.

In the previous Budget, the state saw an allocation of Rs 3.67 lakh crore, marking an 8 per cent increase from the previous year 2023-24.

A new project called ‘Nadi Bandhan’ was announced for river-centric areas in the state. The project has been allocated Rs 200 crore, and it will focus on measures to prevent riverbank erosion.

Later, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee highlighted that the Budget’s vision is to generate more employment opportunities.

Earlier, during her Budget speech, Finance minister Bhattacharya said that West Bengal’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) had grown by 6.8 per cent in 2024-25, outpacing India’s overall growth rate of 6.37 per cent.

West Bengal’s economy has shown “resilience” across all three sectors—agriculture, industry, and services—surpassing national figures, the finance minister further pointed out.

State government employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as pensioners, would be getting the DA with an increased rate from April 1, 2025. This would bring the total DA to 18 per cent, in line with the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission. The Chief Minister while speaking to the media said we gave 14 per cent DA earlier and now it has increased by 4 per cent.

“We will also pay the remaining in a phased manner as the state’s exchequer will permit,” the Chief Minister added.

“The vision of our Budget is to create more employment. Till the last BGBS, we had received Rs 19 lakh crore projects out of which Rs 13 lakh projects have been implemented already. This year, Rs 4,40,595 crore project proposals have been received out of which Rs 16,000 crore projects were cleared today itself. Around 1.30 crore jobs have already been created in the MSME sector,” the Chief Minister further pointed out.

While tabling the last full Budget before the 2026 Assembly elections, The Finance minister said that the industrial sector registered a growth of 7.3 per cent, significantly higher than India’s 6.2 per cent, while agriculture and allied sectors grew by 4.2 per cent, compared to India’s 3.8 per cent. The services sector led with a growth rate of 7.8 per cent, surpassing India’s 7.2 per cent, said Bhattacharya.

The government has unveiled a series of infrastructure and agricultural development projects in its Budget, allocating significant funds for rural connectivity, river erosion control and agrarian support initiatives.

Around Rs 1500 crore has been allotted for constructing rural roads under the “Pathashree” scheme and Rs 44,000 crore for rural development and panchayats.

The Mamata Banerjee government has made an allotment of Rs 41,000 crore in school education while funds of Rs 21,355 crore have been announced for the health sector. Ghatal Master Plan is to get a fresh allotment of Rs 500 crore in the Budget.

“A total of Rs 1500 crore will be spent for the Ghatal Master plan out of which Rs 500 crore have been allotted in this Budget. Rs 340 crore has already been spent,” Mamata said. She also regretted that the Centre does not provide any funds for the Gangasagar Mela. The finance minister also announced that smartphones would be given to 70,000 ASHA workers.

The state government’s new scheme “Nodi Bandhan”, will “entail interconnecting of rivers and wetlands which will stimulate multiple livelihood options for the people”. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee while speaking to the media said that the project will check natural calamities. The state government has allocated funds of Rs 200 crore for the preparation of sub-basin-wise plans involving international experts, Bhattacharya further added.

Around Rs 500 crore have been allotted for constructing Gangasagar Setu and 350 more Sufal Bangla Stalls.

The Finance minister told the House that India’s unemployment rate was at 7.93 per cent till January 2025, whereas Bengal’s unemployment rate was just 4.14 per cent. She credited this to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “focus on job-centric growth”.

Bhattacharya announced the allotment of Rs 10,000 crore in the Agricultural sector while Rs 426.01 crore was allotted for agriculture marketing. For animal resources development, Rs 1,272.93 crore was allotted.

A total of Rs 2,423.80 crore was allotted for the welfare of backward classes, while Rs 139.70 crore was allotted to the consumer affairs department.

Finally, for cooperation, Bhattacharya said that Rs 668.61 crore is allotted for the financial year 2025-26.