Strongly focussing on social welfare and rural infrastructure, Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya presented Bengal’s Rs 3.89 lakh crore Budget for 2025-26 in the Assembly on Wednesday, February 12. Compared to the previous Budget (for 2024-25), which had an allocation of Rs 3.67 lakh crore, this marked a 5.99 per cent increase.

In her speech, the finance minister noted that the state’s gross state domestic product (GSDP) grew by 6.8 per cent in 2024-25, surpassing India’s GDP growth rate of 6.37 per cent. She further highlighted that the state’s economy has demonstrated resilience across agriculture, industry and services, consistently outperforming national figures.

Presenting the last full budget before the 2026 assembly elections, Bhattacharya stated that the services sector grew by 7.8 per cent growth, compared to India’s 7.2 per cent, the industrial sector grew by 7.3 per cent growth, compared to India’s 6.2 per cent and the agriculture and allied sector grew by 4.2 per cent, compared to the national average of 3.8 per cent.

Bhattacharya informed the Assembly that while India’s unemployment rate stood at 7.93 per cent as of January 2025, Bengal’s was significantly lower at 4.14 per cent. She attributed this to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s focus on job-oriented growth.

The Budget includes substantial allocations for infrastructure and agricultural development, with a focus on rural connectivity, riverbank erosion control and agrarian support.

Rs 10,000 crore has been allocated for the agriculture sector while Rs 426.01 crore has been set aside for agriculture marketing. The animal resources development sector has been granted Rs 1,272.93 crore.

A new initiative called Nadi Bandhan has been introduced, with an allocation of Rs 200 crore to address riverbank erosion. Rs 500 crore has been allocated for Ghatal Masterplan, a long-delayed flood-control project, the delay being the result of the Union government’s dithering on paying its share of 60 per cent of the project cost. Rs 340 crore of the total cost of Rs 1,500 crore has already been spent by the state.

Rs 1,500 crore has been earmarked for rural road construction under Pathashree scheme, while Rs 44,000 crore is allocated for rural development and panchayats.

The education sector has been allocated Rs 41,000 crore and the health sector, Rs 21,355 crore.

Among the highlights of the Budget is a 4 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees, from 14 to 18 per cent. State government employees, including teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as pensioners, will receive the increased DA of 18 per cent from April 1, 2025, in accordance with the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission.

Additionally, the finance minister announced that 70,000 ASHA workers will receive smartphones as part of a new government initiative.

Furthermore, Rs 500 crore has been earmarked for constructing the Gangasagar Setu. Plans were announced for setting up 350 more Sufal Bangla stalls.

Rs 2,423.80 crore has been allocated for the welfare of backward classes, Rs 139.70 crore for the Consumer Affairs Department and Rs 668.61 crore for the cooperation sector.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in her press conference later, emphasised that the Budget’s primary objective is to generate employment opportunities.

She highlighted that up until the 2024 Bengal Global Business Summit, Rs 19 lakh crore worth of project proposals had been received, of which Rs 13 lakh crore worth had already been implemented. This year, Rs 4,40,595 crore worth of project proposals have been received, with Rs 16,000 crore worth of projects cleared on the same day. The MSME sector alone has generated 1.3 crore jobs so far.