Bengal budget 2022: Excise, market borrowings, central aid continue to be economic pillars

The 2022-2023 budget of West Bengal continued to stand on the three pillars: State excise, open market borrowings, and central grant-in aid.

Kolkata: The fiscal status of the West Bengal Budget 2022-23 continues to stand on the three pillars of state excise, open market borrowings, and central grant-in-aid. On Friday at 2 pm, the new state Finance Minister, Chandrima Bhattacharya presented the budget proposals for 2022-23 on the floor of the West Bengal assembly. Although there were attempts of presenting a rosy picture in the budget speech, a careful evaluation of the budget documents shows that the dependence on state excise, open market borrowings and central grant-in-aid has continued to run the show.

Some statistics are enough to display the poor state of affairs in state finance. As per the budget estimates for the financial year 2021-22, the target for collection of the state's own tax revenue was Rs 75.415.74 crore. However, as per the revised estimates for the same fiscal, the figure stands lesser at Rs 73,904.58 crore. However, the state finance minister in the budget estimates for 2022-23 has set a target to collect a total state's own tax revenue of Rs 79,346.50 crore.

Now coming on to the dependence of state excise for revenue generation. As per the budget estimates of 2021-22, the targeted figure of state excise collection was Rs 16,100 crore. However, as per the revised estimates for the same financial year, the state excise collection has been slightly lower at Rs 15,586 crore. Again, as per the budget estimates for 2022-23, the state excise collection target has been set higher at Rs 16,500 crore.

Economists feel that in the absence of big-ticket investment, be it in the manufacturing or in the services sector, the dependence on state excise for state's own revenue collection has seen such a high.

The same logic is applicable in the case of dependence on market borrowings to run the show. As per the budget estimates for 2021-22, the accumulated debt figure of the state government was Rs 5.35 lakh crore. In the revised estimates for the same fiscal, the accumulated debt figure stands at Rs 5.28 lakh crore. Again in the budget estimates for 2022-23, the accumulated debt of the state government accumulated Rs 5.86 lakh crore.

It is worth mentioning in this regard, that in 2011 when the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government came to power in the state ousting the 34-year Left Front rule, the state government's total accumulated debt was Rs 1.99 lakh crore. Economists feel that during the last ten years, there had been a skyrocketing increase in the non-plan and recurring expenditure of the state government has led to this over-dependence on market borrowing to run the show.