West Bengal’s gross state domestic product increased at a compound annual growth rate of 9.57% between 2015-16 and 2024-25 despite the state continuing to disclose revenue shortfalls during that time, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
According to the State Finances Audit Report that was presented to the legislature on Saturday, the state’s GSDP increased from Rs 7.97 lakh crore in 2015-16 to Rs 18.15 lakh crore in 2024-2025. According to the state, the GSDP increased by 9.91% in just 2024-2025.
The CAG stated that despite the state’s economic expansion, revenue shortfalls were reported annually during the decade, and the fiscal deficit grew at a CAGR of 12.83%.
Alleging that the previous TMC administration committed a “constitutional lapse” by failing to present the 28 long-pending CAG reports to the House, the state’s new BJP government presented them to the legislature and announced that a special session would be held to address them..
The state’s revenue deficit in 2024-2025 was Rs 39,727 crore or 2.19% of the GSDP, while the fiscal deficit was Rs 61,924 crore or 3.41% of the GSDP, staying under the 3.5% cap set by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. On March 31, 2025, however, the state’s outstanding obligations were 38.66% of the GSDP, just above the FRBM benchmark of 38%.
The study states that revenue receipts reached Rs 2,13,700 crore in 2024-2025, up 6.71% year over year. Revenue growth, however, lagged behind the rate of economic expansion, as seen by the revenue buoyancy remaining below one. It said 52% of the state’s total revenue receipts for the year came from transfers from the Centre.
The amount spent on revenue was Rs 2,53,427 crore, or 118.59% of the amount received. Along with subsidised expenditures of Rs 19,444 crore, committed expenditures accounted for almost half of revenue expenditures over the previous five years and nearly 74% of the state’s revenue receipts in 2024-2025.
According to the report, net borrowings accounted for 41% of revenue expenditures, while subsidy expenditures increased by 85.61% over the prior year. From Rs 28,963 crore in the previous fiscal year to Rs 21,622 crore in 2024-2025, capital expenditures decreased by 25% and made up just 1.19% of GSDP.
Regarding budgetary management, the study stated that the state saved Rs 70,662.25 crore, or 18.09% of the total allocation, by spending Rs 3,19,975.79 crore compared to a budget provision of Rs 3,90,638.04 crore.
According to the report, there was excess spending of Rs 13,486.92 crore in 2024-2025 under seven grants and one allocation, which calls for legislative regularisation. Additionally, it stated that unregularised excess expenditure was Rs 57,263.62 crore between 2009 and 2024.
Additionally, the report stated that during the year, Rs 535.59 crore was transferred from the State’s Consolidated Fund to Personal Deposit Accounts, with a significant amount of these transfers occurring in the last month of the fiscal year.
The CAG further noted that because the necessary reserve funds had not been established, the Rs 1,809.66 crore in cess collected during the year had not been moved to the Public Account.
(With PTI inputs)
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