Departmental budgetary allocations pose questions on Bengal govt’s seriousness in promoting industry

By Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri

Kolkata, Feb 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) Department budgetary allocations made by West Bengal minister of state for finance (independent charge) Chandrima Bhattacharya in her state budget proposals for the financial year 2024-25 presented on the floor of the Assembly on have raised questions about the seriousness of promoting industries and developing infrastructure in the state.

Bhattacharya presented the budget on Wednesday. An analysis of the departmental budgetary allocations shows that during the fiscal under review a massive increase in allocation has been done for the state panchayat affairs and rural development department by Rs 1,421 crore.

The opposition parties as well as economic observers feel that this increase in budgetary allocation for this department has been done keeping in mind the forthcoming polls for the three-tier panchayat system in the state this year.

However, on the contrary, the state public works department (PWD), which is a key department for ensuring infrastructural development of the state has witnessed a paltry increase in budgetary allocation by just Rs 16 crore during the fiscal under review.

Economic observers feel that the improvement of infrastructure facilities in any state, especially as regards to road connectivity, is an important precursor for attracting investments to the state and on this point the paltry rise in the PWD budgetary allocations are bound to raise questions on how far industrial development is in the prime agenda of the state government.

Similarly, despite Bhattacharya's statements that the state government's focus is the micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME) segment considering the huge employment generation potential in the sector, the increase in the budgetary allocation for that segment during the fiscal under review had been just Rs 58 crore.

During the budget speech, Bhattacharya announced a "future credit-card" scheme to encourage the youths going for startups, where the youths will be entitled for loan up to Rs 5,00,000, and the state will provide margin-money up to 10 per cent and guarantee up to 15 per cent. However, considering the past records of the banks' reluctance to provide loans under the West Bengal Student Credit Card scheme for education loans backed by the state government guarantee it is too early to predict how far the "future credit-card" scheme will really be fruitful.

According to BJP legislator and former chief economic advisor to the Union government, Ashok Kumar Lahiri, the more the state increases its capital expenditure like infrastructure development the more the state will be attractive for investors.

"Industrialization means employment generation not just in terms of direct employment in big industries but also in forms of development of ancillary and associate industries, which can enable a long-term economic growth of the state. But the focus of the state government seems to be more on spending on non-productive expenditures like fairs and festivals," he said.

Source: IANS