West Bengal has Rs 8 lakh crore debt. Then why is it giving Rs 3,000 cash? FM Swapan Dasgupta explains

West Bengal has inherited more than Rs 8 lakh crore in debt. Yet the BJP government is spending Rs 36,000 crore on its flagship Annapurna Yojana, which gives eligible women Rs 3,000 a month.

So how does the state plan to manage its debt while continuing welfare spending?

West Bengal Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta says the answer is economic growth.

"Firstly, it's an obscene amount of debt. We are determined that we are not going to increase it," he said while speaking to Times Now. "Secondly, welfare without economic growth is a burden on the state. But welfare with economic growth doesn't become that much of a burden."

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Growth To Tackle Debt

Dasgupta pointed to Maharashtra, which he said has around Rs 9 lakh crore in debt but also has a vibrant and growing economy. "So really the answer to that question is we have to grow," he said.

The BJP leader said Bengal needs to make enterprise more attractive across sectors, not just manufacturing. "Whether it's manufacturing, whether it's services, whether it's deep tech, whatever the thing is, we have to grow," Dasgupta said.

The FM also cited health services, health tourism, and knowledge cities as areas that could help drive growth. "The issue of debt has to be tackled by growth," he said.

Bengal's Image Problem

Dasgupta, who took charge as Bengal's finance minister on June 1, said the bigger challenge was changing the state's image as an investment destination.

The BJP came to power in West Bengal in May, the first time it has formed the government in the state.

"We have to change the image of the state," he said.

The FM said West Bengal's image had suffered over the past 50 years due to left-wing turbulence, uncertainty over industrialisation, and the Singur controversy.

The Tata Group's decision to move its Nano project out of Singur, he said, sent a damaging message to investors. "That if the Tatas can't set up shop here, how the hell do you expect any lesser mortal to do business?" he said.

Dasgupta also said the state had suffered a "staggering flight of human capital". While campaigning in South Kolkata, he said, he noticed the absence of young people. "The young people were just not there," he said, describing a city where he saw mainly senior citizens and old-age pensioners.

Dasgupta said the government's focus now would be to create the economic conditions that can support welfare spending. "Other states, normally what they do is they are starting from a place where they are moving out of a rural existence and moving towards industrialization," he said.

He cited Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha as states that have made progress on that path. "Compared to that, Bengal, we unfortunately lost the plot," he said.

"The first challenge really is to get the image of the state that we mean business, and that we are a state which is committed now that Bengal has shed its past."

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Annapurna Yojana

BJP's Annapurna Yojana came into effect on June 1, replacing the previous TMC government's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme. Under the new scheme, eligible women aged 25 to 60 receive Rs 3,000 a month through direct benefit transfer to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

At the time of the change in government, Lakshmir Bhandar provided Rs 1,500 a month to most women and Rs 1,700 to SC/ST beneficiaries.