Kolkata, Feb 5 (IANS) West Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya will present the crucial interim (Vote-on-Account) Budget on the floor of the state Assembly on Thursday.

The full Budget for the financial year 2026-27 will be presented on the floor of the House by the new cabinet after the crucial state Assembly elections, scheduled later this year.

The sole reason for which the interim Budget will be in focus is the curiosity over the possibility of increased allocation under the ‘Laxmir Bhandar’, the monthly dole scheme of the state government for the women of the state.

Currently, the women in the general category are entitled to a monthly dole amount of Rs 1,000 under the scheme. On the other hand, the women from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories are entitled to a monthly amount of Rs 1,200.

Political observers feel that the state government might increase the amount paid under the scheme, eyeing the dedicated women’s vote bank for Trinamool Congress during the last few elections.

However, it is not yet clear how much that enhanced amount could be. In the last five years, the state government has spent Rs 74,000 crore in cash to women through this project alone.

A total of Rs 27,000 crore has been allocated in the last financial year 2025-2026.

The interim Budget will be presented on Thursday amid indications that the West Bengal government is all set to surpass the budgeted market borrowings for the current financial year of 2025-26 as well as its projected accumulated debt by March 31, 2026.

As per the budget documents for the financial year 2025-26, the state government was slated to borrow a total of Rs 81,972.333 crore from the open market in 2025-26.

However, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s existing and projected borrowing figures of the West Bengal government, the total borrowings by the state government during 2025-26 will be Rs 1,24,000 crore.

As per the revised estimates for 2025-26, the total accumulated debt figure for the state government was slated to increase to Rs 7,06,531.61 crore by the end of the fiscal year under review on March 31, 2026.

Now, with the total market borrowing figure for 2025-26 slated to far exceed the budgeted borrowing figure in the financial year under review, the accumulated debt figure is also expected to be higher than the projected figure.

To recall, by the end of the financial year 2010-11, which was the last fiscal under the previous 34-year-long Left Front rule, the accumulated debt figure of the West Bengal government was little over Rs 1,90,000 crore.

–IANS

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