Bengal's tax revenue collection from mineral resources up by 33 pc in first 4 months of FY 2026-27

Kolkata, Sep 16 (IANS) West Bengal's tax revenue collections from the state's own mineral resources component had witnessed a massive 32.60 per cent increase during the first four months of the current financial year of 2026-27 over the figure recorded during the corresponding period during the previous financial year 2025-26, as per statistics of the State Finance Department released on Wednesday.

The State Finance Department attributed this impressive growth in state's own tax revenue collection from mineral resources during the period between April 16 and August 15 of the current financial year to plugging of tax revenue leakages in revenue collection under the mineral revenue head.

"During the period between April 16 and August 15, 2026, the total tax revenue collection from mineral resources in the state had been recorded at Rs 567.82 crore, up by 32.60 per cent from the figure of Rs 428.20 crore collected during the correspondent period in 2025, when the previous Trinamool Congress regime was in power," a state department official said.

According to the official, the two mineral-rich districts of Birbhum and Jhargram have the maximum contribution in the improved tax revenue collection from mineral resources during the period under review.

"Birbhum was the maximum contributor on this count at Rs 235 crore, followed by Jhargram at Rs 70.29 crore. East Burdwan is in the third position at Rs 56.12 crore, followed by West Burdwan in the fourth position contributing Rs 48.59 crore during the period under review," the State Finance Department official said.

As of the budget estimates for the financial year 2026-27, the projected collection of state's own tax revenue is Rs 1,30,669.68 crore up from Rs 1,11,737.13 crore as per the revised estimates for the previous financial year of 2025-26.

Of the projected collection of state's own tax revenue of Rs 1,30,669.68 crore as per the budget estimate for 2026-27, the maximum contribution will be from the head of State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) at Rs 61,535 crore, following by the head of the state excise at Rs 24,922 crore.

Since Swapan Dasgupta, a journalist-turned-politician, took charge as the State Finance Minister, he claimed that his target is to improve the state's own tax revenue collection by plugging the corruption-related leakages instead of adding to the burden of additional tax on the common people.

"A back calculation revealed that the maximum corruption-related revenue leakages during the previous (Trinamool Congress) regime was in the mineral revenue collection. So, the state government took all possible measures to plug these leakages as far as possible. Though we cannot say that we have already achieved 100 per cent success in this plugging exercise, surely some successes have been achieved as is evident from the improved collection figures," the State Finance Department official added.

--IANS

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