West Bengal's new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta, a journalist-turned-politician, has said the state government's foremost fiscal priority is to raise its own tax revenue by rooting out corruption in the collection machinery — without imposing fresh burdens on ordinary citizens. The remarks came in an interview on 24 June from Kolkata, weeks after the BJP formed the government in the state.

Tax Leakages and the Stone Quarry Example

Dasgupta pointed to a striking illustration offered by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari: revenue from stone quarries in Birbhum district had surged dramatically in less than two months since the new administration took charge. The reason, according to Dasgupta, was systemic evasion — tax was reportedly being collected on just one out of every eight trucks carrying stones.

'Out of eight trucks carrying stones, tax was collected from just one truck. Now we are trying to detect these loopholes leading to tax collection leakages and thus improve the state's own tax revenue generation, but without burdening the common people,' Dasgupta said.

This comes amid a broader push by the new government to audit legacy revenue channels that critics say were riddled with irregularities under the previous administration.

Land Policy Overhaul and Industrial Push

Dasgupta signalled that a new industrial policy for West Bengal is imminent, accompanied by significant changes to land regulations. The government has already announced a review of the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, which Dasgupta described as 'an archaic act' and 'a relic of the old socialist days.'

'There is land which is not being used which was earlier given for industries. Why do we construct shopping malls on these lands meant for industry? It is better to use that for industrial development,' he said, calling for the law to be scrapped entirely.

The move is aimed at freeing up underutilised land parcels for industrial and infrastructure projects, a longstanding demand of investor groups operating in the state.

Reducing Excise Dependence and Managing Debt

On the revenue mix, Dasgupta said a key goal is to reduce the state's reliance on excise collections — typically alcohol-linked levies — as a proportion of its own tax revenue. He also acknowledged the scale of the fiscal challenge: the new government has inherited what he described as a 'huge accumulated debt burden' from the previous regime.

Notably, this dual pressure — diversifying revenue while servicing legacy debt — will define the government's budget choices in the near term. No specific debt figure was cited in the interview.

Centre-State Coordination as a Policy Cornerstone

Dasgupta was pointed in his criticism of the previous All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government's relationship with the Union government, arguing that adversarial Centre-state dynamics had cost West Bengal access to Central scheme benefits over 15 years.

'The previous regime was always at loggerheads with the Union government, which is not at all a healthy policy in a system of democratic federalism,' he said. 'The state government bypassed Central projects one after another, as a result of which the benefits of the Central projects did not reach the people of the state.'

The new BJP government, he said, intends to work in 'close coordination' with the Centre to accelerate economic development and welfare delivery.

24x7 Economy and Kolkata's Transformation

Dasgupta outlined an ambition to shift West Bengal toward what he called an 'aggressively market economy,' including allowing shops and merchant establishments to operate on a 24x7 basis. He argued this would simultaneously boost revenue collection and generate employment.

'Kolkata will be a very different city henceforth,' he said. The government is expected to formalise these policy directions through its forthcoming industrial policy framework, the timeline for which has not yet been specified.