The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India's state finance audit report for 2024-25, tabled in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly by Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta during the extended budget session, has laid bare a sustained fiscal crisis in the state — with a revenue deficit of ₹39,727 crore and a fiscal deficit of ₹61,924 crore during the year under review. The report is one of 28 CAG reports tabled in the House on 26 July 2025.

Scale of the Deficits

According to the CAG report, the revenue deficit of ₹39,727 crore amounted to 2.19 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), while the fiscal deficit of ₹61,924 crore represented 3.41 per cent of GSDP. Notably, the report found that West Bengal recorded a revenue deficit in every single financial year from 2015-16 through 2024-25 — a decade-long streak that critics argue reflects structural fiscal mismanagement.

Over this period, total revenue expenditure stood at ₹2,53,427 crore, equivalent to 118.59 per cent of total revenue receipts — meaning the state consistently spent more than it earned from revenues.

Where the Money Went

During the last five financial years, the bulk of revenue expenditure was absorbed by salaries, pensions, and interest payments on loans. When subsidies of ₹19,444 crore for various projects are added, approximately 74 per cent of total revenue income was consumed by these heads alone. The CAG report indicates this crowded out infrastructure and capital expenditure, limiting the state's ability to build long-term productive assets.

Funds Left Unutilised, Excess Spending Unapproved

The report also flagged significant budgetary irregularities. Of the ₹3,90,638.04 crore allocated during 2024-25, only ₹3,19,975.79 crore was actually spent — leaving ₹70,662.25 crore, or 18.09 per cent of funds, unutilised. At the same time, an additional ₹13,486.92 crore in expenditure was incurred without requisite legislative approval and remained pending sanction.

BJP Alleges Deliberate Suppression

The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including state president and Rajya Sabha member Samik Bhattacharya, has alleged that the previous All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government under Mamata Banerjee deliberately withheld these CAG reports from public scrutiny to conceal the state's deteriorating financial position.

An unnamed member of the current state cabinet told reporters: 'There were two purposes with which these 28 CAG reports were tabled in the Assembly last week. First was to reveal the nature of corruption during the 15-year Trinamool Congress regime in the state from 2011 to 2026 and the second was to highlight the utter financial mismanagement during that period. That is exactly why the previous regime refrained from tabling the CAG report on the floor of the House for a long time and making it public.'

Cyclone Amphan Relief Figures Also Questioned

Separately, one of the 28 CAG reports has flagged that the projected losses from Cyclone Amphan (2020) were reportedly presented in an inflated manner by the previous TMC government, allegedly to secure higher Central relief assistance. The CAG's findings on Amphan add another layer of scrutiny to the state's financial conduct during the Banerjee administration.

With the full set of 28 CAG reports now in the public domain, political and fiscal accountability in West Bengal is set to intensify — and the findings are likely to shape the state's upcoming budgetary and borrowing decisions.