West Bengal's tax revenue collection from mineral resources surged 32.60 per cent to ₹567.82 crore in the first four months of the financial year 2026-27 — between April 16 and August 15, 2026 — compared to ₹428.20 crore collected during the same period in 2025-26, according to data released by the State Finance Department on Wednesday, 16 September 2026. Officials attributed the sharp uptick to systematic plugging of corruption-related revenue leakages under the mineral revenue head.

District-wise Breakdown

The mineral-rich districts of Birbhum and Jhargram were the top contributors to the improved collections. Birbhum led with ₹235 crore, followed by Jhargram at ₹70.29 crore. East Burdwan ranked third with ₹56.12 crore, while West Burdwan came in fourth at ₹48.59 crore, according to the State Finance Department official.

What the Government Said

A State Finance Department official stated that a back-calculation had identified mineral revenue collection as the segment most affected by corruption-linked leakages during the previous administration. 'A back calculation revealed that the maximum corruption-related revenue leakages during the previous regime was in the mineral revenue collection. So, the state government took all possible measures to plug these leakages as far as possible,' the official said. The official acknowledged that the anti-leakage exercise was not yet complete, but said the improved numbers were evidence of measurable progress.

Finance Minister's Stated Approach

Since Swapan Dasgupta — a journalist-turned-politician — assumed charge as State Finance Minister, his publicly stated priority has been to raise the state's own tax revenue by closing corruption-driven gaps rather than imposing fresh tax burdens on ordinary citizens. The mineral revenue performance in the current fiscal is being cited by officials as an early validation of that approach.

Broader Revenue Picture for FY 2026-27

As per the budget estimates for 2026-27, West Bengal's projected own tax revenue stands at ₹1,30,669.68 crore, up from revised estimates of ₹1,11,737.13 crore for 2025-26. The largest contributor to that projected figure is State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) at ₹61,535 crore, followed by state excise at ₹24,922 crore. Mineral revenue, while a smaller line item in absolute terms, has drawn attention this year for its outsized growth rate relative to other heads.

Context and What It Signals

This comes amid a broader push by the current state administration to differentiate its fiscal governance from the preceding All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) tenure. Critics of the previous regime have long alleged systemic under-collection in mineral-rich belts, particularly in districts like Birbhum — a claim the current government appears to be leaning into with its leakage-plugging narrative. Whether the momentum holds through the remaining months of the fiscal year will be closely watched, as the state still needs to bridge a significant gap between current collections and its ambitious full-year own-tax-revenue target.