Big News For Govt Employees: West Bengal Govt Announces 3% DA hike

Kolkata/New Delhi: State minister of finance (independent charge) for West Bengal Chandrima Bhattacharya on Wednesday presented a Rs 3.39-lakh crore Bengal budget for 2023-24. The biggest takeaway of the West Bengal Budget however was announcement of 3 percent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) and West Bengal government's extension of stamp duty rebate till 30 September 2023.

FM Bhattacharya said that DA for Bengal State government employees and retires will be hiked by 3 percent from March onwards.

Among other major announcements by CM Mamata Banerjee led Bengal government was allocation of Rs 350-cr startup fund to extend up to Rs 5 lakh each to young entrepreneurs. 

The FM added that Bengal's SGDP is projected to grow at 8.4 percent, industry at 7.8 per cent in 2022-23 fiscal. She also said that agricultural income tax on tea gardens for 2023-24 and 2024-25 will be waived. In order to boost last mile connectivity, FM Bhattacharya announced that 12,500-km of rural roads to be constructed at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore.